indian beliefs essay

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By: History.com Editors

Updated: November 16, 2023 | Original: October 6, 2017

Hinduism is the world’s oldest religion, according to many scholars, with roots and customs dating back more than 4,000 years. Today, with more than 1 billion followers , Hinduism is the third-largest religion worldwide, after Christianity and Islam . Roughly 94 percent of the world’s Hindus live in India. Because the religion has no specific founder, it’s difficult to trace its origins and history. Hinduism is unique in that it’s not a single religion but a compilation of many traditions and philosophies: Hindus worship a number of different gods and minor deities, honor a range of symbols, respect several different holy books and celebrate with a wide variety of traditions, holidays and customs. Though the development of the caste system in India was influenced by Hindu concepts , it has been shaped throughout history by political as well as religious movements, and today is much less rigidly enforced. Today there are four major sects of Hinduism: Shaivism, Vaishnava, Shaktism and Smarta, as well as a number of smaller sects with their own religious practices.

Hinduism Beliefs, Symbols

Some basic Hindu concepts include:

Hinduism embraces many religious ideas. For this reason, it’s sometimes referred to as a “way of life” or a “family of religions,” as opposed to a single, organized religion.
Most forms of Hinduism are henotheistic, which means they worship a single deity, known as “Brahman,” but still recognize other gods and goddesses. Followers believe there are multiple paths to reaching their god.
Hindus believe in the doctrines of samsara (the continuous cycle of life, death, and reincarnation) and karma (the universal law of cause and effect).
One of the key thoughts of Hinduism is “atman,” or the belief in soul. This philosophy holds that living creatures have a soul, and they’re all part of the supreme soul. The goal is to achieve “moksha,” or salvation, which ends the cycle of rebirths to become part of the absolute soul.
One fundamental principle of the religion is the idea that people’s actions and thoughts directly determine their current life and future lives.
Hindus strive to achieve dharma, which is a code of living that emphasizes good conduct and morality.
Hindus revere all living creatures and consider the cow a sacred animal.
Food is an important part of life for Hindus. Most don’t eat beef or pork, and many are vegetarians.
Hinduism is closely related to other Indian religions, including Buddhism , Sikhism and Jainism.

There are two primary symbols associated with Hinduism, the om and the swastika. The word swastika means "good fortune" or "being happy" in Sanskrit, and the symbol represents good luck . (A hooked, diagonal variation of the swastika later became associated with Germany’s Nazi Party when they made it their symbol in 1920.)

The om symbol is composed of three Sanskrit letters and represents three sounds (a, u and m), which when combined are considered a sacred sound. The om symbol is often found at family shrines and in Hindu temples.

Hinduism Holy Books

Hindus value many sacred writings as opposed to one holy book.

The primary sacred texts, known as the Vedas, were composed around 1500 B.C. This collection of verses and hymns was written in Sanskrit and contains revelations received by ancient saints and sages.

The Vedas are made up of:

The Rig Veda
The Samaveda
Atharvaveda

Hindus believe that the Vedas transcend all time and don’t have a beginning or an end.

The Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, 18 Puranas, Ramayana and Mahabharata are also considered important texts in Hinduism.

Origins of Hinduism

Most scholars believe Hinduism started somewhere between 2300 B.C. and 1500 B.C. in the Indus Valley, near modern-day Pakistan. But many Hindus argue that their faith is timeless and has always existed.

Unlike other religions, Hinduism has no one founder but is instead a fusion of various beliefs.

Around 1500 B.C., the Indo-Aryan people migrated to the Indus Valley, and their language and culture blended with that of the indigenous people living in the region. There’s some debate over who influenced whom more during this time.

The period when the Vedas were composed became known as the “Vedic Period” and lasted from about 1500 B.C. to 500 B.C. Rituals, such as sacrifices and chanting, were common in the Vedic Period.

The Epic, Puranic and Classic Periods took place between 500 B.C. and A.D. 500. Hindus began to emphasize the worship of deities, especially Vishnu, Shiva and Devi.

The concept of dharma was introduced in new texts, and other faiths, such as Buddhism and Jainism, spread rapidly.

Hinduism vs. Buddhism

Hinduism and Buddhism have many similarities. Buddhism, in fact, arose out of Hinduism, and both believe in reincarnation, karma and that a life of devotion and honor is a path to salvation and enlightenment.

But some key differences exist between the two religions: Many strains of Buddhism reject the caste system, and do away with many of the rituals, the priesthood, and the gods that are integral to Hindu faith.

Medieval and Modern Hindu History

The Medieval Period of Hinduism lasted from about A.D. 500 to 1500. New texts emerged, and poet-saints recorded their spiritual sentiments during this time.

In the 7th century, Muslim Arabs began invading areas in India. During parts of the Muslim Period, which lasted from about 1200 to 1757, Islamic rulers prevented Hindus from worshipping their deities, and some temples were destroyed.

Mahatma Gandhi

Between 1757 and 1947, the British controlled India. At first, the new rulers allowed Hindus to practice their religion without interference, but the British soon attempted to exploit aspects of Indian culture as leverage points for political control, in some cases exacerbating Hindu caste divisions even as they promoted westernized, Christian approaches.

Many reformers emerged during the British Period. The well-known politician and peace activist, Mahatma Gandhi , led a movement that pushed for India’s independence.

The partition of India occurred in 1947, and Gandhi was assassinated in 1948. British India was split into what are now the independent nations of India and Pakistan , and Hinduism became the major religion of India.

Starting in the 1960s, many Hindus migrated to North America and Britain, spreading their faith and philosophies to the western world.

Hindus worship many gods and goddesses in addition to Brahman, who is believed to be the supreme God force present in all things.

Some of the most prominent deities include:

Brahma: the god responsible for the creation of the world and all living things
Vishnu: the god that preserves and protects the universe
Shiva: the god that destroys the universe in order to recreate it
Devi: the goddess that fights to restore dharma
Krishna: the god of compassion, tenderness and love
Lakshmi: the goddess of wealth and purity
Saraswati: the goddess of learning

Places of Worship

Hindu worship, which is known as “puja,” typically takes place in the Mandir (temple). Followers of Hinduism can visit the Mandir any time they please.

Hindus can also worship at home, and many have a special shrine dedicated to certain gods and goddesses.

The giving of offerings is an important part of Hindu worship. It’s a common practice to present gifts, such as flowers or oils, to a god or goddess.

Additionally, many Hindus take pilgrimages to temples and other sacred sites in India.

Hinduism Sects

Hinduism has many sects, and the following are often considered the four major denominations.

Shaivism is one of the largest denominations of Hinduism, and its followers worship Shiva, sometimes known as “The Destroyer,” as their supreme deity.

Shaivism spread from southern India into Southeast Asia and is practiced in Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia as well as India. Like the other major sects of Hinduism, Shaivism considers the Vedas and the Upanishads to be sacred texts.

Vaishnavism is considered the largest Hindu sect, with an estimated 640 million followers, and is practiced worldwide. It includes sub-sects that are familiar to many non-Hindus, including Ramaism and Krishnaism.

Vaishnavism recognizes many deities, including Vishnu, Lakshmi, Krishna and Rama, and the religious practices of Vaishnavism vary from region to region across the Indian subcontinent.

Shaktism is somewhat unique among the four major traditions of Hinduism in that its followers worship a female deity, the goddess Shakti (also known as Devi).

Shaktism is sometimes practiced as a monotheistic religion, while other followers of this tradition worship a number of goddesses. This female-centered denomination is sometimes considered complementary to Shaivism, which recognizes a male deity as supreme.

The Smarta or Smartism tradition of Hinduism is somewhat more orthodox and restrictive than the other four mainstream denominations. It tends to draw its followers from the Brahman upper caste of Indian society.

Smartism followers worship five deities: Vishnu, Shiva, Devi, Ganesh and Surya. Their temple at Sringeri is generally recognized as the center of worship for the denomination.

Some Hindus elevate the Hindu trinity, which consists of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Others believe that all the deities are a manifestation of one.

Hindu Caste System

The caste system is a social hierarchy in India that divides Hindus based on their karma and dharma. Although the word “caste” is of Portuguese origin, it is used to describe aspects of the related Hindu concepts of varna (color or race) and jati (birth). Many scholars believe the system dates back more than 3,000 years.

The four main castes (in order of prominence) include:

Brahmin: the intellectual and spiritual leaders
Kshatriyas: the protectors and public servants of society
Vaisyas: the skillful producers
Shudras: the unskilled laborers

Many subcategories also exist within each caste. The “Untouchables” are a class of citizens that are outside the caste system and considered to be in the lowest level of the social hierarchy.

For centuries, the caste system determined most aspect of a person’s social, professional and religious status in India.

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When India became an independent nation, its constitution banned discrimination based on caste.

Today, the caste system still exists in India but is loosely followed. Many of the old customs are overlooked, but some traditions, such as only marrying within a specific caste, are still embraced.

Hindus observe numerous sacred days, holidays and festivals.

Some of the most well-known include:

Diwali : the festival of lights
Navaratri: a celebration of fertility and harvest
Holi: a spring festival
Krishna Janmashtami: a tribute to Krishna’s birthday
Raksha Bandhan: a celebration of the bond between brother and sister
Maha Shivaratri: the great festival of Shiva

Hinduism Facts. Sects of Hinduism . Hindu American Foundation. Hinduism Basics . History of Hinduism, BBC . Hinduism Fast Facts, CNN .

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Indian Culture and Tradition Essay

Essay on Indian Culture and Tradition

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Indian Culture and Tradition

India enjoys a wide variety of cultural and traditional presence amongst the 28 states. Indian origin religions Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism are all based on dharma and karma. Even, India is a blessed holy place which is also a native place for most of the religions. Recently, Muslim and Christianity also practised working amongst the whole India population. The pledge also added the line, ‘India is my country, and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage.’

Indians are great with cooking; their spices are special for medicinal purposes, so visitors are difficult to adjust to with such heavy spices. The cricketers touring Indian pitches are out due to such food. Frequently, it's been observed that the sportsperson arrived in India either with cooking skills or with a cook. Spices such as cumin, turmeric and cardamom have been used for a long period, to make the dishes more delicious and nutritional. Wheat, rice and pulses help to complete the meal. The majority of the population is a vegetarian one due to their religious aspects.

Talking about the language, India is blessed with a wide range of languages used. Each state has its own language. A major part of the state is unable to speak other languages than the native one. Gujrathi, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Punjabi, Telugu and many more are the representative languages of the respective state. It's easy to recognize the person with the language he spoke. There are 15 regional languages but almost all of them Hindi is the national language of the country. Sanskrit is considered an ancient and respected language. And most of the legendary holy texts are found in Sanskrit only. Along with these, most of the people are aware of plenty of foreign languages.

Indian clothing is adorable to most of the foreigners. Woman wearing a sari is the pride of a nation. These create a pleasant effect and she looks so beautiful that a majority of foreign country’s female want to be like her. The origin of the sari is from the temple dancers in ancient times. Sari allows them to maintain modesty and freedom of movement. On the other hand, men traditionally wear a dhoti and kurta. Actually, Dhoti is a type of cloth without any further attached work done on it. The great Mahatma Gandhi was very fond of it and in their dignity, most of the people used to wear the same.

Apart from all the above facts, Indians are legends with arts and studious material. Shah-rukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar, Dhirubhai Ambani, Amitabh Bachchan Rajnikant, Sundar Pichai are many more faces of India who are shining and representing India on a global scale. There are 20-30 grand festivals celebrated every year in which every festival pops up with history and respect to the respective religion. Even in terms of business, India is not behind. Agriculture is the best occupation of 70% of people in India. It’s our duty to protect the wonderful culture that we have.

Indian culture is one of the oldest and most unique cultures known across the globe. It has various kinds of traditional values, religion, dance, festivals, music, and cloth, which varies from each state or town even. Indian art, cuisine, religion, Literature, Education, Heritage, Clothes etc has a huge impact on the whole world where everyone admires and follows it. It is known as the land of cultural diversity. India thrives on a variety of languages, religions, and cultures due to the diverse race of people living in the country. It can be referred to as one of the world’s most culturally enriched countries. When one thinks of India, they picture colors, smiling faces of children running in the streets, bangle vendors, street food, music, religious festivals etc.

Religion

India is a land where different religious beliefs are followed. It is the land of many religions such as Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism. Four Indian religions namely Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism were born in India while others are not of Indian origin but have people following those faiths. The people of India keep a solid belief in religion as they believe that following a faith adds meaning and purpose to their lives as it is the way of life. The religions here are not only confined to beliefs but also include ethics, rituals, ceremonies, life philosophies and many more.

Families

Family plays a vital role in every Indian household. Indians are known to live together as a joint family with their grandparents, uncles and aunts, and the next generation of offspring as well. The house gets passed down from family to family throughout the generations. But with the new modern age, nuclear families are starting to become more common as children go out of town into cities for work or studies and get settled there, also everyone now prefers to have their own private life without any interference. But still, the concept of family get together and family gatherings are not lost as everyone does come together frequently.

Indian Festivals

India is well known for its traditional festivals all over the world. As it is a secular country with diversity in religions, every month some festival celebration happens. These festivals can be religious, seasonal or are of national importance. Every festival is celebrated uniquely in different ways according to their ritual as each of them has its unique importance. National festivals such as Gandhi Jayanti, Independence Day and Republic Day are celebrated by the people of India across the entire nation. Religious festivals include Diwali, Dussehra, Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Zuha, Christmas, Ganesh Chaturthi, etc. All the seasonal festivals such as Baisakhi, Onam, Pongal, Bihu etc are celebrated to mark the season of harvest during two harvesting seasons, Rabi and Kharif.

Festivals bring love, bond, cross-cultural exchange and moments of happiness among people.

Indian cuisine is known for a variety of spicy dishes, curry, rice items, sweets etc. Each cuisine includes a wide range of dishes and cooking techniques as it varies from region to region. Each region of India cooks different types of dishes using different ingredients, also food varies from every festival and culture as well. Hindus eat mostly vegetarian food items such as pulao, vegetables, daal, rajma etc whereas people from Islamic cultural backgrounds eat meat, kebabs, haleem etc. In the southernmost part of India, you will find people use a lot of coconut oil for cooking purposes, they eat a lot of rice items such as Dosa, Idli, Appam etc with Coconut chutney, sambhar.

Indian Clothing is considered to be the epitome of modesty and every style is very different in each region and state. But the two pieces of clothing that represent Indian culture are dhoti for men and saree for women. Women adorn themselves with a lot of bangles and Payal that goes around their ankles. Even clothing styles varied from different religions to regions to cultures. Muslim women preferred to wear salwar kameez whereas Christian women preferred gowns. Men mostly stuck to dhoti, lungi, shalwar and kurta.In modern days, people have changed their sense of style, men and women now wear more modern western clothes. Indian clothes are still valued but are now in more trendy and fashionable styles.

There is no single language that is spoken all over India; however , Hindi is one common language most Indians know and can speak or understand. Every region has a different language or dialect. As per the official language act, Hindi and English are the official languages in India. Other regions or state wise languages include- Gujarati, Marathi, Bangla, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Kashmiri, Punjabi etc.

FAQs on Indian Culture and Tradition Essay

1. What are the Popular Spices in India?

Popular spices in India include - Haldi(Turmeric), Chakri Phool(Star Anise), Til (Sesame seeds/ Gingili seeds), Saunf(Fennel Seeds), Kesar(Saffron), Laal Mirch(Red chilli), Khas(Poppy seeds), Jayphal(Nutmeg), Kalonji(Nigella Seeds), Rai/Sarson(Mustard Seeds), Pudina(Mint), Javitri(Mace), Patthar ke Phool(Kalpasi), Kala Namak/ Sanchal/ Sanchar powder(Black salt/ Himalayan rock salt/ Pink salt), Sonth(Dry ginger powder), Methi dana(Fenugreek seeds), Suva Bhaji/ Sua Saag(Dill)

Kadi Patta(Curry Leaves), Sukha dhania(Coriander seeds), Laung(Cloves), Dalchini(Cinnamon), Sabza(Chia seeds), Chironji(Charoli), Ajwain(Carom seeds, thymol or celery seeds), Elaichi(Cardamom), Kali Mirch(Black Pepper (or White Pepper), Tej Patta(Bay Leaf), Hing(Asafoetida), Anardana(Pomegranate seeds), Amchoor(Dry mango powder)

2. What is the Language Diversity Available in India?

The Indian constitution has 22 officially recognized languages. Apart from it, there are around 60 languages that are recognized as smother tongue with more than one million speakers. India also has around 28 minor languages spoken by over one hundred thousand and one million people. Apart from these, there are numerous dialects spoken by a various sect of people based on their region of origin.

3. Who are Some of the Most Famous Indian Celebrities Popular Across the Globe?

India has people excelling in all aspects of art and activities. Few prominent celebrities to garner global fame include - Sudha Murthy, Amitabh Bacchan, Virat Kohli, Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza, Priyanka Chopra, MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohanlal, A R Rehman, Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata, Narayana Murthy, Kiran Majumdar Shah, Narendra Modi, Amith Shah. all these people have received great accolades in their respective area of expertise globally and getting recognition to India on a global level.

4. How to Improve Writing and Reading Skills for Producing Good Essays?

Writing an essay becomes a tedious task when the mind and hand do not coordinate. It is important for you to be able to harness your mental ability to think clearly and reproduce the same on paper for a good essay. Always remember the first few thoughts that you get as soon as you see an essay topic is your best and purest thoughts. Ensure to note them down. Later you can develop your essay around these points. Make sure your essay has an introduction, body and the final conclusion. This will make the reader understand the topic clearly along with your ability to convey the any information without any hesitation or mistake.

5. How many religions are there in India?

As of now, there are a total of 9 major religions in India with Hinduism being the majority. The remaining religion includes- Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and the Baha'i Faith.

6. Which is the oldest language in India?

Indian classical oldest language is Sanskrit, it belongs to the Indo- Aryan branch of Indo- European languages.

7. What are the few famous folk dances of India?

Folk dances are the representation of a particular culture from where they are known to originate. Eight famous classical dances are- Bharatnatyam from Tamil Nadu, Kathakali from Kerala, Kathak from North, West and Central India, Mohiniyattam from Kerala, Kuchipudi from Andhra Pradesh, Odissi from Odisha, Manipuri from Manipur, Sattriya from Assam.

8. How many languages are spoken in India?

Other than Hindi and English there are 22 languages recognised by the constitution of India. However, more than 400 languages and dialects in India are still not known as they change after every town. Over the years, about 190 languages have become endangered due to very few surviving speakers.

9. Describe the Indian Culture.

Indian culture is very diverse and the people of India are very warm and welcoming. They have a strong sense of family and firmly believe in unity in diversity. In India, there's a saying saying 'Atithi Devo Bhava' means 'the guest is equivalent to god'. So if one visits India, they will never feel unwanted.

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Essay on Indian Culture in 500 Words

Updated on
Dec 5, 2023

Did you know that Indian culture is one of the oldest and richest cultures in the world? Mark Twain once said, ‘India is the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for all the shows of all the rest of the globe combined.’ Indian culture is known for its rich beauty, traditional values, ethics, and social norms.

Paragraph on Indian Culture

Ans: Indian culture is one of the most oldest and popular cultures in the world. Our culture is known for its rich diversity, traditional values, ethics, and social norms. We should proudly follow our cultural and traditional values, as they connect us to our age-old customs and what our culture means to us. India’s ethno-linguistically diverse culture has always been successful in catching global attention. Popular festivals like Diwali, Holi, Navratri, etc. are not only celebrated in India but also in other parts of the world.

Ans: Indian culture is one of the oldest cultures in the world; Zero (0) and decimal systems were first used in Indian culture; Indian culture was the first one to follow the practice of Ayurveda, one of the oldest healing systems; world’s oldest legends, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, were recorded in India; and the name India is derived from a Greek word ‘Indica.’

Ans: India was ruled by various Muslim dynasties during the Medival period. They gave this land the name Hindustan, which is derived from the Persian word Hindu from the Sanskrit word Sindhu.

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Indian Culture Essay

Culture of India reflects the beliefs, social structure and religious inclinations of the people of India. India is culturally diverse country with every region with its own distinct culture, reflected in the language, clothes and traditions of the people. People of one state are completely different on cultural grounds, from the people of other state; nevertheless, they follow one rule of law.

Culture also acts as the window of India to the outside world. By looking at the various cultures of India one gets to admire its diversity and also gets to know the religious beliefs of the people and their glorious past. For Indian people, culture is a way of life, it is something that is deeply ingrained in their soul. It is a way of life, a rule book which defines their conduct, society, festivals etc.

Long and Short Essay on Indian Culture in English

India is a country of rich culture where people of more than one religious cultures live together.

Hello students, we have provided some simple and easily worded Essay on Indian Culture.

Let yourself involve in the essay writing competition in your school by choosing anyone of the following Indian Culture essay.

You can also use the essays in various debates and speech giving competitions or during general discussions with family and friends.

Indian Culture Essay 1 (100 words)

India is a famous country all over the world for its culture and tradition. It is the land of various culture and tradition. It is the country of oldest civilizations in the world. The vital components of the Indian culture are good manners, etiquette, civilized communication, rituals, beliefs, values, etc. Even after the life styles of everyone has been modernized, Indian people have not changed their traditions and values. The property of togetherness among people of various cultures and traditions has made India, a unique country. People here live peacefully in India by following their own culture and traditions.

Indian Culture Essay 2 (150 words)

The culture of India is the oldest culture of the world around 5,000 years. Indian culture is considered as the first and supreme culture of the world. There is a common saying about India that “Unity in Diversity” means India is a diverse country where people of many religions live together peacefully with their own separate cultures. People of various religions differ in their language, food tradition, rituals, etc however they live with unity.

The national language of India is Hindi however there are almost 22 official languages and 400 other languages are spoken daily in India in its various states and territories. According to the history, India has been recognized as the birthplace of the religions like Hinduism and Buddhism. Huge population of the India belongs to the Hindu religion. Other variations of the Hinduism are Shaiva, Shakteya, Vaishnava and Smarta.

Indian Culture Essay 3 (200 words)

The Indian culture has gained lots of popularity all over the world. Indian culture is considered as the oldest and very interesting culture of the world. People living here belong to different religions, traditions, foods, dress, etc. People of different cultures and traditions living here are socially interdependent that’s why there is an existence of strong bond unity in the diversity of religions.

People take birth in different families, castes, sub-castes and religious communities live peacefully and conjointly in a group. Social bonds of the people here are long lasting. Everyone has good feeling about their hierarchy and feeling of honour, respect and rights to each other. People in India are highly devoted to their culture and know the good etiquettes to maintain the social relationships. People of various religions in India have their own culture and tradition. They have own festival and fairs and celebrate according to their own rituals.

People follow variety of food culture like beaten rice, bonda, bread omlette, banana chips, poha, aloo papad, puffed rice, upma, dosa, edli, Chinese, etc. People of other religions have some different food cultures like sevaiyan, biryani, tanduri, mathi, etc.

Indian Culture Essay 4 (250 words)

India is a rich country of cultures where people live in their culture. We respect and honour our Indian culture a lot. The culture is everything like the way of behaving with other, ideas, customs we follow, arts, handicrafts, religions, food habits, fairs, festivals, music and dance are parts of the culture. India is a big country with high population where people of various religions with unique culture live together. Some of the major religions of country are Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Shikhism, and Zoroastrianism. India is a country where various languages are spoken in different parts of the country. People here are generally used of varieties in costume, social beliefs, customs and food-habits.

People beliefs and follow various customs and traditions according to their own religions. We celebrate our festivals according to our own rituals, keep fast, take bath in holy water of Gange, worship and pray to God, sing ritual songs, dance, eat delicious dinner, wear colourful dresses and other lots of activities. We also celebrate some National festivals by getting together such as Republic Day, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti, including various social events. People of different religions celebrate their festivals in various parts of the country with great zeal and enthusiasm without interfering each other.

Some events like birthday of Gautama Buddha (Buddha Purnima), Lord Mahavir birthday (Mahavir Jayanti), Guru Nanak Jayanti (Guruparv), etc is celebrated conjointly by people of many religions. India is a famous country for its various cultural dances like classical (Bharat Natyam, Kathak, Kathakli, Kuchipudi) and folk according to the regions. Punjabis enjoy dancing Bhangra, Gugaratis enjoy doing Garba, Rajasthanis enjoy Ghumar, Assamese enjoy Bihu whereas Maharashtrian enjoy Lavoni.

Indian Culture Essay 5 (300 words)

India is a land of rich culture and heritage where people have humanity, tolerance, unity, secularism, strong social bond and other good qualities. Indians are always famous for their mild and gentle behaviour, in spite of lots of aggressive activities by the people of other religions. Indian people are always praises for their caring and calm nature without any change in their principles and ideals. India is a land of great legends where great people took birth and do lots of social works. They are still inspiring personality to us.

India is a land where Mahatma Gandhi took birth and had given a great culture of Ahimsa. He always told us that does not fight with other instead talk them politely if you really want to get change in something. He told us that every people on this earth are hungry for love, respect, care and honour; if you give them all, definitely they will follow you.

Gandhi Ji always believed in the Ahimsa and really he became successful a day in getting freedom for India from the British rule. He told Indians that show your power of unity and gentleness and then see the change. India is not a country of men and women, castes and religions, etc separately however it is a country of unity where people of all the castes and creeds live together conjointly.

People in India are modern and follow all the changes according to the modern era however they still in touch with their traditional and cultural values. India is a spiritual country where people believe in spiritualism. People here believe in Yoga, meditation and other spiritual activities. Social system of the India is great where people still leaves in big joint family with grandparents, uncle, aunt, chacha, tau, cousins, brothers, sister, etc. So, people here learn about their culture and tradition from birth.

Indian Culture Essay 6 (400 words)

The culture in India is everything such as inherited ideas, way of people’s living, beliefs, rituals, values, habits, care, gentleness, knowledge, etc. India is an oldest civilization of the world where people still follow their old culture of humanity and care. Culture is the way we behave to others, how softly we react to things, our understanding towards values, ethics, principles, and beliefs.

People of old generations pass their cultures and beliefs to their next generations so, every child here behaves well to others as he/she already learned about culture from parents and grandparents. We can see culture here in everything like dance, fashion, artistry, music, behavior, social norms, food, architecture, dressing sense, etc. India is a big melting pot having various beliefs and behaviors which gave birth to different cultures here.

Various religions here have their origin from very old age almost five thousand years. It is considered as Hinduism was originated here from Vedas. All the holy Hindu scriptures have been scripted in the sacred Sanskrit language. It is also believed that Jainism has ancient origin and their existence was in the Indus Valley. Buddhism is another religion which was originated in the country after the teachings of Lord Gautama Buddha. Christianity was brought here later by the French and Britishers who ruled here for almost two centuries long time. In this way various religions were originated in ancient time or brought to this country by any means. However, People of each religion live here peacefully by getting together without affecting their rituals and beliefs.

Variety of eras came and gone but no one was so powerful to change the influence of our real culture. The culture of younger generations is still connected to older generations through umbilical cord. Our ethnic culture always teaches us to behave well, respect elders, care helpless people and always help the needy and poor people. It is our religious culture that we should keep fast, do worship, offer Gange Jal, do Surya Namaskar, touch feet of elder in family, do yoga and meditation on daily basis, give food and water to the hungry and disabled people. There is great culture of our nation that we should always welcome our guests like a God very happily, that’s why India is famous for a common saying like “Atithi Devo Bhava”. The basic roots of our great culture are humanity and spiritual practices.

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Indian culture is a topic of great importance for all the people living in India. In order to aware students about Indian culture, this topic is commonly assigned to the students to write essay on Indian culture. All the above Indian culture essay are written very simply worded to fulfill the student’s need and requirement. You can get other related essays under the same category such as:

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Essay on Indian Culture for Students and Children

500+ words essay on indian culture.

India is a country that boasts of a rich culture. The culture of India refers to a collection of minor unique cultures. The culture of India comprises of clothing, festivals, languages, religions, music, dance, architecture, food, and art in India. Most noteworthy, Indian culture has been influenced by several foreign cultures throughout its history. Also, the history of India’s culture is several millennia old.

Components of Indian Culture

First of all, Indian origin religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism . All of these religions are based on karma and dharma. Furthermore, these four are called as Indian religions. Indian religions are a major category of world religions along with Abrahamic religions.

Also, many foreign religions are present in India as well. These foreign religions include Abrahamic religions. The Abrahamic religions in India certainly are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Besides Abrahamic religions, Zoroastrianism and Bahá’í Faith are the other foreign religions which exist in India. Consequently, the presence of so many diverse religions has given rise to tolerance and secularism in Indian culture.

The Joint family system is the prevailing system of Indian culture . Most noteworthy, the family members consist of parents, children, children’s spouses, and offspring. All of these family members live together. Furthermore, the eldest male member is the head of the family.

Arranged marriages are the norm in Indian culture. Probably most Indians have their marriages planned by their parents. In almost all Indian marriages, the bride’s family gives dowry to bridegroom. Weddings are certainly festive occasions in Indian culture. There is involvement of striking decorations, clothing, music, dance, rituals in Indian weddings. Most noteworthy, the divorce rates in India are very low.

India celebrates a huge number of festivals. These festivals are very diverse due to multi-religious and multi-cultural Indian society. Indians greatly value festive occasions. Above all, the whole country joins in the celebrations irrespective of the differences.

Traditional Indian food, arts, music, sports, clothing, and architecture vary significantly across different regions. These components are influenced by various factors. Above all, these factors are geography, climate, culture, and rural/urban setting.

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Perceptions of Indian Culture

Indian culture has been an inspiration to many writers. India is certainly a symbol of unity around the world. Indian culture is certainly very complex. Furthermore, the conception of Indian identity poses certain difficulties. However, despite this, a typical Indian culture does exist. The creation of this typical Indian culture results from some internal forces. Above all, these forces are a robust Constitution, universal adult franchise, secular policy , flexible federal structure, etc.

Indian culture is characterized by a strict social hierarchy. Furthermore, Indian children are taught their roles and place in society from an early age. Probably, many Indians believe that gods and spirits have a role in determining their life. Earlier, traditional Hindus were divided into polluting and non-polluting occupations. Now, this difference is declining.

Indian culture is certainly very diverse. Also, Indian children learn and assimilate in the differences. In recent decades, huge changes have taken place in Indian culture. Above all, these changes are female empowerment , westernization, a decline of superstition, higher literacy , improved education, etc.

To sum it up, the culture of India is one of the oldest cultures in the World. Above all, many Indians till stick to the traditional Indian culture in spite of rapid westernization. Indians have demonstrated strong unity irrespective of the diversity among them. Unity in Diversity is the ultimate mantra of Indian culture.

FAQs on Indian Culture

Q1 What are the Indian religions?

A1 Indian religions refer to a major category of religion. Most noteworthy, these religions have their origin in India. Furthermore, the major Indian religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.

Q2 What are changes that have taken place in Indian culture in recent decades?

A2 Certainly, many changes have taken place in Indian culture in recent decades. Above all, these changes are female empowerment, westernization, a decline of superstition, higher literacy, improved education, etc.

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Essay on Indian Culture for Children and Students

Table of Contents

Essay on Indian Culture: The culture of India reflects the beliefs, social structure, and religious inclinations of the people of India. India is a culturally diverse country with every region with its own distinct culture, reflected in the language, clothes, and traditions of the people. People of one state are completely different on cultural grounds from the people of other states; nevertheless, they follow one rule of law.

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Culture also acts as the window of India to the outside world. By looking at the various cultures of India, one gets to admire its diversity and also gets to know the people’s religious beliefs and glorious past. For Indian people, culture is a way of life, and it is something that is deeply ingrained in their souls. It is a way of life, a rule book which defines their conduct, society, festivals, etc.

Long and Short Essay on Indian Culture in English

India is a country of rich culture where people of more than one religious culture live together.

Hello students, we have provided some simple and easily worded Essays on Indian Culture.

Let yourself be involved in your school’s essay writing competition by choosing any one of the following Indian Culture essays.

You can also use the essays in various debates and speech-giving competitions or during general discussions with family and friends.

Indian Culture Essay 100 words

India is a famous country all over the world for its culture and tradition. It is the land of various cultures and traditions. It is the country of the oldest civilizations in the world. The vital components of the Indian culture are good manners, etiquette, civilized communication, rituals, beliefs, values, etc. Even after the lifestyles of everyone have been modernized, Indian people have not changed their traditions and values. The property of togetherness among people of various cultures and traditions has made India a unique country. People here live peacefully in India by following their own culture and traditions.

Indian Culture Essay 150 words

The culture of India is the oldest culture in the world, around 5,000 years. Indian culture is considered the first and supreme culture in the world. There is a common saying about India that “Unity in Diversity” means India is a diverse country where people of many religions live together peacefully with their own separate cultures. People of various religions differ in their language, food tradition, rituals, etc.. However, they live in unity.

The national language of India is Hindi. However, there are almost 22 official languages, and 400 other languages are spoken daily in India in its various states and territories. According to history, India has been recognized as the birthplace of the religions like Hinduism and Buddhism. A huge population of India belongs to the Hindu religion. Other variations of Hinduism are Shaiva, Shakteya, Vaishnava, and Smarta.

Indian Culture Essay 200 words

Indian culture has gained lots of popularity all over the world. Indian culture is considered the oldest and very interesting culture in the world. People here belong to different religions, traditions, foods, dresses, etc. People of different cultures and traditions living here are socially interdependent. That’s why there is an existing strong bond of unity in the diversity of religions.

People take birth in different families, castes, sub-castes, and religious communities and live peacefully and conjointly in a group. The social bonds of the people here are long-lasting. Everyone has a good feeling about their hierarchy and feeling of honour, respect, and rights to each other. People in India are highly devoted to their culture and know the good etiquette to maintain social relationships. People of various religions in India have their own cultures and tradition. They have their own festivals and fairs and celebrate according to their own rituals.

People follow a variety of food cultures like beaten rice, bonda, bread omelet, banana chips, poha, aloo papad, puffed rice, upma, dosa, edli, Chinese, etc. People of other religions have some different food cultures like sevaiyan, biryani, tandoori, mathi, etc.

Indian Culture Essay 250 words

India is a rich country of cultures where people live in their culture. We respect and honour our Indian culture a lot. The culture is everything, like the way of behaving with others, ideas, customs we follow, arts, handicrafts, religions, food habits, fairs, festivals, music, and dance are parts of the culture. India is a big country with a high population where people of various religions with unique cultures live together. Some of the country’s major religions are Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism. India is a country where various languages are spoken in different parts of the country. People here generally use varieties in costume, social beliefs, customs, and food habits.

People believe and follow various customs and traditions according to their own religions. We celebrate our festivals according to our own rituals, keep fast, take a bath in the holy water of Gange, worship and pray to God, sing ritual songs, dance, eat delicious dinner, wear colourful dresses, and do other lots of activities. We also celebrate some National festivals by getting together, such as Republic Day, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti, including various social events. People of different religions celebrate their festivals in various parts of the country with great zeal and enthusiasm without interfering with each other.

Some events like the birthday of Gautama Buddha (Buddha Purnima), Lord Mahavir’s birthday (Mahavir Jayanti), Guru Nanak Jayanti (Guruparv), etc., is celebrated conjointly by people of many religions. India is famous for its various cultural dances like classical (Bharat Natyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi) and folk according to the region. Punjabis enjoy dancing the Bhangra, Gujaratis enjoy doing the Garba, Rajasthanis enjoy Ghumar, Assamese enjoy Bihu, and Maharashtrians enjoy Lavoni.

Indian Culture Essay 300 words

India is a land of rich culture and heritage where people have humanity, tolerance, unity, secularism, strong social bond, and other good qualities. Indians are always famous for their mild and gentle behaviour, in spite of lots of aggressive activities by the people of other religions. Indian people are always praised for their caring and calm nature without any change in their principles and ideals. India is a land of great legends where great people took birth and did lots of social work. They are still inspiring personalities to us.

India is a land where Mahatma Gandhi took birth and had given a great culture of Ahimsa. He always told us not to fight with others. Instead, talk to them politely if you really want to get a change in something. He told us that all people on this earth are hungry for love, respect, care, and honour; if you give them all, they will definitely follow you.

Gandhi Ji always believed in the Ahimsa, and really he became successful a day in getting freedom for India from British rule. He told Indians to show their power of unity and gentleness and then see the change. India is not a country of men and women, castes and religions, etc., separately. However, it is a country of unity where people of all castes and creeds live together conjointly.

People in India are modern and follow all the changes according to the modern era; however, they are still in touch with their traditional and cultural values. India is a spiritual country where people believe in spiritualism. People here believe in Yoga, meditation, and other spiritual activities. India’s social system is great; people still live in a big joint family with grandparents, uncle, aunt, chacha, tau, cousins, brothers, sister, etc. So, people here learn about their culture and tradition from birth.

Indian Culture Essay 400 words

The culture in India is everything, such as inherited ideas, way of people living, beliefs, rituals, values, habits, care, gentleness, knowledge, etc. India is the oldest civilization in the world, where people still follow their old culture of humanity and care. Culture is the way we behave to others, how softly we react to things, and our understanding of values, ethics, principles, and beliefs.

People of old generations pass their cultures and beliefs to the next generations. So, every child here behaves well to others as he/she has already learned about culture from parents and grandparents. We can see culture here in everything like dance, fashion, artistry, music, behavior, social norms, food, architecture, dressing sense, etc. India is a big melting pot with various beliefs and behaviors, giving birth to different cultures here.

Various religions here have their origin from very old age, almost five thousand years. It is considered Hinduism originated here from the Vedas. All the holy Hindu scriptures have been scripted in the sacred Sanskrit language. It is also believed that Jainism has an ancient origin, and its existence was in the Indus Valley. Buddhism is another religion which was originated in the country after the teachings of Lord Gautama Buddha. Christianity was brought here later by the French and Britishers, who ruled here for almost two centuries long time. In this way, various religions originated in ancient times or were brought to this country by any means. However, People of each religion live here peacefully by getting together without affecting their rituals and beliefs.

A variety of eras came and gone, but no one was so powerful to change the influence of our real culture. The culture of younger generations is still connected to older generations through the umbilical cord. Our ethnic culture teaches us to behave well, respect elders, care for helpless people, and always help the needy and poor. It is our religious culture that we should keep fast, do worship, offer Gange Jal, do Surya Namaskar, touch the feet of elders in the family, do yoga and meditation on a daily basis, and give food and water to the hungry and disabled people. There is a great culture in our nation that we should always welcome our guests like a God very happily. That’s why India is famous for a common saying like “Atithi Devo Bhava”. The basic roots of our great culture are humanity and spiritual practices.

Indian culture is a topic of great importance for all the people living in India. In order to aware students of Indian culture, this topic is commonly assigned to the students to write essays on Indian culture. All the above Indian culture essays are written very simply worded to fulfill the student’s needs and requirements. You can get other related essays under the same category, such as:

Essay on Indian Culture FAQs

How to write an essay about indian culture.

Start with an introduction explaining what Indian culture is, then cover aspects like traditions, festivals, and values. Conclude by summarizing the significance of Indian culture.

What is a short note on Indian culture?

Indian culture is diverse, known for its rich traditions, festivals, languages, and values that have evolved over thousands of years, making it a tapestry of customs and beliefs.

What is Indian culture in simple words?

Indian culture is a blend of diverse traditions, languages, and values followed by the people of India, making it a colorful mosaic of customs and beliefs.

What is the 7 culture of India?

The seven cultures in India refer to the different regions with their unique customs, languages, and traditions, including North Indian, South Indian, East Indian, West Indian, Northeast Indian, Central Indian, and Union Territories.

What is our Indian culture?

Our Indian culture is a beautiful amalgamation of diverse traditions, languages, festivals, and values that have been passed down through generations, reflecting the essence of unity in diversity.

Living The Sacred: Indigenous Peoples and Religious Freedom

Kristen A. Carpenter
See full issue

Introduction

In recent years, the Supreme Court has shown solicitude for religious freedom claims arising under the First Amendment and federal statutes. 1 Cases expanding the scope of free exercise and narrowing limitations on government establishment have favored religious belief and practice, even when arguably pitted against core concerns about public health and antidiscrimination. 2 Despite the current mood, however, the Court’s precedents still deny religious freedom to American Indians, a point that Professor Michael McNally underscores in his new book Defend the Sacred: Native American Religious Freedom Beyond the First Amendment (p. xviii).

McNally’s book is an important one. Indeed, in 2021, when both religious freedom and minority rights are front-burner issues, it is reasonable to ask why the Supreme Court has never extended the protections of the First Amendment to American Indians. 3 The two key cases are more than thirty years old and their legacy is mixed at best. 4 In Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Ass’n , 5 the Court rejected Yurok, Karuk, Tolowa, and Hoopa Indians’ claims that building a road through their prayer sites in a national forest would violate the Free Exercise Clause. 6 Reasoning that the “government simply could not operate if it were required to satisfy every citizen’s religious needs and desires,” 7 Justice O’Connor wrote that the federal government could destroy the Indian sacred sites even if it would “virtually destroy the . . . Indians’ ability to practice their religion.” 8 The Court then held in Employment Division v. Smith 9 that a state could deny employment benefits to individuals who lost their jobs for violating a state prohibition on peyote possession, which they ingested as a sacrament in the Native American Church. 10 Because the Controlled Substances Act was a “neutral law of general applicability,” according to Justice Scalia, its incidental effects on religion would not violate the Free Exercise Clause. 11

Lyng and Smith have divided commentators. Some scholars of religious liberties suggest that these cases draw the right line, allowing government to regulate conduct, neutrally and fairly, right up to the point of private religious belief. To the extent that a religious practice may require special accommodations, these scholars argue for legislative or administrative measures, as in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 12 (RFRA), which restored the substantial burden/compelling interest test to government activities that substantially burden religion. 13 Yet, other proponents of religious liberties have argued that the Court should “revisit” Smith and noted the upcoming Fulton v. City of Philadelphia 14 case as an opportunity to do just that. 15 In Fulton , the question is whether the city of Philadelphia may require Catholic Social Services, despite its religious objections, to place foster children with same-sex couples. Under Smith , the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance would likely be immunized as a neutral law of general applicability, but challengers argue that since the ordinance burdens religion, it should be subjected to a strict scrutiny analysis under pre- Smith jurisprudence.

While Indigenous Peoples’ cases arise in different contexts, they also test the American commitment to religious freedom, perhaps even more poignantly than other cases. Indigenous Peoples are not seeking to impose their religious beliefs or values on others. Rather, they seek the space to recover and revitalize their own religions following hundreds of years of suppression. Congress did afford certain legislative accommodations after Lyng and Smith , and, as described below, there are legislative protections for at least certain Indian sacramental interests, including peyote and eagle feather possession. Yet, these were achieved on a case-by-case basis and do not undo Smith ’s potentially broader impact on any other Indigenous religious practices, especially because the courts have interpreted RFRA very narrowly in the Indigenous Peoples’ context, as also described below. In areas such as sacred sites protection, Indigenous Peoples’ religions remain extremely vulnerable to burdensome government activities. The upshot is that even though our country was ostensibly founded on a promise of religious freedom, it quite frequently denies that promise to American Indians.

In early 2021, for example, a federal district court denied temporary injunctive relief to Apache plaintiffs seeking to stop the federal government from transferring sacred lands to a foreign mining company, on the grounds that it would violate the First Amendment and RFRA, among other laws. 16 Although the federal government claims to own and manage the land as part of the Tonto National Forest, the land is within Apache traditional territory and is arguably recognized as such under treaties. 17 “Chi’chil Bildagoteel,” known in English as “Oak Flat,” is the site of young women’s coming-of-age ceremonies and other religious practices. 18 Rather stunningly, the court acknowledged that “the land in this case will be all but destroyed to install a large underground mine, and Oak Flat will no longer be accessible as a place of worship.” 19 Nevertheless, it cited Lyng for the proposition that the federal government may destroy Indian sacred sites located on federal public lands, notwithstanding the First Amendment or RFRA. 20

Other recent cases also reveal the difficulty of protecting Indigenous Peoples’ religious freedom under current jurisprudential standards. In 2020, for example, tribes complained that the Department of Homeland Security failed to consult with them before blasting sacred sites and burial grounds as part of the border wall construction project. 21 “Consultation” is one of the post- Lyng legislative accommodations that is supposed to protect Indigenous religious freedoms. Under statutes like the National Historic Preservation Act 22 (NHPA), it gives tribal governments the right to receive notice and participate in government-to-government discussion regarding actions that would adversely impact sacred sites. Unfortunately, however, it fails to protect those sites in most cases. Even when federal land managers do consult with tribes regarding actions that will affect sacred sites, consultation has little chance of preventing destruction unless the department or agency is inclined to cooperate with the tribe. In cases such as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Navajo Nation’s opposition to development of the Arizona Snowbowl, courts construed statutory rights to consultation as entirely procedural and easily satisfied. 23 The agencies checked the consultation box under the NHPA or National Environmental Protection Act, and went ahead with desecrating the sites anyway, over the religious concerns and objections of tribes. Reviewing courts held that these agency decisions did not violate the First Amendment or RFRA. 24 While there appears to be some disagreement among federal courts with respect to the reach of RFRA in sacred sites cases, 25 the Supreme Court has not revisited its American Indian religious freedom jurisprudence since upholding the government’s right to destroy Indian religions.

Walter Echo-Hawk has characterized the destructive powers and tendencies of the federal government vis-à-vis Indian tribes as comprising the “dark side of federal Indian law.” 26 The image suggests that, even with enduring tribal resilience 27 and important legal victories, 28 there remains a shadow of conquest and colonization over the lives of Indigenous Peoples in the United States. In the search for daylight, many Indigenous people have turned to the field of human rights for new ways of addressing old problems in federal Indian law. 29 The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 30 (the Declaration) and the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 31 recognize Indigenous Peoples’ rights in substantive areas including land and culture, health and development, language, participation, and religion. An entire infrastructure at the United Nations and Organization of American States 32 exists to help realize those rights. 33 Tribal governments themselves have adopted legislation embracing the Declaration and also created institutions to realize its promise. 34

One of the most exciting aspects of Defend the Sacred , in my view, is that it lays the groundwork for applying this global framework for Indigenous Peoples’ human rights to the problem of religious freedom in the United States (p. 32). First, McNally observes that, despite the discouraging case law referenced above, American Indians have not given up on the First Amendment (p. 87). Rather, they continue, appropriately so, to insist on a right to practice Indigenous religions without government interference, under the Free Exercise Clause and statutes such as RFRA and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 35 (RLUIPA) (p. 96). Noting the many categorical and practical limitations of religious freedom jurisprudence, however, the author also argues against beating a dead horse. It is time to try something new. Accordingly, McNally argues that lawmakers should reframe their understanding of “religious freedom” toward a model that affirmatively protects the collective rights of “peoples” to actually practice their religions (p. 19). He notes that the Declaration, with its recognition of the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the right to maintain their distinctive spiritual relationship with lands, is a potential source for a paradigm shift in this regard (p. 295). This Review assesses McNally’s analysis and then picks up where he leaves off, namely, in more fully articulating the potential for law reform guided by the Declaration, to bring about real change in religious freedom in the United States (p. 32). 36

To date, our legal institutions have not managed to afford Indigenous Peoples the full protections of the Constitution and statutory law on religious freedom. The history of conquest and colonization, in which Indigenous Peoples’ sacraments were outlawed and their lands taken, casts a very long shadow and renders many existing approaches to religious freedom unsatisfactory in the Indigenous Peoples’ context today. When, for example, critics of the Court’s establishment cases argue that religion should stay out of the public sphere, 37 they perhaps do not realize that many Indigenous sacred sites are now located on federal public lands because the United States took those sites from Indian tribes long ago. There is no “private” place for those religions to go. And scholars who laud the recent free exercise cases 38 rarely evaluate whether the Court’s new approaches will finally extend religious liberty to American Indians at sacred sites, nor do they consider whether the new jurisprudence will address the historical policies or ongoing discrimination that have left American Indians uniquely without judicial protection for their religions to date.

In some respects, the circumstances — historical, political, cultural, and racial — facing Indigenous Peoples when they try to practice their religions are simply unlike those facing other people. The Declaration is potentially a very powerful tool for legal advocates and decisionmakers to use in these distinctive cases because it addresses the question of how to achieve religious freedom for Indigenous Peoples whose sacred lands, plants, and ceremonies have all been taken or harmed through histories of conquest and colonization. With its provisions for remedial and ongoing approaches to Indigenous rights, the Declaration could help the United States to address past harms and recognize the contemporary rights of Indigenous Peoples necessary to ensure their religious freedom.

Implementation of the Declaration is underway in countries such as Canada, New Zealand, and Mexico. 39 In the United States, various federal, state, and tribal legal institutions are already referencing the Declaration in Indian law matters. 40 More specifically, the Declaration’s substantive provisions on land and religion, culture and spirituality, as well as its procedural provisions on political participation and free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), all have salience in the religious freedom context. I argue that by embracing these provisions of the Declaration — or taking inspiration from them — advocates and lawmakers can help to make the United States a place where Indigenous Peoples have a right to survive, politically, culturally, and spiritually, and where Indigenous Peoples actually enjoy the freedom of religion.

This piece proceeds in three parts. Part I describes American Indian religions and McNally’s assessment of First Amendment jurisprudence in the United States. Part II takes McNally’s work as a launch pad for considering how the overall situation of Indigenous Peoples’ religious freedom in the United States could be improved by embracing the Declaration in sacred sites cases and other contexts. Part III concludes with some reflections about how and why the United States might wish to advance a collective human rights approach to religious freedom, as embodied in the Declaration. Among other things, the Declaration offers a way to distinguish Indigenous religions and respect them on their own terms, while fostering a cooperative, pluralist approach to religious freedom more broadly.

* Council Tree Professor of Law and Director of the American Indian Law Program, University of Colorado Law School; Member from North America, United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. For helpful comments and insights, the author would like to thank Jim Anaya, Ben Barnes, Greg Bigler, Rick Collins, David Comingdeer, Amy Cordalis, Daniel Cordalis, John Echohawk, Walter Echo-Hawk, Matthew Fletcher, Kim Gottschalk, Lorie Graham, Chris Jocks, Greg Johnson, Sarah Krakoff, Michael McNally, Steve Moore, Angela Riley, Brett Shelton, Wenona Singel, Michalyn Steele, Alexey Tsykarev, and Charles Wilkinson.

^ See, e.g. , Our Lady of Guadalupe Sch. v. Morrissey-Berru, 140 S. Ct. 2049, 2055 (2020) (ex-panding the ministerial exception to include teachers at religious schools); Espinoza v. Mont. Dep’t of Revenue, 140 S. Ct. 2246, 2251, 2262–63 (2020) (holding that denying financial aid to religious schools under a state constitution violated the Free Exercise Clause); Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter & Paul Home v. Pennsylvania, 140 S. Ct. 2367, 2372 (2020) (upholding administrative religious exemptions to the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act); Am. Legion v. Am. Humanist Ass’n, 139 S. Ct. 2067, 2074 (2019) (upholding use of public funds to maintain a memorial that was in the form of a cross as constitutional under the First Amendment).

^ See, e.g ., Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colo. C.R. Comm’n, 138 S. Ct. 1719, 1724, 1732 (2018) (upholding a religious baker’s refusal to serve gay customers on narrow grounds).

^ This Review uses the terms “American Indian” and “Native American” somewhat interchangeably to refer to the original inhabitants of the Americas and their descendants. Other terms that appear in this Review are “Indian tribes” or “tribes,” which usually refer to American Indians in the collective, and include the 573 “federally recognized tribes” listed on the Federal Register and those having a political relationship with the United States, as defined by the Constitution, treaties, and statutes. See Indian Entities Recognized by and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, 84 Fed. Reg. 1200 (Feb. 1, 2019). This Review also uses the term “Indigenous Peoples,” which is gaining currency in the United States and acknowledges the connection between American Indians and similarly situated peoples around the world, from the Sami of Europe and Maya of Guatemala to the Ainu of Japan and the Khoisan of South Africa.

^ Both cases — Employment Division v. Smith , 494 U.S. 872 (1990), and Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Ass’n , 485 U.S. 439 (1988) — are described by Walter Echo-Hawk as among the “ten worst Indian cases ever decided.” See Walter R. Echo-Hawk, In the Courts of the Conqueror: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided 273–358 (2010). A third case from this era held that the Free Exercise Clause did not mandate exempting an Abenaki Indian plaintiff from the requirement that he obtain a social security number for his daughter in order to receive benefits. See Bowen v. Roy, 476 U.S. 693, 695, 699–700 (1986).

^ 485 U.S. 439 (1988).

^ Id . at 441–42.

^ Id . at 452.

^ Id . at 451–52 (quoting Nw. Indian Cemetery Protective Ass’n v. Peterson, 795 F.2d 688, 693 (9th Cir. 1986)).

^ 494 U.S. 872 (1990).

^ Id . at 890; see also Bowen v. Roy, 476 U.S. 693, 699–700 (1986) (holding federal government did not violate Free Exercise Clause by conditioning welfare benefits upon use of social security number in violation of Abenaki Indian’s religion). But see Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398, 399, 406–09 (1963) (finding South Carolina violated the Free Exercise Clause when it denied unemployment benefits to an individual who refused to accept Saturday work in keeping with her Seventh-day Adventist beliefs); Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm’n, 480 U.S. 136, 138, 146 (1987) (holding that Florida violated the Free Exercise Clause when it denied unemployment benefits to an individual who, after conversion to Seventh-day Adventist church, was fired because she could not work on her Sabbath).

^ Smith , 494 U.S. at 879 (quoting United States v. Lee, 455 U.S. 252, 263 n.3 (1982)).

^ 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000bb–2000bb-4 (2012), invalidated in part by City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997); see Garrett Epps, To an Unknown God: The Hidden History of Employment Division v. Smith, 30 Ariz. St. L.J . 953, 1016 (1998) (explaining the mobilization of a religious coalition to advance legislative repudiation of Smith and its exclusion of the Native American Church whose sacramental use of peyote was at issue in Smith ). For scholarly critiques of Smith , see, for example, Michael W. McConnell, Free Exercise Revisionism and the Smith Decision , 57 U. Chi. L. Rev . 1109, 1111 (1990) (arguing “ Smith is contrary to the deep logic of the First Amendment”); and Douglas Laycock, The Remnants of Free Exercise , 1990 Sup. Ct. Rev . 1, 59–68 (arguing that deference to ostensibly neutral laws restricting religion creates a “legal framework for persecution,” id . at 59). Following Laycock, scholars and advocates may wish to analyze whether regulations, plans, or programs destroying or desecrating American Indian sacred sites on the federal public lands are truly “neutral.”

^ See City of Boerne , 521 U.S. at 533, 536 (declaring RFRA unconstitutional as to the conduct of state and local governments).

^ 922 F.3d 140 (3d Cir. 2019), cert. granted , 140 S. Ct. 1104 (2020).

^ Lindsay See, Symposium: In Fulton , the Court Has the Chance to Jettison Employment Division v. Smith — and the Pandemic Shows Why It Should Take It , SCOTUSblog (Oct. 30, 2020, 5:16 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/10/symposium-in-fulton-the-court-has-the-chance-to-jettison-employment-division-v-smith-and-the-pandemic-shows-why-it-should-take-it [ https://perma.cc/Q3CN-UTTQ ].

^ Apache Stronghold v. United States, No. CV-21-0050, 2021 WL 535525, at *1, *8 (D. Ariz. Feb. 12, 2021).

^ Id . at *1.

^ Id . at *7.

^ Id . at *9.

^ Id . at *10. After the district court decision, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a temporary reprieve of sorts, withdrawing the “Notice of Availability, Final Environmental Impact Statement, and Record of Decision” supporting transfer of Oak Flat, until impacts on federally recognized Indian tribes could be more fully studied. U.S. Dep’t of Agric., Resolution Copper Project and Land Exchange Environmental Impact Statement (Mar. 1, 2021), https://www.resolutionmineeis.us [ https://perma.cc/PZM4-3S8E ]. This decision provides some time and space for concerned parties to work toward a political solution to protect Oak Flat permanently. Models include congressional legislation restoring Blue Lake to Taos Pueblo, as well as comanagement agreements and wilderness designations for tribal sacred sites, described below.

^ See Christine Hauser, Blasting in Construction of Border Wall Is Affecting Tribal Areas , N.Y. Times (Feb. 15, 2020), <a href=" https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/us/trump-border-wall-arizona-native-americans.html [ https://perma.cc/DDA9-JMPH ]; Native Burial Sites Blown Up for US Border Wall , BBC News (Feb. 10, 2020), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51449739 [ https://perma.cc/YNF2-C3WC ]; Paulina Firozi, Sacred Native American Burial Sites Are Being Blown Up for Trump’s Border Wall, Lawmaker Says , Wash. Post (Feb. 10, 2020, 5:14 AM), https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2020/02/09/border-wall-native-american-burial-sites [ https://perma.cc/TF3E-LQMW ]. The most tribes could realistically claim under current law is a right “to consult” on projects. See Robert J. Miller, Consultation or Consent: The United States’ Duty to Confer with American Indian Governments , 91 N.D. L. Rev . 37, 48–53 (2015). The right of federally recognized tribes to “consult” on certain matters affecting them is recognized in various statutes and executive orders. Id . While achieving this right to consult was itself a hard-fought victory for tribes at the onset of the self-determination era, it has often proven expensive, bureaucratic, and ultimately ineffective in securing any substantive legal protections in areas ranging from religious freedom to intellectual property and environmental regulation. See id . at 64. Ultimately, agencies are free to offer minimal consultation procedures and go ahead with their proposed decisions as a matter of administrative discretion. See id . at 67. It is for this reason that many tribes are interested in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ standard of “free, prior, and informed consent” (FPIC), which strives to improve consultation by envisioning best practices of notice and cooperation leading to mutual agreement. Id . at 67–68. FPIC is discussed throughout this Review.

^ 54 U.S.C. § 302706(b).

^ See Navajo Nation v. U.S. Forest Serv., 479 F.3d 1024, 1060 (9th Cir. 2007) (holding U.S. Forest Service’s consultation process concerning effects on historic properties to which Indian tribes attached religious and cultural significance was substantively and procedurally adequate under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)); Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng’rs, 205 F. Supp. 3d 4, 32, 37 (D.D.C. 2016) (denying the motion for preliminary injunction in part because the Tribe had not shown the government failed to meet the standard for consultation under NHPA).

^ See, e.g ., Navajo Nation v. U.S. Forest Serv., 535 F.3d 1058, 1078 (9th Cir. 2008) (en banc).

^ Compare id . at 1063, 1078 (declining to find that the use of recycled wastewater to create artificial snow imposed a “substantial burden” under RFRA), with Comanche Nation v. United States, No. CIV-08-849-D, 2008 WL 4426621, at *2, *17 (W.D. Okla. Sept. 23, 2008) (finding that construction of a warehouse did impose a “substantial burden” on Indigenous religious practices).

^ Echo-Hawk, supra note 4, at 31.

^ See generally Charles Wilkinson, Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations (2005) (tracing tribal histories from the federal Indian “termination” policy of the 1950s to the “self-determination” policy of the 1970s).

^ See, e.g ., McGirt v. Oklahoma, 140 S. Ct. 2452, 2459 (2020) (holding the reservation of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, as created by treaty in 1832, was never disestablished).

^ See, e.g ., Walter R. Echo-Hawk, In the Light of Justice: The Rise of Human Rights in Native America and the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 3–4 (2013).

^ G.A. Res. 61/295, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Sept. 13, 2007) [hereinafter the Declaration].

^ Org. of Am. States, American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples , AG/RES. 2888 (XLVI-O/16) (June 15, 2016), https://www.oas.org/en/sare/documents/DecAmIND.pdf [ https://perma.cc/B9XP-F6YR ]. While this Review largely focuses on the U.N. Declaration because of its global application and longer time since adoption, many of its arguments could apply to the American Declaration as well. Relevant provisions of the American Declaration include articles VI, XIII, XIV, XX, and XXXI, which articulate a robust set of Indigenous Peoples’ rights to religion and spirituality, including sacred sites and ritual practices.

^ For a description of U.N. mechanisms and procedures focused on Indigenous Peoples, see Int’l Work Grp. for Indigenous Affs., The Indigenous World 2019 , at 582–88, 613–71 (David N. Berger ed., 2019).

^ See, e.g ., Sanila-Aikio v. Finland, CCPR/C/124/D/2668/2015, Views Adopted by the Committee Under Article 5 (4) of the Optional Protocol, Concerning Communication No. 2668/2015, ¶ 2.2 (U.N. Hum. Rts. Comm. Nov. 1, 2018); Käkkäläjärvi v. Finland, CCPR/C/124/D/2950/2017, Views Adopted by the Committee Under Article 5 (4) of the Optional Protocol, Concerning Communication No. 2950/2017, ¶ 2.12 (U.N. Hum. Rts. Comm. Nov. 2, 2018) (extensively citing the Declaration in support of findings that by extending the pool of eligible votes for elections of the Sami Parliament, Finland improperly interfered with the Sami peoples’ rights to political participation and to minority rights under articles 25 and 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). For a summary of these cases, see UN Human Rights Experts Find Finland Violated Sámi Political Rights to Sámi Parliament Representation , United Nations Hum. Rts . (Feb. 4, 2019), https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24137&LangID=E [ https://perma.cc/2KT3-CJSR ].

^ See Univ. of Colo. L. Sch., Native Am. Rts. Fund & UCLA Sch. of L., Project to Implement the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Tribal Implementation Toolkit 9, 25, 28 (Mar. 1, 2020) (on file with the Harvard Law School library).

^ 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000cc–2000cc-5.

^ Another religious freedom scholar, writing in the Canadian context, ends like McNally with a call for implementation of the Declaration. See Nicholas Shrubsole, What Has No Place, Remains: The Challenges for Indigenous Religious Freedom in Canada Today 183 (2019).

^ See Howard Gillman & Erwin Chemerinsky , The Religion Clauses: The Case for Separating Church and State 18–19 (2020).

^ Richard Garnett, Symposium: Religious Freedom and the Roberts Court’s Doctrinal Clean-Up , SCOTUSblog (Aug 7, 2020, 9:57 AM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/08/symposium-religious-freedom-and-the-roberts-courts-doctrinal-clean-up/ [ https://perma.cc/8298-M8SV ] (“An important part of the Roberts court story, though, is that it has both continued and facilitated developments-for-the-better in law-and-religion.”).

^ See infra notes 175–181 and accompanying text.

^ See infra section II.D, pp. 2138–49.

Federal Indian Law
First Amendment
Freedom of Religion
Human Rights

April 12, 2021

More from this Issue

Intersections in Healthcare and Legal Rights

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Chapter One

Reframing the Harm: Religious Exemptions and Third-Party Harm After Little Sisters

Chapter Two

Utility Menu

Pluralism Project Archive

Native american religious and cultural freedom: an introductory essay (2005).

I. No Word for Religion: The Distinctive Contours of Native American Religions

A. Fundamental Diversity We often refer to Native American religion or spirituality in the singular, but there is a fundamental diversity concerning Native American religious traditions. In the United States, there are more than five hundred recognized different tribes , speaking more than two hundred different indigenous languages, party to nearly four hundred different treaties , and courted by missionaries of each branch of Christianity. With traditional ways of life lived on a variety of landscapes, riverscapes, and seascapes, stereotypical images of buffalo-chasing nomads of the Plains cannot suffice to represent the people of Acoma, still raising corn and still occupying their mesa-top pueblo in what only relatively recently has come to be called New Mexico, for more than a thousand years; or the Tlingit people of what is now Southeast Alaska whose world was transformed by Raven, and whose lives revolve around the sea and the salmon. Perhaps it is ironic that it is their shared history of dispossession, colonization, and Christian missions that is most obviously common among different Native peoples. If “Indian” was a misnomer owing to European explorers’ geographical wishful thinking, so too in a sense is “Native American,”a term that elides the differences among peoples of “North America” into an identity apparently shared by none at the time the continents they shared were named for a European explorer. But the labels deployed by explorers and colonizers became an organizing tool for the resistance of the colonized. As distinctive Native people came to see their stock rise and fall together under “Indian Policy,” they resourcefully added that Native or Indian identity, including many of its symbolic and religious emblems, to their own tribal identities. A number of prophets arose with compelling visions through which the sacred called peoples practicing different religions and speaking different languages into new identities at once religious and civil. Prophetic new religious movements, adoption and adaptation of Christian affiliation, and revitalized commitments to tribal specific ceremonial complexes and belief systems alike marked religious responses to colonialism and Christian missions. And religion was at the heart of negotiating these changes. “More than colonialism pushed,” Joel Martin has memorably written, “the sacred pulled Native people into new religious worlds.”(Martin) Despite centuries of hostile and assimilative policies often designed to dismantle the structures of indigenous communities, language, and belief systems, the late twentieth century marked a period of remarkable revitalization and renewal of Native traditions. Built on centuries of resistance as well as strategic accommodations, Native communities from the 1960s on have vigorously pressed their claims to religious self-determination.

B. "Way of Life, not Religion" In all their diversity, people from different Native nations hasten to point out that their respective languages include no word for “religion”, and maintain an emphatic distinction between ways of life in which economy, politics, medicine, art, agriculture, etc., are ideally integrated into a spiritually-informed whole. As Native communities try to continue their traditions in the context of a modern American society that conceives of these as discrete segments of human thought and activity, it has not been easy for Native communities to accomplish this kind of integration. Nor has it been easy to to persuade others of, for example, the spiritual importance of what could be construed as an economic activity, such as fishing or whaling.

C. Oral Tradition and Indigenous Languages Traversing the diversity of Native North American peoples, too, is the primacy of oral tradition. Although a range of writing systems obtained existed prior to contact with Europeans, and although a variety of writing systems emerged from the crucible of that contact, notably the Cherokee syllabary created by Sequoyah and, later, the phonetic transcription of indigenous languages by linguists, Native communities have maintained living traditions with remarkable care through orality. At first glance, from the point of view of a profoundly literate tradition, this might seem little to brag about, but the structure of orality enables a kind of fluidity of continuity and change that has clearly enabled Native traditions to sustain, and even enlarge, themselves in spite of European American efforts to eradicate their languages, cultures, and traditions. In this colonizing context, because oral traditions can function to ensure that knowledge is shared with those deemed worthy of it, orality has proved to be a particular resource to Native elders and their communities, especially with regard to maintaining proper protocols around sacred knowledge. So a commitment to orality can be said to have underwritten artful survival amid the pressures of colonization. It has also rendered Native traditions particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Although Native communities continue to privilege the kinds of knowledge kept in lineages of oral tradition, courts have only haltingly recognized the evidentiary value of oral traditions. Because the communal knowledge of oral traditions is not well served by the protections of intellectual property in western law, corporations and their shareholders have profited from indigenous knowledge, especially ethnobotanical and pharmacological knowledge with few encumbrances or legal contracts. Orality has also rendered Native traditions vulnerable to erosion. Today, in a trend that linguists point out is global, Native American languages in particular are to an alarming degree endangered languages. In danger of being lost are entire ways of perceiving the world, from which we can learn to live more sustainable, balanced, lives in an ecocidal age.

D. "Religious" Regard for the Land In this latter respect of being not only economically land-based but culturally land-oriented, Native religious traditions also demonstrate a consistency across their fundamental diversity. In God is Red ,Vine Deloria, Jr. famously argued that Native religious traditions are oriented fundamentally in space, and thus difficult to understand in religious terms belonging properly tothe time-oriented traditions of Christianity and Judaism. Such a worldview is ensconced in the idioms, if not structures, of many spoken Native languages, but living well on particular landscapes has not come naturally to Native peoples, as romanticized images of noble savages born to move silently through the woods would suggest. For Native peoples, living in balance with particular landscapes has been the fruit of hard work as well as a product of worldview, a matter of ethical living in worlds where non human life has moral standing and disciplined attention to ritual protocol. Still, even though certain places on landscapes have been sacred in the customary sense of being wholly distinct from the profane and its activity, many places sacred to Native peoples have been sources of material as well as spiritual sustenance. As with sacred places, so too with many sacred practices of living on landscapes. In the reckoning of Native peoples, pursuits like harvesting wild rice, spearing fish or hunting certain animals can be at once religious and economic in ways that have been difficult for Western courts to acknowledge. Places and practices have often had both sacred and instrumental value. Thus, certain cultural freedoms are to be seen in the same manner as religious freedoms. And thus, it has not been easy for Native peoples who have no word for “religion” to find comparable protections for religious freedom, and it is to that troubled history we now turn.

II. History of Native American Religious and Cultural Freedom

A. Overview That sacred Native lifeways have only partly corresponded to the modern Western language of “religion,” the free exercise of which is ostensibly protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution , has not stopped Native communities from seeking protection of their freedom to exercise and benefit from those lifeways. In the days of treaty making, formally closed by Congress in 1871, and in subsequent years of negotiated agreements, Native communities often stipulated protections of certain places and practices, as did Lakota leaders in the Fort Laramie Treaty when they specifically exempted the Paha Sapa, subsequently called the Black Hills from land cessions, or by Ojibwe leaders in the 1837 treaty, when they expressly retained “usufruct” rights to hunt, fish, and gather on lands otherwise ceded to the U.S. in the treaty. But these and other treaty agreements have been honored neither by American citizens nor the United States government. Native communities have struggled to secure their rights and interests within the legal and political system of the United States despite working in an English language and in a legal language that does not easily give voice to Native regard for sacred places, practices, and lifeways. Although certain Native people have appealed to international courts and communities for recourse, much of the material considered in this website concerns Native communities’ efforts in the twentieth and twenty-first century to protect such interests and freedoms within the legal and political universe of the United States.

B. Timeline 1871 End of Treaty Making Congress legislates that no more treaties are to be made with tribes and claims “plenary power” over Indians as wards of U.S. government. 1887-1934 Formal U.S. Indian policy of assimilation dissolves communal property, promotes English only boarding school education, and includes informal and formalized regulation and prohibition of Native American ceremonies. At the same time, concern with “vanishing Indians” and their cultures drives a large scale effort to collect Native material culture for museum preservation and display. 1906 American Antiquities Act Ostensibly protects “national” treasures on public lands from pilfering, but construes Native American artifacts and human remains on federal land as “archeological resources,” federal property useful for science. 1921 Bureau of Indian Affairs Continuing an administrative trajectory begun in the 1880's, the Indian Bureau authorized its field agents to use force and imprisonment to halt religious practices deemed inimical to assimilation. 1923 Bureau of Indian Affairs The federal government tries to promote assimilation by instructing superintendents and Indian agents to supress Native dances, prohibiting some and limiting others to specified times. 1924 Pueblos make appeal for religious freedom protection The Council of All the New Mexico Pueblos appeals to the public for First Amendment protection from Indian policies suppressing ceremonial dances. 1924 Indian Citizenship Act Although uneven policies had recognized certain Indian individuals as citizens, all Native Americans are declared citizens by Congressional legislation. 1928 Meriam Report Declares federal assimilation policy a failure 1934 Indian Reorganization Act Officially reaffirms legality and importance of Native communities’ religious, cultural, and linguistic traditions. 1946 Indian Claims Commission Federal Commission created to put to rest the host of Native treaty land claims against the United States with monetary settlements. 1970 Return of Blue Lake to Taos Pueblo After a long struggle to win support by President Nixon and Congress, New Mexico’s Taos Pueblo secures the return of a sacred lake, and sets a precedent that threatened many federal lands with similar claims, though regulations are tightened. Taos Pueblo still struggles to safeguard airspace over the lake. 1972 Portions of Mount Adams returned to Yakama Nation Portions of Washington State’s Mount Adams, sacred to the Yakama people, was returned to that tribe by congressional legislation and executive decision. 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act Specifies Native American Church, and other native American religious practices as fitting within religious freedom. Government agencies to take into account adverse impacts on native religious freedom resulting from decisions made, but with no enforcement mechanism, tribes were left with little recourse. 1988 Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association Three Calif. Tribes try to block logging road in federal lands near sacred Mt. Shasta Supreme Court sides w/Lyng, against tribes. Court also finds that AIRFA contains no legal teeth for enforcement. 1990 Employment Division, Department of Human Resources v. Smith Oregon fires two native chemical dependency counselors for Peyote use. They are denied unemployment compensation. They sue. Supreme Court 6-3 sides w/Oregon in a major shift in approach to religious freedom. Scalia, for majority: Laws made that are neutral to religion, even if they result in a burden on religious exercise, are not unconstitutional. Dissent identifies this more precisely as a violation of specific congressional intent to clarify and protect Native American religious freedoms 1990 Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Mandates return of human remains, associated burial items, ceremonial objects, and "cultural patrimony” from museum collections receiving federal money to identifiable source tribes. Requires archeologists to secure approval from tribes before digging. 1990 “Traditional Cultural Properties” Designation created under Historic Preservation Act enables Native communities to seek protection of significant places and landscapes under the National Historic Preservation Act. 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act Concerning Free Exercise Claims, the burden should be upon the government to prove “compelling state interest” in laws 1994 Amendments to A.I.R.F.A Identifies Peyote use as sacramental and protected by U.S., despite state issues (all regs must be made in consultation with reps of traditional Indian religions. 1996 President Clinton's Executive Order (13006/7) on Native American Sacred Sites Clarifies Native American Sacred Sites to be taken seriously by government officials. 1997 City of Bourne v. Flores Supreme Court declares Religious Freedom Restoration Act unconstitutional 2000 Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) Protects religious institutions' rights to make full use of their lands and properties "to fulfill their missions." Also designed to protect the rights of inmates to practice religious traditions. RLUIPA has notably been used in a number of hair-length and free-practice cases for Native inmates, a number of which are ongoing (see: Greybuffalo v. Frank).

III. Contemporary Attempts to Seek Protection Against the backdrop, Native concerns of religious and cultural freedoms can be distinguished in at least the following ways.

Issues of access to, control over, and integrity of sacred lands
Free exercise of religion in public correctional and educational institutions
Free Exercise of “religious” and cultural practices prohibited by other realms of law: Controlled Substance Law, Endangered Species Law, Fish and Wildlife Law
Repatriation of Human Remains held in museums and scientific institutions
Repatriation of Sacred Objects/Cultural Patrimony in museums and scientific institutions
Protection of Sacred and Other Cultural Knowledge from exploitation and unilateral appropriation (see Lakota Elder’s declaration).

In their attempts to press claims for religious and cultural self-determination and for the integrity of sacred lands and species, Native communities have identified a number of arenas for seeking protection in the courts, in legislatures, in administrative and regulatory decision-making, and through private market transactions and negotiated agreements. And, although appeals to international law and human rights protocols have had few results, Native communities bring their cases to the court of world opinion as well. It should be noted that Native communities frequently pursue their religious and cultural interests on a number of fronts simultaneously. Because Native traditions do not fit neatly into the category of “religion” as it has come to be demarcated in legal and political languages, their attempts have been various to promote those interests in those languages of power, and sometimes involve difficult strategic decisions that often involve as many costs as benefits. For example, seeking protection of a sacred site through historic preservation regulations does not mean to establish Native American rights over access to and control of sacred places, but it can be appealing in light of the courts’ recently narrowing interpretation of constitutional claims to the free exercise of religion. Even in the relative heyday of constitutional protection of the religious freedom of minority traditions, many Native elders and others were understandably hesitant to relinquish sacred knowledge to the public record in an effort to protect religious and cultural freedoms, much less reduce Native lifeways to the modern Western terms of religion. Vine Deloria, Jr. has argued that given the courts’ decisions in the 1980s and 1990s, especially in the Lyng and Smith cases, efforts by Native people to protect religious and cultural interests under the First Amendment did as much harm as good to those interests by fixing them in written documents and subjecting them to public, often hostile, scrutiny.

A. First Amendment Since the 1790s, the First Amendment to the Constitution has held that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The former of the amendment’s two clauses, referred to as the “establishment clause” guards against government sponsorship of particular religious positions. The latter, known as the “free exercise” clause, protects the rights of religious minorites from government interference. But just what these clauses have been understood to mean, and how much they are to be weighed against other rights and protections, such as that of private property, has been the subject of considerable debate in constitutional law over the years. Ironically, apart from matters of church property disposition, it was not until the 1940s that the Supreme Court began to offer its clarification of these constitutional protections. As concerns free exercise jurisprudence, under Chief Justices Warren and Burger in the 1960s and 1970s, the Supreme Court had expanded free exercise protection and its accommodations considerably, though in retrospect too few Native communities were sufficiently organized or capitalized, or perhaps even motivated, given their chastened experience of the narrow possibilities of protection under U.S. law, to press their claims before the courts. Those communities who did pursue such interests experienced first hand the difficulty of trying to squeeze communal Native traditions, construals of sacred land, and practices at once economic and sacred into the conceptual box of religion and an individual’s right to its free exercise. By the time more Native communities pursued their claims under the free exercise clause in the 1980s and 1990s, however, the political and judicial climate around such matters had changed considerably. One can argue it has been no coincidence that the two, arguably three, landmark Supreme Court cases restricting the scope of free exercise protection under the Rehnquist Court were cases involving Native American traditions. This may be because the Court agrees to hear only a fraction of the cases referred to it. In Bowen v. Roy 476 U.S. 693 (1986) , the High Court held against a Native person refusing on religious grounds to a social security number necessary for food stamp eligibility. With even greater consequence for subsequent protections of sacred lands under the constitution, in Lyng v. Northwest Cemetery Protective Association 485 U.S. 439 (1988) , the High Court reversed lower court rulings which had blocked the construction of a timber road through high country sacred to California’s Yurok, Karok and Tolowa communities. In a scathing dissent, Harry Blackmun argued that the majority had fundamentally misunderstood the idioms of Native religions and the centrality of sacred lands. Writing for the majority, though, Sandra Day O’Connor’s opinion recognized the sincerity of Native religious claims to sacred lands while devaluing those claims vis a vis other competing goods, especially in this case, the state’s rights to administer “what is, after all, its land.” The decision also codified an interpretation of Congress’s legislative protections in the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act as only advisory in nature. As of course happens in the U.S. judical system, such decisions of the High Court set new precedents that not only shape the decisions of lower courts, but that have a chilling effect on the number of costly suits brought into the system by Native communities. What the Lyng decision began to do with respect to sacred land protection, was finished off with respect to restricting free exercise more broadly in the Rehnquist Court’s 1990 decision in Employment Division, State of Oregon v. Smith 484 U.S. 872 (1990) . Despite nearly a century of specific protections of Peyotism, in an unemployment compensation case involving two Oregon substance abuse counselors who had been fired because they had been found to be Peyote ingesting members of the Native American Church , a religious organization founded to secure first amendment protection in the first place, the court found that the state’s right to enforce its controlled substance laws outweighed the free exercise rights of Peyotists. Writing for the majority, Justice Scalia’s opinion reframed the entire structure of free exercise jurisprudence, holding as constitutional laws that do not intentionally and expressly deny free exercise rights even if they have the effect of the same. A host of minority religious communities, civil liberties organizations, and liberal Christian groups were alarmed at the precedent set in Smith. A subsequent legislative attempt to override the Supreme Court, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act , passed by Congress and signed into law in 1993 by President Clinton was found unconstitutional in City of Bourne v. Flores (1997) , as the High Court claimed its constitutional primacy as interpreter of the constitution.

i. Sacred Lands In light of the ruling in Lyng v. Northwest Cemetery Protective Association (1988) discussed immediately above, there have been few subsequent attempts to seek comparable protection of sacred lands, whether that be access to, control of, or integrity of sacred places. That said, three cases leading up to the 1988 Supreme Court decision were heard at the level of federal circuit courts of appeal, and are worthy of note for the judicial history of appeals to First Amendment protection for sacred lands. In Sequoyah v. Tennessee Valley Authority , 19800 620 F.2d 1159 (6th Cir. 1980) , the court remained unconvinced by claims that a proposed dam's flooding of non-reservation lands sacred to the Cherokee violate the free excersice clause. That same year, in Badoni v. Higginson , 638 F. 2d 172 (10th Cir. 1980) , a different Circuit Court held against Navajo claims about unconstitutional federal management of water levels at a am desecrating Rainbow Arch in Utah. Three years later, in Fools Crow v. Gullet , 760 F. 2d 856 (8th Cir. 1983), cert. Denied, 464 U.S.977 (1983) , the Eighth Circuit found unconvincing Lakota claims to constitutional protections to a vision quest site against measures involving a South Dakota state park on the site.

ii. Free Exercise Because few policies and laws that have the effect of infringing on Native American religious and cultural freedoms are expressly intended to undermine those freedoms, the High Court’s Smith decision discouraged the number of suits brought forward by Native communities under constitutional free exercise protection since 1990, but a number of noteworthy cases predated the 1990 Smith decision, and a number of subsequent free exercise claims have plied the terrain of free exercise in correctional institutions. Employment Division, State of Oregon v. Smith (1990)

Prison:Sweatlodge Case Study
Eagle Feathers: U.S. v. Dion
Hunting for Ceremonial Purposes: Frank v. Alaska

iii. No Establishment As the history of First Amendment jurisprudence generaly shows (Flowers), free exercise protections bump up against establishment clause jurisprudence that protects the public from government endorsement of particular traditions. Still, it is perhaps ironic that modest protections of religious freedoms of tiny minorities of Native communities have undergone constitutional challenges as violating the establishment clause. At issue is the arguable line between what has been understood in jurisprudence as governmental accommodations enabling the free exercise of minority religions and government endorsement of those traditions. The issue has emerged in a number of challenges to federal administrative policies by the National Park Service and National Forest Service such as the voluntary ban on climbing during the ceremonially significant month of June on what the Lakota and others consider Bear Lodge at Devil’s Tower National Monument . It should be noted that the Mountain States Legal Foundation is funded in part by mining, timbering, and recreational industries with significant money interests in the disposition of federal lands in the west. In light of courts' findings on these Native claims to constitutional protection under the First Amendment, Native communities have taken steps in a number of other strategic directions to secure their religious and cultural freedoms.

B. Treaty Rights In addition to constitutional protections of religious free exercise, 370 distinct treaty agreements signed prior to 1871, and a number of subsequent “agreements” are in play as possible umbrellas of protection of Native American religious and cultural freedoms. In light of the narrowing of free exercise protections in Lyng and Smith , and in light of the Court’s general broadening of treaty right protections in the mid to late twentieth century, treaty rights have been identified as preferable, if not wholly reliable, protections of religious and cultural freedoms. Makah Whaling Mille Lacs Case

C. Intellectual Property Law Native communities have occasionally sought protection of and control over indigenous medicinal, botanical, ceremonial and other kinds of cultural knowledge under legal structures designed to protect intellectual property and trademark. Although some scholars as committed to guarding the public commons of ideas against privatizing corporate interests as they are to working against the exploitation of indigenous knowledge have warned about the consequences of litigation under Western intellectual property standards (Brown), the challenges of such exploitation are many and varied, from concerns about corporate patenting claims to medicinal and agricultural knowledge obtained from Native elders and teachers to protecting sacred species like wild rice from anticipated devastation by genetically modified related plants (see White Earth Land Recovery Project for an example of this protection of wild rice to logos ( Washington Redskins controversy ) and images involving the sacred Zia pueblo sun symbol and Southwest Airlines to challenges to corporate profit-making from derogatory representations of Indians ( Crazy Horse Liquor case ).

D. Other Statutory Law A variety of legislative efforts have had either the express purpose or general effect of providing protections of Native American religious and cultural freedoms. Some, like the Taos Pueblo Blue Lake legislation, initiated protection of sacred lands and practices of particular communities through very specific legislative recourse. Others, like the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act , enacted broad protections of Native American religious and cultural freedom [link to Troost case]. Culminating many years of activism, if not without controversy even in Native communities, Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act , signed into law in 1978 and amended in 1993, in order to recognize the often difficult fit between Native traditions and constitutional protections of the freedom of “religion” and ostensibly to safeguard such interests from state interference. Though much heralded for its symbolic value, the act was determined by the courts (most notably in the Lyng decision upon review of the congressional record to be only advisory in nature, lacking a specific “cause for action” that would give it legal teeth. To answer the Supreme Court's narrowing of the scope of free exercise protections in Lyng and in the 1990 Smith decision, Congress passed in 2000 the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) restoring to governments the substantial burden of showing a "compelling interest" in land use decisions or administrative policies that exacted a burden on the free exercise of religion and requiring them to show that they had exhausted other possibilities that would be less burdensome on the free exercise of religion. Two other notable legislative initiatives that have created statutory protections for a range of Native community religious and cultural interests are the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act and the Native American Language Act legislation beginning to recognize the significance and urgency of the protection and promotion of indigenous languages, if not supporting such initiatives with significant appropriations. AIRFA 1978 NAGPRA 1990 [see item h. below] Native American Language Act Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) 2000 National Historic Preservation Act [see item g below]

E. Administrative and Regulatory Policy and Law As implied in a number of instances above, many governmental decisions affecting Native American religious and cultural freedom occur at the level of regulation and the administrative policy of local, state, and federal governments, and as a consequence are less visible to those not locally or immediately affected.

F. Federal Recognition The United States officially recognizes over 500 distinct Native communities, but there remain numerous Native communities who know clearly who they are but who remain formally unrecognized by the United States, even when they receive recognition by states or localities. In the 1930s, when Congress created the structure of tribal governments under the Indian Reorganization Act, many Native communities, including treaty signatories, chose not to enroll themselves in the recognition process, often because their experience with the United States was characterized more by unwanted intervention than by clear benefits. But the capacity and charge of officially recognized tribal governments grew with the Great Society programs in the 1960s and in particular with an official U.S. policy of Indian self-determination enacted through such laws as the 1975 Indian Self Determination and Education Act , which enabled tribal governments to act as contractors for government educational and social service programs. Decades later, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act formally recognized the authority of recognized tribal governments to engage in casino gaming in cooperation with the states. Currently, Native communities that remain unrecognized are not authorized to benefit from such programs and policies, and as a consequence numerous Native communities have stepped forward to apply for federal recognition in a lengthy, laborious, and highly-charged political process overseen by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Federal Acknowledgment . Some communities, like Michigan’s Little Traverse Band of Odawa have pursued recognition directly through congressional legislation. As it relates to concerns of Native American religious and cultural freedom, more is at stake than the possibility to negotiate with states for the opening of casinos. Federal recognition gives Native communities a kind of legal standing to pursue other interests with more legal and political resources at their disposal. Communities lacking this standing, for example, are not formally included in the considerations of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (item H. below).

G. Historic Preservation Because protections under the National Historic Preservation Act have begun to serve as a remedy for protection of lands of religious and cultural significance to Native communities, in light of first amendment jurisprudence since Lyng , it bears further mention here. Native communities seeking protections through Historic Preservation determinations are not expressly protecting Native religious freedom, nor recognizing exclusive access to, or control of sacred places, since the legislation rests on the importance to the American public at large of sites of historic and cultural value, but in light of free exercise jurisprudence since Lyng , historic preservation has offered relatively generous, if not exclusive, protection. The National Historic Preservation Act as such offered protection on the National Register of Historic Places, for the scholarly, especially archeological, value of certain Native sites, but in 1990, a new designation of “traditional cultural properties” enabled Native communities and others to seek historic preservation protections for properties associated “wit cultural practices or beliefs of a living community that (a) are rooted in that community’s history, and (b) are important in maintaining the continuing cultural identity of the community.” The designation could include most communities, but were implicitly geared to enable communities outside the American mainstream, perhaps especially Native American communities, to seek protection of culturally important and sacred sites without expressly making overt appeals to religious freedom. (King 6) This enabled those seeking recognition on the National Register to skirt a previous regulatory “religious exclusion” that discouraged inclusion of “properties owned by religious institutions or used for religious purposes” by expressly recognizing that Native communities don’t distinguish rigidly between “religion and the rest of culture” (King 260). As a consequence, this venue of cultural resource management has served Native interests in sacred lands better than others, but it remains subject to review and change. Further it does not guarantee protection; it only creates a designation within the arduous process of making application to the National Register of Historic Places. Pilot Knob Nine Mile Canyon

H. Repatriation/Protection of Human Remains, Burial Items, and Sacred Objects Culminating centuries of struggle to protect the integrity of the dead and material items of religious and cultural significance, Native communities witnessed the creation of an important process for protection under the 1990 Native American Graves and Repatriation Act . The act required museums and other institutions in the United States receiving federal monies to share with relevant Native tribes inventories of their collections of Native human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of “cultural patrimony” (that is objects that were acquired from individuals, but which had belonged not to individuals, but entire communities), and to return them on request to lineal descendants or federally recognized tribes (or Native Hawaiian organizations) in those cases where museums can determine cultural affiliation, or as often happens, in the absence of sufficiently detailed museum data, to a tribe that can prove its cultural affiliation. The law also specifies that affiliated tribes own these items if they are discovered in the future on federal or tribal lands. Finally, the law also prohibits almost every sort of trafficking in Native American human remains, burial objects, sacred objects, and items of cultural patrimony. Thus established, the process has given rise to a number of ambiguities. For example, the law’s definition of terms gives rise to some difficulties. For example, “sacred objects” pertain to objects “needed for traditional Native American religions by their present day adherents.” Even if they are needed for the renewal of old ceremonies, there must be present day adherents. (Trope and Echo Hawk, 143). What constitutes “Cultural affiliation” has also given rise to ambiguity and conflict, especially given conflicting worldviews. As has been seen in the case of Kennewick Man the “relationship of shared group identity” determined scientifically by an archeologist may or may not correspond to a Native community’s understanding of its relation to the dead on its land. Even what constitutes a “real” can be at issue, as was seen in the case of Zuni Pueblo’s concern for the return of “replicas” of sacred Ahayu:da figures made by boy scouts. To the Zuni, these contained sacred information that was itself proprietary (Ferguson, Anyon, and Lad, 253). Disputes have arisen, even between different Native communities claiming cultural affiliation, and they are adjudicated through a NAGPRA Review Committee , convened of three representatives from Native communities, three from museum and scientific organizations, and one person appointed from a list jointly submitted by the other six.

I. International Law and Human Rights Agreements At least since 1923, when Haudenosaunee Iroqois leader Deskaneh made an appeal to the League of Nations in Geneva, Native communities and organizations have registered claims and concerns about religious and cultural freedoms with the international community and institutions representing it in a variety of ways. Making reference to their status as sovereign nations whose treaties with the U.S. have not been honored, frustrated with previous efforts to seek remedies under U.S. law, concerned with the capacity for constitutional protection of what are typically “group” and not individual rights, and sometimes spurned by questions about the rightful jurisdiction of the U.S., Native organizations have sought consideration of their claims before the United Nations and engaged in its consultations on indigenous rights. After years of such appeals and efforts, a nearly unanimous United Nations General Assembly passed the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples The 1996 Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples includes reference [article 12] to the “right to manifest, practice, develop and teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies; the right to maintain, protect, and have access in privacy to their religious and cultural sites; the right to the use and control of ceremonial objects,; and the right to the repatriation of human remains.” Importantly, the Declaration does not exclude those communities whose traditions have been interrupted by colonization. Indigenous peoples are recognized as having “the right to maintain, protect and develop the past, present and future manifestations of their cultures as well as the right to the restitution of cultural, intellectual, religious and spiritual property taken without their free and informed consent or in violation of their laws, traditions and customs.” Also specified are their rights to their languages. An offshoot of the American Indian Movement, the International Indian Treaty Council is one such organization that has shifted its attention to the international arena for protections of indigenous rights, including those of religious and cultural freedom.]]

J. Negotiated Agreements and Private Transactions Many if not most Native claims and concerns related to religious and cultural freedoms have been and will continue to be raised and negotiated outside the formal legal and regulatory structures outlined above, and thus will seldom register in public view. In light of the career of Native religious and cultural freedoms in legislative and legal arenas, Vine Deloria, Jr., has suggested the possibilities of such agreements to reach Native goals without subjecting Native communities to the difficulties of governmental interference or public scrutiny of discreet traditions (Deloria 1992a). Still, the possibilities for Native communities to reach acceptable negotiated agreements often owe to the legal and political structures to which they have recourse if negotiations fail. The possibilities of such negotiated agreements also can be shaped by the pressures of public opinion on corporate or governmental interests. Kituwah Mound Valley of the Shields/Weatherman’s Draw

IV. Selected Past Native American Religious and Cultural Freedom Court Cases

A. Land Sequoyah v. Tennessee Valley Authority 620 F. 2d 1159 (6th Cir. 1980) . Dam’s Destruction of Sacred River/Land Badoni v. Higginson 638 F 2d 172 (10th Cir. 1980) . Desecration of Rainbow Arch, Navajo Sacred Spot in Utah Fools Crow v. Gullet 706 F. 2d. 856 (8th Cir. 1983), cert. Denied, 464 U.S. 977 (1983) . State Park on top of Vision Quest site in S. Dakota Wilson v. Block 708F. 2d 735 (D.C. Cir. 1983) ; Hopi Indian Tribe v. Block; Navajo Medicine Men Assn’ v. Block Expansion of Ski Area in San Francisco Peaks, sacred to Navaho and Hopi Lyng v. Northwest Cemetery Protective Association 485 U.S. 439 (1988) Logging Road in lands sacred to Yurok, Karok, and Tolowa

B. Free Exercise Bowen v. Roy 476 U.S. 693 (1986) Native refusal of Social Security Number U.S. v. Dion 476 U.S. 734 Sacramental Eagle Hunt contra Endangered Species Act Frank v. State 604 P. 2d 1068 (Alaska 1979) Taking moose out of season for potlatch *Native American Church v. Navajo Tribal Council 272 F 2d 131 (10th Cir. 1959) Peyotists vs. Tribal Gov’t Prohibiting Peyotism People v. Woody 61 Cal.2d 716, 394 P.2d 813, 40 Cal. Rptr. 69 (1964) Groundbreaking recognition of Free Exercise exemption from State Ban. Employment Division, State of Oregon v. Smith 484 U.S. 872 (1990) Denial of Peyotist’s unemployment compensation held constitutional

C. Prison cases involving hair *Standing Deer v. Carlson 831 F. 2d 1525 (9th Cir. 1987). *Teterud v. Gilman 385 F. Supp. 153 (S. D. Iowa 1974) & New Rider v. Board of Education 480 F. 2d 693 (10th Cir. 1973) , cert. denied 414 U.S. 1097, reh. Denied 415 U.S. 939 *Indian Inmates of Nebraska Penitentiary v. Grammar 649 F. Supp. 1374 (D. Neb. 1986)

D. Human Remains/Repatriation *Wana the Bear v. Community Construction, Inc. 180 Cal Rptr. 423 (Ct. App. 1982). Historic Indian cemetery not a “cemetery.” *State v. Glass 273 N.E. 2d 893 (Ohio Ct. App. 1971). Ancient human remains not “human” for purposes of Ohio grave robbing statute

E. Treaty Rights Pertaining to Traditional/Sacred Practices *U.S. v. Washington 384 F. Supp. 312 (W.D. Wash. 1974) aff’d 520 F.2d 676 (9th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1086 (1976). Boldt Decision on Salmon Fishing *Lac Court Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Voight, 700 F. 2d 341 (7th Cir.) Cert. denied, 464 U.S. 805 (1983) 653 F. Supp. 1420; Fishing/Ricing/Gathering on Ceded Lands Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians 124 F 3d 904 affirmed. (1999) Fishing/Ricing/Gathering on Ceded Lands

V. References & Resources

Brown, Michael, Who Owns Native Culture (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2003). Burton, Lloyd Worship and Wilderness: Culture, Religion, and Law in the Management of Public Lands and Resources (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002).

Deloria, Vine, Jr., “Secularism, Civil Religion, and the Religious Freedom of American Indians,” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 16:9-20 (1992).

[a] Deloria, Vine, Jr., “Trouble in High Places: Erosion of American Indian Rights to Religious Freedom in the United States,”in The State of Native America: Genocide, Colonization, and Resistance , ed. M. Annette Jaimes (Boston: South End Press, 1992).

[b] Echo Hawk, Walter, In the Courts of the Conqueror: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided ( Fulcrum Publications , 2010) . Fine-Dare, Kathleen, Grave Injustice: The American Indian Repatriation Movement and NAGPRA (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002).

Ferguson, T.J., Roger Anyon, and Edmund J. Ladd, “Repatriation at the Pueblo of Zuni: Diverse Solutions to Complex Problems,” in Repatriation Reader , ed. Devon Mihesuah (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000) pp. 239-265.

Gordon-McCutchan, R.C., The Taos Indians and the Battle for Blue Lake (Santa Fe, New Mexico: Red Crane Books, 1991).

Gulliford, Andrew, Sacred Objets and Sacred Places: Preserving Tribal Traditions (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2000).

Johnson, Greg, Sacred Claims: Repatriation and Living Tradition (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007).

King, Thomas F., Places that Count: Traditional Cultural Properties in Cultural Resource Management (Walnut Creek, Calif: Altamira Press, 2003).

Long, Carolyn, Religious Freedom and Indian Rights: The Case of Oregon v. Smith (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2001).

Maroukis, Thomas A., Peyote Road: Religious Freedom and the Native American Church (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2010)

Martin, Joel, The Land Looks After Us: A History of Native American Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).

McLeod, Christopher (Producer/Director), In Light of Reverence , Sacred Lands Film Project, (Earth Image Films, La Honda Calif. 2000).

McNally, Michael D., "Native American Religious Freedom Beyond the First Amendment," in After Pluralism ed. Courtney Bender and Pamela Klassen (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010).

Mihesuah, Devon A., ed., Repatriation Reader: Who Owns American Indian Remains (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000).

Nabokov, Peter, A Forest of Time: American Indian Ways of History (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002).

Sullivan, Robert, A Whale Hunt (New York: Scribner, 2000).

Trope, Jack F., and Walter Echo-Hawk, “The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act: Background and Legislative History,” in Repatriation Reader , ed. Devon Mihesuah (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000), pp. 123-168.

Wenger, Tisa, We Have a Religion : The 1920s Pueblo Indian Dance Controversy and American Religious Freedom (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009).

Home — Essay Samples — Geography & Travel — India — Analysis of Major Indian Beliefs and Attitudes

Analysis of Major Indian Beliefs and Attitudes

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Solar eclipse is a time for reverence, reflection in many Native American cultures

A solar eclipse is a sacred time where we sit and reflect, said Sherene Goatson Ing, a member of the Navajo Nation who grew u...

For millions viewing the total solar eclipse on April 8, the event will be a celestial celebration with music, activities and food.

But for many Native American cultures, an eclipse is a time for reverence.

Jennifer Guiliano , an professor in the Department of History and affiliated faculty in both Native American and Indigenous studies and American studies at Indiana University’s Indianapolis campus, shared examples of tribes’ different beliefs about natural events.

Jennifer Guiliano. Photo courtesy of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Program

Famously, Tenskwatawa, the Shawnee prophet and brother to Tecumseh, predicted the June 16, 1806, eclipse, Guiliano added. That bolstered followers to his movement to reject European influences and especially U.S. President William Henry Harrison.

“Importantly, these events provide an opportunity for contemporary peoples to continue recognizing their connection to the land and its place in their cultures,” Guiliano said.

According to Navajo tradition, when the moon eclipses the sun, the sun undergoes a rebirth.

“It is a sacred time where we sit and reflect,” said Sherene Goatson Ing , who is a member of the Navajo Nation and director of the First Nations Educational and Cultural Center at IU Bloomington.

“The Navajo do not eat and drink or do any activity during the event; we just sit in reverence,” Ing said. “Because it’s a moment of rebirth, we just try to show respect.”

During the partial eclipse in October 2023, she said the Navajo Nation closed offices so members could have quiet, peaceful time to reflect.

“I think it’s important for people to know their neighbors in the community might see the eclipse differently and have different traditions,” Ing said.

Sherene Goatson Ing. Photo courtesy of the First Nations Educational and Cultural Center

During the partial eclipse that passed over IU Bloomington in 2017, Ing was a graduate student. Classes were not canceled that day, so she struggled with balancing Navajo tradition and a class that was going to conflict with the eclipse time. Ultimately, she attended class but used the time to sit quietly and reflect.

For the April 8 eclipse, Ing said she doesn’t have tickets for any events and likely will treat the event the same way she did in 2017, using it as a time for reverence and reflection.

However, she said the celestial event isn’t treated the same by every Indigenous culture, including Native Americans. It depends on where people live, what they believe and customs they practice. Her multicultural household is an example. Ing’s husband, IU religious studies professor Michael Ing, is Hawaiian with Chinese ancestry. The traditions he learned are different, she said, so he and their two daughters viewed the partial eclipse in 2017 and probably will view the total eclipse on April 8.

“Growing up with customs and traditions, I feel they are there no matter how far away I am from the Navajo Nation. It’s important to respect other people’s beliefs,” she said. “I think it will always have that impact in my life growing up in the Navajo Nation.”

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12. beliefs about god.

Nearly all Indians believe in God, with most saying they are absolutely certain in this belief. But the nature of the deities Indians believe in varies. While the majority of Hindus (61%) and Jains (54%) say there is “only one God with many manifestations,” most Muslims (66%), Christians (68%) and Sikhs (57%) say there is “only one God.” Meanwhile, fully one-third of Buddhists do not believe in God at all.

Many Indians – particularly Hindus – believe that God can be manifest in people, including in people in lower castes. Far fewer believe God can manifest in people who have done bad things in their lives.

When given the opportunity to select the deity they feel closest to, Hindus most commonly select Shiva (44%), often referred to as the god of destruction . Roughly similar shares of Hindus feel close to Shiva, regardless of whether they believe there is just one God (42%), there is one God with many manifestations (46%) or there are many gods (46%).

Broadly speaking, Indians who have had financial difficulties in the previous year (i.e., had trouble paying for food, medical care or housing) are similar to other Indians in how they interact with and believe in God – even when the actions or beliefs touch on financial matters. For example, Indians who have faced financial hardship are about as likely to ever ask God for prosperity (94%) as they are to ask for good health (93%) or forgiveness (92%) – and these shares are nearly identical for those who have not faced financial troubles. Hindus who have faced financial hardship are also just as likely as other Hindus to feel close to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, fortune and success (28% vs. 27%).

Nearly all Indians believe in God

Excluding Buddhists, Indians of all religions overwhelmingly believe in God

While similar shares of Indian men and women believe in God with absolute certainty (78% and 80%, respectively), Muslim men are slightly more likely than Muslim women to believe with certainty (81% vs. 76%).

Hindus across India’s various regions believe in God at roughly similar rates. But Muslims in the East are less likely than Muslims elsewhere to believe in God with total certainty (67% vs. 79% nationally).

As with many other aspects of religious belief, Hindus who have a favorable view of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appear somewhat more devout by this measure: They are slightly more likely than those with an unfavorable view of the ruling party to believe in God with absolute certainty (81% vs. 74%).

But unlike most other religious beliefs, Indians from General Category castes are slightly more religious in this way. General Category Indians are slightly more likely than lower-caste Indians to believe in God with certainty (82% vs. 78%), especially among Christians (85% vs. 76%).

Few Indians believe ‘there are many gods’

Most Hindus believe there is ‘only one God with many manifestations’

In all of India’s major religious communities, much smaller shares believe that “there are many gods,” including just 7% of Hindus who choose this option from the three possible responses provided.

In most regions, at least half of Hindus believe in one God with many manifestations, but in the Northeast, most Hindus believe in one God alone (56%). And Hindus in the South are somewhat more likely than those in other regions to say there are many gods (18% vs. 7% nationally).

Similarly, Southern Muslims (10%) and Christians (8%) are more likely than Muslims and Christians elsewhere in India to say there are many gods.

Many Hindus feel close to Shiva

Hindus most commonly feel close to Shiva (44%). In Hindu temples, Shiva is represented both through his male form as well as a symbol, known as a lingam . In Hindu philosophy, Shiva’s role in destruction does not necessarily have a negative connotation. In fact, destruction is considered central to creation as it may pave the way for beneficial change.

In addition, roughly one-third of Hindus feel close to Hanuman (35%), the god who symbolizes strength and loyalty , or Ganesha (32%), the remover of obstacles who is especially revered before starting new projects. Among Jains, the most popular responses are Lakshmi (20%) and Ganesha (17%), although six-in-ten Jains (59%) say there is “another god” not named by the survey to whom they feel closest.

Among Sikhs and Buddhists, no single god is chosen by more than one-in-ten respondents (although about three-in-ten in each group choose the “another god” option). An additional 29% of Sikhs decline to answer the question, and one-third of Buddhists do not believe in God and thus did not receive this question.

One-third of Hindus in India feel close to Hanuman, Ganesha

While Shiva is the most common deity Hindus feel close to nationally, a significantly smaller share of Hindus in India’s West feel this connection (30%). In the West, instead, the most common deity Hindus feel close to is Ganesha (46%).

In the Northeast, fully 46% of Hindus say they feel closest to Krishna, often depicted as a lover and prankster , whose dialogue with a prince during battle is the basis for the Bhagavad Gita . Krishna is more popular in the Northeast than in any other region. And Hanuman and Lord Ram, the god of chivalry and virtue and hero of the epic Ramayana, find far less affinity among Hindus in the Northeast than they do elsewhere.

Noticeable shares of Hindus in the South feel close to several deities who have hardly any Hindu followers elsewhere in the country: Murugan (14% of South Hindus), Ayyappa (13%) and Meenakshi (7%).

Krishna’s strongest following in India is in the Northeast

Hindu men are far more likely than Hindu women to feel close to Hanuman (41% vs. 29%). Meanwhile, Hindu women are more likely than men to say they are closest to the goddess Lakshmi (33% vs. 22%).

Many Indians believe God can be manifested in other people

Hindus more likely than others to say God can be manifested in nature, animals, people

About three-quarters of Hindus say that God can be manifested in nature (76%) – the most common manifestation Hindus say is possible. By contrast, Muslims and Christians are more likely to believe that God can be manifested in people (44% and 46%, respectively) than in nature or animals.

Indians who have a favorable view of the BJP are significantly more likely than Indians who disapprove of the ruling party to think God can manifest in any of these ways. For instance, while two-thirds of BJP supporters say God can be manifested in animals, roughly half of BJP detractors (52%) share this belief.

Indians’ beliefs on how God can be manifested tie into where they live. Urban Indians are less likely than rural Indians to say God can be manifested in nature, animals and people. And Southern Indians are the least likely to say that God can be manifested in people.

Half of Indians believe God can be manifested in lower-caste people

Indians less likely to say God can be manifested in people who have done bad things

People who belong to Scheduled Castes and Tribes and other lower castes are more likely than those in General Category castes to say God can be manifested in a person who is of a lower caste (56% vs. 48%). But there are no significant differences in responses by caste on whether God can be manifested in people who have done bad deeds.

Hindus are more likely than members of other religious groups to say that God can manifest in lower-caste people and in people who have done bad things, in part because Hindus are more inclined than people from other religious communities to say God can be manifested in people at all.

Indians almost universally ask God for good health, prosperity, forgiveness

Financial hardship has minimal impact on asking God for prosperity

Indian adults who say religion is very important in their lives are more likely than others to ask God for good health (93% vs. 85%), with similar patterns in asking for prosperity or forgiveness. However, among Christians, those who say religion is very important are slightly less likely than other Christians to ask God for good health (92% vs. 96%).

The vast majority of Indians who have faced financial difficulties in the past year say they ask God for prosperity (94%) as well as good health (93%) and forgiveness (92%). But Indians who recently faced financial hardship are only slightly more likely than other Indians to ask God for each of these things, including prosperity (94% and 92%, respectively).

While Indians with different levels of education also are about equally likely to ask God for good health, prosperity and forgiveness, college-educated Christians are somewhat more inclined than other Christians to ever ask God for forgiveness (98% vs. 90%), a pattern also seen among Sikhs (95% vs. 86%).

Fifteen named deities were available for selection, though no answer options were read aloud. Respondents could select up to three of those 15 deities by naming them or selecting the corresponding image shown on a card. The answer option “another god” was available on the card or if any other deity name was volunteered by the respondent. Other possible answer options included “I do not have a god I feel closest to” and “I have many personal gods,” though neither was on the card. See the questionnaire or topline for the full list of gods offered. ↩

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About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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India’s opposition makes its election case, calling Modi an autocrat and promising aid to the poor

India’s opposition Congress party leaders from left, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Rahul Gandhi, display copies of party’s election manifesto during a press conference in New Delhi, India, Friday, April 5, 2024. India’s 6-week-long general election starts on April 19 and results will be announced on June 4. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A worker sweeps the premises of India’s main opposition Congress party headquarters during party’s manifesto release in New Delhi, India, Friday, April 5, 2024. Congress party released its election manifesto on Friday urging people to vote out Prime Minister Narendra Modi whom it described as autocratic and promising economic reforms to lift 230 million people out of poverty in 10 years. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

India’s opposition Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge, gestures during a press conference to release the party’s election manifesto in New Delhi, India, Friday, April 5, 2024. India’s 6-week-long general election starts on April 19 and results will be announced on June 4. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

India’s opposition Congress party leaders from left, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and K.C.Venugopal look at copies of party’s election manifesto during a press conference in New Delhi, India, Friday, April 5, 2024. India’s 6-week-long general election starts on April 19 and results will be announced on June 4. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

India’s opposition Congress party leaders from left, Rahul Gandhi and K.C.Venugopal look on during a press conference to release the party’s election manifesto in New Delhi, India, Friday, April 5, 2024. India’s 6-week-long general election starts on April 19 and results will be announced on June 4. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

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NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s main opposition party vowed to boost social spending and reverse what it views as a slide into autocracy as it laid out its campaign promises on Friday, two weeks before the start of a weeks-long, multi-phase general election .

Most polls have predicted a victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party for a third straight five-year term. But the Congress Party argues that he’s undermined India’s democracy and favored the interests of the rich in its election manifesto.

India holds elections on different days in different parts of the country, stretching over weeks . Voting for the country’s parliament this year will begin on April 19 and run until June 1, and the results will be announced on June 4.

Modi is broadly popular in India, where he’s considered a champion of the country’s Hindu majority and has overseen rapid economic growth. But critics say another term for the BJP could undermine India’s status as a secular, democratic nation, saying it’s 10 years in power have brought attacks by Hindu nationalists against the country’s minorities, particularly Muslims , and a shrinking space for dissent and free media.

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Rahul Gandhi, a former Congress party president, said “this election is fundamentally a different election. I don’t think that democracy has been as much at risk, the constitution has been at as much risk as it is today.”

Congress’s president, Mallikarjun Kharge, accused the government of crippling his party by freezing its bank accounts in a tax dispute ahead of national elections. Tax authorities have demanded nearly 35 billion rupees ($426 million) from the Congress party.

The BJP said the Congress party’s bank accounts were partially frozen because it had failed to file an income tax return for cash donations it received from 2017-18 onward, and it had therefore lost the tax exemption available to political parties.

The Modi government has opened tax investigations against a number of critical voices in recent years and cited tax issues to cancel the registration of many foreign-funded non-governmental organizations.

In February last year, tax authorities carried out searches of the BBC’s New Delhi and Mumbai offices saying that it had not fully declared its income and profits from its operations in the country. The searches came after the British broadcaster aired a documentary in the U.K. that criticized Modi.

Congress also attacked Modi’s economic record, saying that despite strong growth he’s presided over a widening gap between rich and poor and that his economy has failed to provide jobs for many Indians.

The official unemployment rate was 4% in 2023, but Congress wrote that the government has under-counted unemployment, citing its own surveys.

According to the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, CMIE, a leading private business information company, the unemployment rate in India stood at 8.3% in December, up from 6.5% in January 2022.

Congress laid out economic plans it said could lift 230 million people out of poverty in 10 years, targeting poverty, unemployment and low agricultural prices.

It’s promising to give each woman in a poor family 100,000 rupees ($1,200) a year, to spend a similar amount on apprenticeships for people below 25, to fill nearly 3 million vacancies in the federal government, and to boost a cap on public health insurance payments from 500,000 rupees per incident to 2.5 million.

The BJP has implemented social programs that improved access to clean toilets, health care, and cooking gas, and introduced programs that provide free grain to the poor and pay 6,000 rupees ($73) a year to poor farmers.

Congress also promised to raise incomes for farmers with policies including wider use of minimum crop price policies. Tens of thousands of Indian farmers protested in India in 2021 to demand guaranteed crop prices , and in March this year thousands went to New Delhi with renewed demands.

The BJP is expected to release its election manifesto next week.

Prime Minister Modi has been campaigning extensively across the country, promising to expand the country’s economy to $5 trillion by 2027 from around $3.7 trillion. He is also promising to put India on track to become a developed country by 2047, when the country celebrates 100 years of independence from British colonialists.

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