Native American Church traditions just survived a Ninth Circuit battle, but a war within the church wages on.
In this article, the final chapter of a three-part series, Courthouse News looks at the church's place in the nationwide movement to decriminalize marijuana.
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Larger Questions Remain Unanswered
Though happy that the Ninth Circuit ruled against a nontraditional church using its name earlier this month, five major players in the Native American Church had hoped the federal appeals would touch on broader issues.
In an amicus brief, the National Council of Native American Churches and other groups asked the court to designate peyote as the only sacrament in Native American Church doctrine.
Council president Sandor Iron Rope said establishing the true underpinnings of the Native American Church are a critical part of protecting its traditions.
"What we're going off of is tribal lineage, tribal teachings that come down from our grandma and grandpa," Iron Rope said. "We're not in a New Age paradigm where we create our own religion and grab anything and put it on our altar and say it's sacred. You can call anything sacred, but we have a tribal lineage and teaching that tells us what actually is and isn't."
The Ninth Circuit did not reach these questions in its April 6 ruling against one of the nontraditional Native American churches that Iron Rope's council condemns.
Peyote in the Native American tradition dates back thousands of years, but Michael Mooney's Native American Church of Hawaii had asked the court to extend federal protections for its use of marijuana, which it calls a central sacrament.
The court shot them down, but Mooney said there is no single religious doctrine uniting the many nations of Native America.
"Prior to colonization, we had thousands of tribes," Mooney said. "Some smoked cannabis as prayer smoke — any smoke gives prayers to creator and ancestors."
Not all native nations have a tradition of using peyote. And the Sun Dance was mostly practiced by plains tribes.
Some native groups don't use peyote, but practice religious pipe ceremonies where they smoke a blend of herbs and tobacco called kinnikinnick.
And all have their own varying religious songs and stories.
"For any Native American nation to put aside all the other songs and tradition and say that peyote is the only sacrament is absolutely ridiculous," Mooney said. "They're trying to claim ownership of the Native American Church. It's absurd."
Mooney called marijuana a "very appropriate" medicine for the ailments of modern times. "When you get going too much in modern society, it allows you to slow down and feel things and actually think about things in a conscious manner," he added. "We can see and notice and obviousness of creator around us."
The Mooney family's connection to a Native American tribe is disputed.
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