Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumNotre Dame Law School Religious Liberty Initiative files amicus brief in support of Apache Stronghol
The Notre Dame Law School Religious Liberty Initiative has filed an amicus brief in the United States District Court in the case Apache Stronghold vs. United States of America. The brief argues in favor of religious liberty protections for Oak Flat, an Indigenous sacred site in Arizona being threatened with destruction.
The brief was filed by Notre Dame Law Professor Stephanie Barclay, a First Amendment scholar who directs the Law Schools Religious Liberty Initiative, along with the Religious Liberty Initiatives student cohort. Our brief highlights a history of callousness and coercion against Indigenous sacred sites like Oak Flat. Our religious freedom laws wouldnt allow the government to demolish churches with impunity, and the same should be true of a site that has been sacred to the Apache people for generations, Barclay said. The brief represents Ramon Riley, the White Mountain Apache Tribe Cultural Resource Director, the Morning Star Institute, and the MICA Group (Multicultural Initiative for Community Advancement).
Notre Dames campus is blessed with many sacred places: from the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. But for the Apache people, there is only one Oak Flat, said Dan Loesing, a 2L student who took a lead role on this brief. It's an honor to work to protect this historic sacred site and the free exercise rights of those who gather there for prayer and religious ceremonies.
https://law.nd.edu/news-events/news/notre-dame-law-school-religious-liberty-initiative-files-amicus-brief-in-support-of-apache-stronghold-in-oak-flat-litigation/
Raster
(20,998 posts)... the Apache Tribes have been treated like second class citizens for far too long.
ret5hd
(20,483 posts)Duppers
(28,117 posts)Why should only Christian religious sites matter? That's a racially biased, Christo-fascist view that should have been challenged decades, if not a century ago.
abqtommy
(14,118 posts)indigenous groups in mind.