Lutheran Student Movement-USA

1988

1988-12 Resolution Adopting a Statement on Native America Affairs

WHEREAS, the first inhabitants of this land were the indigenous peoples of North

America, and they retain an inherent right to dwell therein; and

WHEREAS, the treaties made with the Native American nations are guaranteed by the

Constitution of the United States, and their breach would threaten the Rule of Law among us and besmirch the sacred honor of the American people; and

WHEREAS, racial slurs of the most barbarous and ignorant kind continue to be directed

against Native Americans today; and

WHEREAS, the best witness we can give to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the peace of our

lives, the justice of our churches, and the beauty of our devotion to our God; and

WHEREAS, we have not always respected the religious freedom of Native Americans, or

the sanctity of their places of worship; and

WHEREAS, we are constantly reminded by the ecological situation in our own time of

some things the Naive nations have always said, namely that the Earth is our mother, on whom we depend, and that the whole Creation testifies to the glory of its Maker; and

WHEREAS, the spiritual traditions of the Native peoples address the deepest questions of

human existence, and give powerful visions into them which we would do well to understand;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the National Gathering of the Lutheran Student

Movement-USA, gathered at Atlanta, adopt this Statement on Native American Affairs, believing it to be not a final declaration, but a preliminary expression of our concern for these issues.

1. The treaties with Native American nations were negotiated between sovereign bodies, and must not be violated by one side or the other.  Attempts in Congress to abrogate the treaties or to nullify their effect are ill-conceived and mischievous.  Where problems have arisen to the exercise of rights reserved in the treaties, they should be resolved by calm negotiation between the Native nations and the states.

2. The traditional Jewish reading for Passover says, “Each person should consider themselves to have been personally liberated from the bonds of oppression in Egypt.”  Our churches should be awake to the possibility of racism directed against Native Americans, both in cities and in rural areas, and should regard it as if it were a blow against themselves.

3. Native American culture has long been neglected in our colleges and universities.  Many of our nation’s greatest schools teach hundreds of languages, not one of which was ever heard in the country before 1490.  As students, we ought to encourage faculty who study Native cultures, and question why more funds are not allocated to Native American Studies, both for the sake of academic balance and to assist Native Americans on and off campus in conserving their heritage. 

4. In our own lifetimes, humans have become able to step of the Earth and see it as a blue jewel floating in space, and also to see the global effects of pollution.  The early inhabitants did not press the land and its resources as hard as we now do.  For the sake of everybody on this spaceship, we should try to recover something of their regard for the Creation. 

5. We renounce for all time the use of force or coercion, or the exploitation of the dependant positive of another, in gaining converts for Christianity.  We which only to live our lives as faithful servants of Jesus Christ and peaceful witnesses to God’s love for all humanity, trusting the power of the Holy Spirit to call others to do the same.

6. To those who are sure of the closeness of God, the beliefs of those who do not share our Christian faith are no threat.  We should not feel uncomfortable in assisting followers of Native American Traditional religion in worshiping as their ancestors did.  Let all parties say what they believe, honestly and without rancor, and let each person grow spiritually as their conscience bids them.

7. To Native Americans and others who want to understand the epiphanies of God and of the Universe in Traditional religion, while living in the covenant of their Baptism, we welcome you with open arms into our circle, and may the thoughts we share together rise like smoke to Heave, and rain down upon us again as a blessing.

Let it be so. Amen

This notion was authored by David Smith with the support and sponsorship of those active in the LSM chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and following a suggestion made at the Regional Assembly of the North-Central Region.