Medical Entomology and Zoology · 1996 · 30 citations · 0 references
LawReligionReligious StudiesFreedom Of ReligionIndigenous StudiesNative American StudiesFree Exercise Of ReligionIndigenous LawIndigenous PeoplesIndigenous RightsReligious ExemptionsReligious FreedomFirst Amendment Free Exercise ClauseNative American Religious FreedomNative American Religious PracticeNative American Religious RightsPeyote ReligionPrayer MeetingsReligious Freedom ClausesReligious Uses
This book celebrates endurance of Native American Church, which now has some 80 chapters throughout country. Prayer meetings, sacramental use of peyote, and significance of various practices and objects are described. Eloquent testimony of Church members from different tribes demonstrates that peyote is not used to obtain visions but to heal body and spirit and to teach righteousness. The authors describe legal battle to overturn Supreme Court's Smith decision of 1990, which cited peyote use to deny Native American Church First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. The American Indian Religious Freedom ActAmendments, passed by Congress in 1994, providing an exemption allowing use of peyote by Native American Church, was overturned by Supreme Court in 1997.