Northern Arapaho Tribe Tears Out Driveway to Controversial Evangelical Church: Standoff Over Pastor's Sun Dance Remarks Continues
On the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, Northern Arapaho Tribe leaders used heavy construction equipment to remove a driveway entrance to Foundations For Nations, an evangelical church, according to a November 2 report by the Native news outlet Buffalo's Fire, citing the Cowboy State Daily's original October 29 reporting. The demolition took place on Thursday, October 29: a culvert was removed, tribal leaders planted the tribe's flag at the site, and several tribal citizens cheered.
The church stands on private property within the reservation boundaries. With one access point removed, the church can still be reached by a different road. The tribe held no public hearing on the decision, according to the Cowboy State Daily. Bureau of Indian Affairs officers were on scene to observe, and Wyoming officials said the matter remains tribal. The church's pastor, Sarah Lucas, did not respond to a request for comment.
The standoff began with a sermon in July. Wyoming Public Radio reported that on July 5, the last day of the Northern Arapaho Sun Dance ceremony, Lucas ridiculed the Sun Dance and its ceremonial pipe in a sermon; video of the remarks went viral across Indian Country, and protesters have demonstrated outside the church for weeks demanding that it leave. The reservation's two tribal governments, the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone, have both asked the church to go and adopted a registration system requiring their approval of all nontribal organizations; the church can no longer pick up and drop off children on the reservation.
Lucas has apologized for how the sermon came across but says the church owns its land and has no plans to leave, pointing to services it provides the community, including a food bank, clothing giveaways and after-school programs. Protesters say they will keep demonstrating. The boundary between religious freedom and tribal self-governance remains unresolved. The original report is at Buffalo's Fire: Northern Arapaho Tribe tears out driveway to controversial evangelical church.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：怀俄明州 Wind River 山脉（资料图，非事发地点）。Casey Goodlett 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Wind River Range in Wyoming (file photo, not the site of the incident). Photo by Casey Goodlett, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
