In Defense of Hopi Religious Freedom
Recently the Hopi's right to religous freedom has come under fire by several organizations because of the Hopi practice of gathering a dozen or so eaglets every year and having petitioned to gather from their traditional usage land at the Wupatki National Monument in addition to their reservation.
Some groups like PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) have raised concerns and while we at CERTAIN don't agree these concerns are legitimate, they have been raised in a respectful manner, have been limited only to eaglet gathering at Wupatki and they haven't called for a ban on the Hopi's religious practices or condemned the Hopi or their religion in any way.
Even though CERTAIN doesn't agree with PEER's concerns we do appreciate the respect they have shown during this issue.
On the other hand you have several, if not the vast majority of groups, using racial overtones, inciting racial divisiveness and even going as far as to not only ban the Hopi from Wupatki but to also try to illegally have the Hopi religious ceremony banned.
Especially disturbing was an opinion piece printed in Audubon Magazine that was so full of divisive racial rhetoric, misinformation, several unreferenced sources, and out right lies we can't believe that a organization with the reputation of the Audubon Society would even give credence, much less actually print such nonsense.
Several groups such as the USA Raptor Education Foundation (USAREF) have been quoting this opinion piece as if it were a documented and researched factual study. USAREF has even gone as far as to compare the Hopi rituals to "human sacrifice", alluded that the Hopi once practiced "human sacrifice of children" and used other racially insensitive and divisive language on their website, language they would with not dare to use about any other race or culture.
CERTAIN stands in support of the Hopi Nation's right to religious freedom, including the right to gather eaglets or any other religious needs from Wupatki National Monument, land that they have used traditionally for these purposes for hundreds of years, land that was never ceded to the United States by treaty.
Below you will find several articles on the Hopi's right to religious freedom and statements by individuals in support of the Hopi.