In the Presence of the Secular: Protecting Sacred Places

Abstract: This essay discusses Indigenous Peoples’ sacred or significant places within the context of settler colonialism, Indigenous Land Acknowledgments, and a reparative justice framework. For Indigenous Peoples, certain spaces are sacred or significant: places of emergence, places where spiritual energy manifests, places where Higher Powers interact with humans, or places where either nature or human behavior has altered people’s perception. At these places, Indigenous Peoples conduct specific ceremonies at specific times to ensure that all life continues—an authentic land acknowledgment. Until the settlers’ recent arrival, our time-immemorial ceremonies at these places remained unchanged. However, since their arrival, settlers have either prohibited or curbed our access to our sacred or significant places. Settlers have even outlawed our spiritual practices altogether. In denying us both our sacred sites and our spiritual practices, settlers have disrupted our spiritual traditions and our ability to fulfill the responsibilities we owe to the Natural World. Nowadays, settlers invoke Indigenous Land Acknowledgments. Like yesteryear’s Indian mascots that “honored” or “showed respect” for Indigenous Peoples, they claim their land acknowledgments “honor” Indigenous Peoples as the land’s original stewards. However, reparative justice offers settlers a moral path that does more than offer land-acknowledgment bromides. Returning stolen Indigenous lands to us restores a moral universe.