Introduction to the Book Review Symposium on Michael McNally's Defend the Sacred
The Journal of Law and Religion November 18, 2021 D. Lloyd
Indigenous nations have repeatedly lost federal court cases seeking to protect sacred lands and practices under U.S. religious freedom laws, including the First Amendment, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Michael McNally's book argues that religious freedom law has failed Indigenous peoples because the category of religion itself does not capture what is distinctive about Indigenous religions, which are tied to particular lands, waters, and ways of living well. In response to these losses, some Indigenous nations are pursuing alternative legal strategies, such as the Yurok Tribal Council's 2019 Klamath River Resolution, which recognizes the river's rights to exist and flourish.