LDS promoted Atrocities upon the American Native Culture                                            

LDS promoted Atrocities upon the American Native Culture

by James Warren ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney, Native American Church

 

The Native American Church is today the only Church recognized by the United States Government and the United Nations as a Spiritually Earth Based Healing Religion.

The end justifies the means

“Today the beautiful word Zion, with all its emotional and historical associations, is used as the name Christian was formerly used, to put the stamp of sanctity on what men choose to do. The Hebrew word for financial activity of any kind is mamonut, and the financier is a mamonai; that is, financing is, quite frankly, in that honest language, the business of Mammon. From the very first there were Latter-day Saints who thought to promote the cause of Zion by using the methods of Babylon…. [But we] have the word of the Prophet Joseph that Zion is not to be built up using the methods of Babylon. He says, ‘Here are those who begin to spread out, buying up all the land they can, to the exclusion of the poorer ones who are not so much blessed with this world’s goods, thinking to lay foundations for themselves only, looking to their own individual families and those who are to follow them…. Now I want to tell you that Zion cannot be built up in any such way.’ What do we find today? Zion’s Investment, Zion Used Cars, Zion Construction, Zion Development, Zion Bank, Zion Leasing, Zion Insurance, Zion Securities, Zion Trust, and so on. The institutions of Mammon are made respectable by the beautiful name of Zion. Zion and Babylon both have their appeal, but the voice of the latter-day revelation makes one thing perfectly clear as it tells us repeatedly that we cannot have them both.” (” Our Glory or Our Condemnation,” Approaching Zion, 20-21), Hugh Nibley, http://www.timesandseasons.org/index.php?p=2000  

Until one recognizes and acknowledges their responsibility for all disrespectful transgression behavior, one is condemned to repeat the same transgression in one form or another until the proven perpetrator is held accountable by having some type of restitution administered to the grieved party.  

Some historical examples of inappropriate actions conducted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints against the First Americans and their decedents from an American Native Perspective.

1) State of Utah Peyote Bill of Attainder Law, 2006, Daily Herald Monday, January 23, 2006, IN OUR VIEW Editorial Board, Albert J. Manzi, President & Publisher, Randy Wright, Executive Editor, Donald W. Meyers, Editorial page editor, Nancy Hale, Public adviser, “Laws should be written to address broad issues and not just to hammer one individual.  Unfortunately, that concept escapes Rep. Curtis Oda, R-Ogden, who is taking aim once again at James Warren “Flaming eagle” Mooney through the legislative process”.  “It is clear to anyone who reviews Oda’s bill that it is an attempt to go after Mooney rather than to address a larger issue.  The bill violates the First Amendment directive that government should not abridge the free exercise of religion.  The Constitution clearly directs government to take a hands-off approach, neither favoring nor restricting a particular sect.  Moreover, because nobody else besides Mooney is in question, Oda’s proposal runs dangerously, close to being a bill of attainder – a law against an individual –, which is forbidden by Article I of the Constitution.  Of course, the lawyers would make a technical case that it isn’t, but this is clearly Oda’s intent.” http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/161334/57/

2) IN THE SUPREME COURT FOR THE STATE OF UTAH, Plaintiff, Case No. 20010787SC v. MOONEY, ET AL., Defendant, HEARING, November 4, 2003, Page 3,

“MS. COLLARD:  The issue here is whether the lower court erred in denying the motion to dismiss the multiple first and second degree felony charges instituted against the defendant [inaudible] Native American Church, and its spiritual leaders, instituted by Utah County authorities for alleged control substance criminal enterprise, racketeering, forfeiture of church property, all rising from the defendants’ use and provision of peyote to other church members in bona fide Native American Church ceremonies.

THE COURT:  Excuse me, Ms. Collard.  I just notice in your opening sentence.  Is the church actually a defendant in the criminal proceeding?”

  1. COLLARD: It is.

THE COURT:  Okay

  1. COLLARD: It is, Your Honor. The defendant church and its spiritual leaders moved to dismiss the charges against them, and I might add that each first-degree felony charge under the Utah Controlled Substance Act carries a mandatory penalty of an indeterminate term of not less than seven years, and which may be for life.  Imposition or execution of sentence may not be suspended, and the person is not eligible for probation.

3) We have pictures of wagonloads of Piute Heads; with the Mormon Temple in the background, with the caption to the picture stating, ‘these men have earned their two-dollar gold piece per head’. Clifford ‘White Buffalo Man’ Jake told to James Warren ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney, 1988.

4) Murders and Slaughtering of Indians and their eventual displacement from Utah’s Pristine Valleys, 1847 – 2008, “With its disproportionate focus on pioneering, the Mormon sense of the past is compressed and insular. Intentionally or not, native peoples have been pushed to the historical margins—the realm of footnotes and folklore. Utah Mormons preoccupies themselves with the narrative of getting to Utah. The pioneer trek is their “master commemorative narrative.” They have little incentive to think about what happened here before or even afterward. Notwithstanding the achievement of “making the desert blossom as the rose,” Utah’s territorial period was, from a strict believer’s standpoint, a debacle. Two cornerstones of Mormonism—the imminence of the Millennium and the sanctity of polygamy—wore away. After the forced Americanization of 1890, the LDS Church decided to place more emphasis on the miraculous past than on the miraculous future. Moreover, the historical emphasis was selective. The “First Vision” of Joseph Smith and the pioneer trek of Brigham Young emerged as the favored episodes for commemoration. Over the twentieth century, the Church did everything in its power to etch these episodes into collective memory. Simultaneously it did its best to erase polygamy from public consciousness. The laity abetted these efforts. Therefore, the territorial period as a whole became indistinct. Indians faded out with the polygamists. The native peoples of the Great Basin are now doubly disadvantaged in Mormon memory: not only are the Lamanites forgettable because they didn’t live up to prophecy; they are associated with a prophetic era that most Latter-day Saints would rather forget. By contrast, pioneering is a supremely usable past.”  http://www.juvenileinstructor.org/guest-post-mormons-indian-displacement-and-useable-pasts/

5) Indian Depredations in Utah, 1850 – 1872 “The murder of Old Bishop made matters worse precipitating a bloody battle at the fort, and the beheading of some 50 Ute Indians. Fort Utah” http://www.blackhawkproductions.com/fortutah.htm

6) Mountain Meadows Massacre, September 11, 1857, “conspired to lead militiamen disguised as Native Americans along with a contingent of Paiute tribesmen in an attack” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_massacre

7) Bear River Massacre, January 23, 1863, more than 300 Indians Killed, Northwestern Band of Shoshone, “Local Mormons hailed the atrocity “as an intervention of the Almighty,” but Army surgeon John Lauderdale thought otherwise.  This “hardest fought battle was instigated without a doubt by the Mormons” http://www.lemhi-shoshone.com/northwest_band_shoshone.html Unofficially, they were to keep an eye on the Mormons, a community Connor considered “Traitors, murderers, fan Colonel Conner, antics and whores” whose leaders preached “treason from the pulpit.” “In January 1863, Mormon gunman Porter Rockwell led Connor’s force north in bitterly cold weather to attack Bear Hunter’s band near today’s Franklin, Idaho.” http://historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/history_matters/031702.html

8) Brigham Young – King Robinson murder, October 21, 1866, “When King Robinson was brutally murdered after challenging Mormon land titles, Connor blamed Brigham’s Destroying Angels and vowed: “As long as I have breath I shall denounce and cry aloud for vengeance on the foul assassins.” http://historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/history_matters/031702.html, http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A06E1DC103DE53BBC4B52DFB767838D679FDE,                                                 “However, in December 1871, several city police officers and several leading Mormons, including Brigham Young, were arrested on murder charges, specifically for the Robinson murder case.” http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A06E1DC103DE53BBC4B52DFB767838D679FDE

9) Ghost Dance, Indian Prophet Wovoka (Jack Wilson), 1888, – Indian name for this Dance was ‘Spirit Dance’ or white man’s interpretation was the Millennial Dance or the Dance of Gratitude.  Wovoka was a baptized Mormon (Told by Piute Tribal Chief, Gary Tom).  The Mormons were responsible for changing the name of the Spirit Dance to the Ghost Dance, and the origin of the Ghost Dance Shirt (Mormon Garments) was instituted by Wovoka to appease his Mormon leadership.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Dance , Wovoka and the Ghost Dance By Michael Hittman, Don Lynch,http://books.google.com/books?id=oEwMCjFbrUwC&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=Ghost+Dance+Mooney+mormons&source=web&ots=0JmCKrrxcH&sig=G2k20aTOtc9zBiZ0p1lVWFv9L_E&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPP1,M1

10) Wounded Knee Massacre, December 29, 1890, – “On the bone-chilling morning of December 29, m devotees of the newly created Ghost Dance religion made a lengthy trek to the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota to seek protection from military apprehension.  Members of the Miniconjou Sioux (Lakota Tribe led by Chief Big Foot and the Hunk papa Sioux (Lakota) followers of the recently slain charismatic leader, Sitting Bull, attempted to escape arrest by fleeing south through the rugged terrain of the Badlands.  There, on the snowy banks of Wounded Knee Creek (Cankpe Opi Wakpala), nearly 300 Lakota men, women, and children – old and young- were massacred in a highly charged, violent encounter with U.S. soldiers.” http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/woundedknee/WKIntro.html

11) George Roybal, et al., Plaintiffs v. Gary W. Deland, et al., Utah State Supreme Court ruling to order Sweat Lodge Ceremonies, 1989                                                                                                                         

12) Some Mormon Brethren do not like what you are doing, 1991, Hurricane Stake President Jim Lemon

  1. Governor Leavitt – 30-1-6.Who may solemnize marriages, State of Utah Legislators 1993 Amended
  2. 26-38-3.5. Smoking ban exemption for Native American ceremony, Enacted by Chapter 125, 1995 General Session,

13) “My Grand-daddy used to tell us kids that he killed Indians like we kill jack rabbits today” January 3, 1994, A Central Utah Correctional Facility (CUCF) employee loudly boasting to two other CUCF employee’s while sitting behind me in the CUCF employee lunchroom as I was eating my on my first day at work as a Director of the Last Shot Program.  This incident was reported to my direct supervisor Lt. Celeste Denton.

14) LDS Manti Stake, Church Sterling Ward Members Letter to Governor Leavitt                                                         1994 expressing their outrage for hiring a Native American Medicine Man on at CUCF instead of any other non-Indian person in their community

15) I was asked by my LDS Gunnison Stake President Mathews for my Temple Recommend, “I don’t like what you are doing” 1996,

  1. President Mathews worked in the CUCF education department; one his Councilor was an assistant Warden while the other was the mayor of the City of Gunnison
  2. President Mathews to deny my Temple recommend because of the practicing of my Native American Ceremonies.
    • General Authority Anderson rejected President Mathews attempt to deny me of my temple attendance.
    • President Mathews threw my Temple Recommended at me as I entered his office.
    • Bishop Christiansen denies President Mathews demand to start excommunication proceedings against me because of my leading Native American Ceremonies. He refused and shortly thereafter was released from his Bishop calling after serving only 2 years being a bishop.
    • Terminated from Central Utah Correctional Facility 1997 For conducting Native American Church ceremonies outside of State of Utah Correctional Facilities.
    • City of Gunnison denied James WFE Mooney Business License, 1997
    • City of Gunnison, Secretary of the City Council and her husband 1997 in the late evening informed me that Our Stake President and his councilors have done everything under the sun to kick us out of the Gunnison community.

Filed Civil Suit against the State of Utah Department of Corrections (DOC) May 4, 1998 terminating my employment based religious and cultural issues.  Civil Suit against the State of Utah DOC was settled Out of Court with $50,000.00 award September 6, 2000 http://ca10.washburnlaw.edu/cases/2002/08/01-4090.htm

  1. LDS Benjamin Ward Bishop Hanson never called me to be a home teacher 1999 – 2000 even though I was in full fellowship.
  1. Oklevueha EarthWalks Native American Church of Utah Inc. raided by Utah County officials October 2000, knowing that Oklevueha EarthWalks Native American Church of Utah Inc was a bona fide Native American Church see Utah County Sheriff, Sheriff Deputy Tracy Jones Report INCID NO: 03907-06, 07/20/1999
  2. I was asked by my Spanish Fork LDS Stake President Hicken for my Temple Recommend, 2000
  3. My Wife Linda T. Mooney and I were arrested November 2000
  4. I was excommunicated from the LDS Church 2000 and not given a reason for the excommunication.
  5. The LDS Church Presidency attempted to have Linda Excommunicated 2000 However Bishop Hansen and his councilors refused to do so for they could not find any reason to do so.  They were later released from their callings without serving 5 years.
  6. State of Utah Agent Jim Pritchard (LDS Member) increased his slanderous and terrorist (threats to Kill) activities 2000, against Oklevueha EarthWalks Native American Church and myself, see Utah County Attorney’s Office Investigative Report, Case # 00-070 MOONEY, Date: December 13, 2000, Investigator: Jeff Robinson, Code: Witness, Name: Jim Pritchard, JM 04941 and Utah County Crime Report #00-41832, PAGE 4 REPORT WRITTEN BY: Deputy Sean Davis, December 2000