The Sad Story on How North Dakota’s Religious Leaders Are Mostly Ignoring Native Concerns About DAPL

Rev. John Floberg has served as an Episcopal priest on the Standing Rock Reservation for a quarter century. He is one of few religious leaders in North Dakota to play an active role in supporting the water protectors camps and listening to people’s concerns, according to a story in the Bismarck Tribune.

Floberg was the one who invited clergy from around the country to come to the camps last fall, an event that drew around 500 leaders of different faiths to support Standing Rock in its efforts to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). He continues working to support relationships between Native and non-Native peoples, for instance, giving gift cards to his Native American congregants so they can eat with non-native friends in Bismarck-Mandan. Floberg said it was his 25 years on the reservation that gave him the understanding on how to stand his ground in this contentious situation.

Other than the backstory on Floberg, this is a sad article. The Bismarck Tribune reports:

Though support and endorsements have flooded in from religious institutions around the world, few Christian leaders on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation and in North Dakota took an active role. In fact, Floberg was nearly unique in his activism. …

More broadly in North Dakota, the only churches to take on an active role have been the Unitarian Universalists in Bismarck and the Presentation Sisters in Fargo, according to Karen von Fassen, of the UU church. Some did partake individually by coming to rallies or participating in interfaith prayer events.

To be fair, this is a very polarizing issue in North Dakota, not an easy issue for religious leaders to address. (Locally, compare it to the difficult conversations in congregations around Black Lives Matter protesting at Mall of America or blocking  freeways to highlight police shootings.) Yet this is where faith gets tested.

ELCA Presiding Bishop Says Church is Called to Support Standing Rock

Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), today issued a statement urging the denomination’s 9,000+ member congregations to offer prayers and monetary support for the Standing Rock Nation in North Dakota, which is leading efforts to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. Her statement read in part:

Acknowledging the complexity of this issue and the limitations sin places on human decisions, I believe that we are called as a church to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe: to stand with the Tribe as they seek justice, to encourage our congregations to pray for them and to offer material support, and to examine the racism inherent in our system that contributes to the current crisis. …

We will lend our presence when invited, our advocacy when requested, the resources of our people when asked, and our prayers, friendship and repentance at all times.

Water Protectors Arrested at Gunpoint at Dakota Access Pipeline, Independent Media Says

According to the websites theantimedia and Unicornriot,  law enforcement in North Dakota has begun arresting those trying to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline Project near the Standing Rock Reservation.

According to a Unicorn Riot report today:

Multiple lockdowns are taking place at two Dakota Access Pipeline construction sites. All work has stopped. While a surveillance plane and helicopter circle overhead, police on the ground have blocked all road access to both sites.

Approximately 100 riot police have come to at least one site, armed with assault rifles and less-lethal weapons. Around 20 people have just been arrested at the site of the #NoDAPL lockdown, including medics and two Unicorn Riot journalists. As arrests are under way, Facebook is censoring our live video stream.

Healing Minnesota Stories cannot assess what actions Facebook did or did not take. Here is an archived video link by UnicornRiot that was working when we tried it at 7:05 p.m. CST.

This action against comes after private security guards used attack dogs earlier this month on those trying to protect water and sacred lands.

The Dakota Access Pipeline would pass under the Missouri River one mile from the Reservation’s fresh water intake. The route also crosses sacred Lakota lands. The original route had the pipeline passing near Bismarck, N.D. It was rerouted because of concerns an oil spill would contaminate the capital city’s drinking water. There is clearly less concern about the drinking water for Standing Rock residents.

To get some additional information on why Standing Rock opposes this route, check out this 5-minute video showing how pipeline construction already has brought destruction to Lakota sacred sites. (Thanks to LeMoine LaPointe for the link.)

Several religious denominations and other groups began weighing in on the side of Standing Rock and its allies, even before the violence escalated.