FOR NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH, PEYOTE IS SACRED

All his life, Tommy Billy has faced ridicule for practicing a religious
belief as old as the red canyon rocks near his home on the Navajo
Reservation in northern Arizona.

He is a follower of an ancient religion that uses the peyote cactus -
classified as a hallucinogenic drug in this country - in the manner that
Catholics use sacramental wine.

He has come to accept that mainstream America misunderstands his way of
worship, the Native American Church, which claims about 250,000 members,
30,000 among the Navajo. But there is another kind of disregard toward his
belief that worries him. This time, it is the people on his own reservation
who are the perpetrators.

Non-believers, mainly Navajo teens, reportedly have been using peyote in
the way some people take recreational drugs. The active ingredient in the
cactus is mescaline, a mind-altering stimulant that the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration has placed in the same category as heroin and
LSD. A federal law, however, exempts church members from prosecution when
peyote is used in religious ceremonies.

The Navajo Nation government is holding public hearings around the
reservation to discuss stricter tribal laws that will crack down on illegal
use of peyote without obstructing the religious freedom of bona fide church
members.

Billy, who is a chapter board member of the Native American Church of
Navajoland, says there is a proposal to remove peyote from the tribe's
controlled-substances law. A new ordinance would authorize the use,
possession, sale, trade and delivery of peyote by an American Indian for
bona fide religious use.

It hurts Billy that his own people would abuse something he considers a
holy medicine. And it hurts me, too.

Just like Billy, I have been chided, criticized and looked upon with
suspicion because of my standing as a Native American Church member.

I was born into the church and baptized in the Half-Moon Fireplace of the
Native American Church of Wisconsin. The principles of the Wisconsin
chapter are built on the belief in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We sit on the ground and worship the triune God in all-night prayer
services. We listen to sermons, sing praises to the Creator, offer prayers
and foster fellowship among the congregation.

We also partake of the sacrament, a sacred rite that opens our souls and
senses to fully receive the Creator. That's the part non-believers have
difficulty understanding.

There are people outside the church, however, who accept and support our
beliefs. A Catholic priest once told me that many Christians hear the word
of God, but few allow the Holy Spirit to enter and connect on a divine
spiritual plane. After hearing me talk about my religious beliefs, the
priest said it sounded as though sacramental use of peyote was a conduit to
reaching that spiritual level. Well put.

Now if only Navajo teens abusing peyote could grasp that concept, we would
be making progress.

Ironically, these teens are following in the footsteps of the hippie
culture of the 1960s, whose abuse of peyote prompted the government to add
it to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. It's unfortunate that the
"psychedelic '60s" had such a dramatic impact on a way of worship that
scientists and archaeologists have traced back 10,000 years.

Most Americans believe the First Amendment has protected the right of all
organized religions to practice their faith. But after the federal
government listed peyote as a hallucinogen nearly 30 years ago, the cactus
was outlawed in 22 states. It wasn't until the American Indian Religious
Freedom Act was amended in 1994 that religious use of peyote by Native
American Church members was legalized nationwide.

Billy blames himself, other church leaders and their followers for failing
to educate their own people about the significance of peyote as a holy
medicine and the struggles the church has endured to protect it.

Billy doesn't have much faith in the media helping to educate the public
about this issue. He criticized a recent Associated Press article that said
seeing "visions" is part of the spiritual experience when peyote is
ingested. He said that's how misconceptions get formed about his way of
worship.

I agree. It's hard to understand beliefs of another culture when society
views them through Euro-centric and Judeo- Christian eyes.

The Navajo teens abusing peyote will, I hope, grow out of their ignorance.
I hope the rest of society will, too.