"worldwide — the U.S. included — there is a difference in understanding of what counts as sacred."

"The Paris auction of 27 sacred American-Indian items earlier this month marks just the latest in a series of conflicts between what tribes consider sacred and what western cultures think is fair game in the marketplace."

significativo artigo sobre nós próprios e o nosso modo de vida. com nosso quero dizer ocidental. o sagrado e o profano, as suas definições e as suas fronteiras. e para mim, o engano em incluir o ateísmo na negação de todo o sagrado (já fora do artigo). as nossas amigas muito se chocam com o capitalismo selvagem das nossas vidas, o espezinho da vida humana ou outras; creio que o apagar do sagrado e da moralidade. afinal a liberdade própria contra a liberdade do grupo. as regras impostas pelo sagrado antigo eram mais próximas das regras biológicas da sobrevivência do que eu própria julgava.

Many tribes have run into this problem when it comes to sacred land. The issue came to a head for 13 tribes outraged by the idea of the Arizona Snowbowl in Flagstaff making snow out of reclaimed wastewater on a mountain they consider sacred. In 2008 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that making artificial snow, while offensive, posed quote "no substantial burden" on the tribes' exercise of religion on the San Francisco Peaks. Today, treated wastewater is pumped several miles up the mountain to make snow.

"Part of our slogan has been 'what part of sacred don't you understand?'" said Klee Benally, a Navajo activist who has protested against the practice of pumping treated wastewater several miles up the mountain to make snow. "Essentially we're saying why isn't it enough for us to say a site is sacred and should be set aside and protected and respected because it's integral for our spiritual practice to be continued."

To the Hopi, the San Francisco Peaks are where some of the tribe's ancestors live. To the Havasupai it's the place of the tribe's emergence.

Benally said tribal members had difficulty explaining to judges how spraying a mountain with treated waste water snow was desecrating it. Sure, they could still hold ceremonies there. And Navajo medicine men could still pick herbs there, and the mountain was not going away, but the mountain was now contaminated, defiled.