"Nobody wants their church to be desecrated, and the earth is our church." – Doug Crow Ghost, director of water resources, Standing Rock Sioux Nation in North Dakota
The General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church stands in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and the six Council Fires, and all those who are engaged in peaceful protest and resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Our church’s social teachings affirm “water is a sacred gift from God” and call us “to ensure that water remains pure and available to all.” (2016 Book of Resolutions: #1033, Caring for Creation: Our Call to Stewardship and Justice). Our teachings also recognize that too often we have turned native people’s sacred lands into dumping grounds and therefore call us to work diligently “to ensure the right of indigenous populations to free, prior and informed consent are transparently honored” (2016 Book of Resolutions, #1025 Environmental Racism)
As United Methodists continue our journey of repentance and healing with indigenous peoples, we understand that this journey is meaningful only if it leads us to action in addressing ongoing oppression and injustice.
Today, that commitment leads us to stand alongside the people of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation. To offer ourselves as partners in resistance against those who would marginalize the voices of native peoples, despoil sacred lands, endanger life-sustaining waters and prioritize profits over the health of God’s people and God’s planet.
Peace,
Susan Henry-Crowe, General Secretary
General Board of Church and Society, Washington, DC
TAKE ACTION NOW and tell President Obama and the Army Corps of Engineers to listen to the voices of impacted communities and pursue a course of action that will protect God's people and God's planet.
P.S. Find more information on the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and the Dakota Access Pipeline here and read Bishop Ough's statement on the protest here.