Schedule of Events

I am a firm believer in having knowledge of our roots and maintaining a connection to our Ancestors. Storytelling is more powerful when being told with truth. As a person rooted in justice and truth, I feel compelled to keep history alive, so that our truths are not forgotten, and so that history is not repeated. Getting to understand the origin of my own beliefs, is also very healing.
My goal for this research is to learn how different indigenous faith leaders turned a weaponized religion into one that can now bring hope, joy and healing to a people that have been harmed by it. And one who continues to be harmed so many decades later. With this understanding, I would like to then show how the practices of these faith leaders can be used for other cultural leaders to bring and promote hope and healing to others who have also been harmed by those who would use this religion as a tool of control, and not one of unity.
I combined research of church and indigenous history, Christianity, personal encounters with indigenous faith leaders and my own experience as a faith leader to piece together the intersectionality and the evolution of Christianity within the indigenous communities.
I discovered that many of the Indigenous Faith leaders, used their knowledge of Jesus, Christianity, History, and the stories passed down to expose the truth behind the scriptures without the toxic additions used as a means of control, to promote healing with truth.
 

Abalone, a shellfish and ancestor to the Chumash Tribe, has faced near extinction at the hands of settler colonialism and the climate crisis. While recovery efforts have emerged, they fail to acknowledge Native demand for access and stewardship. This issue is not isolated; essential pillars of Native spiritual and material culture have been both disregarded and exploited historically by the West. This is commonly perpetuated by scientific and educational repositories who nonconsensually acquire, withhold, and mistreat ancestors and items. This came to public attention in 1990, when the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was made federal law. NAGPRA mandates the return of human remains, grave associated and unassociated goods, and items of cultural patrimony to the Tribes to whom they belong. This Act informed more Americans of the ongoing erasure of Native populations, and offered language to the process of returning Native culture: repatriation. Repatriation has seen some success institutionally and by adherents to ‘best practice’ standards; however, it falls short in its potential for meaningful healing. My research argues that Abalone populations and materials, currently classified as “natural resources”, must be considered for repatriation. Abalone remain inextricably tied to their Chumash relatives, and yet are not repatriated because Abalone do not qualify as “artifacts” from the past: what repatriation is currently applied to. I suggest a reevaluation of the current repatriation framework to include elements derived from nature. Doing so allows for a greater potential to promote Native cultural health using existing ethical and legislative infrastructure. 

How did pro-slavery and anti-slavery Christians interpret the Bible and produce different answers to the question of slavery’s continuation in the nation?
A religious studies perspective anchored in history offers insight into the entangled relationship between church and state in America. Protestant Christianity has been the dominant religion in the United States since colonial times, and many early Americans formed key aspects of the country’s identity based on Protestantism. As a consequence, when it came to addressing the continuation of slavery in America, arguments on both sides sought justification from the Bible. Both sides believed that arguments based on or proven by the Bible were more effective in strengthening their message because American culture allowed and encouraged religion, specifically Protestantism, to intersect in social and political areas of life. My research will shed light on how religious discourse and interpretations of the Bible impacted the debate over slavery in antebellum America. My goal is to identify and compare pro- and anti-slavery biblical interpretation styles by referring to primary and secondary sources. Applying David Bebbington’s four elements of evangelical Christianity, I discovered how pro- and anti-slavery Christians placed more emphasis on certain elements over others in guiding their interpretation of the Bible and thus their biblical defense or critique of slavery. The contributions of Black liberation theology to an experienced-based interpretation of scripture reveal how sermons, songs, and readings of texts reflected the social situations of African Americans.

 Religious institutions hold immense influence over cultural norms, gender roles, and interpersonal relationships, thus making them crucial spaces for examining patterns of domestic violence and abuse. This project explores how patriarchal interpretations of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have been used to justify and perpetuate abuse against women. The purpose of this research is to investigate the intersection of religious authority, scriptural interpretation, and the lived experiences of women in highly religious communities facing domestic violence. Using a multidisciplinary approach, this project incorporates textual analysis of key religious scriptures (e.g., Genesis 3:16, Qur’an 4:34, Ephesians 5:22–24), secondary research from scholarly and community-based sources, and memoirs from survivors within fundamentalist religious settings. The findings reveal recurring patterns across all three religions, including the misuse of sacred texts to justify male authority, the sanctification of female suffering, and institutional barriers that discourage victims from seeking help. This project concludes by calling for greater advocacy within religious institutions, increased female religious leadership, and reformist theological interpretations to support survivors and challenge harmful norms. By shedding light on these shared dynamics, the project underscores the urgent need to address domestic abuse as a human rights and faith-based issue.

On January 6, 2021, the nation watched in rapt horror as a mob of Donald Trump's supporters stormed the United States Capitol Building. Scaling its walls and smashing windows, a small group of insurrectionists made it all the way to the Senate chamber where they did something peculiar: they prayed. Led by Jacob Chansly, also known as the "QAnon Shaman", the group thanked God for allowing them into the Capitol and for the rebirth of the United States at the hands of God and Christ-loving patriots. This prayer perfectly encapsulates one of the key ideologies that drove the insurrection: Christian nationalism. Christian nationalism is a form of religious nationalism focused on the promotion and implementation of Christian beliefs and values in American socio-political life. Since Trump's election in 2016, Christian nationalism has become reinvigorated among its ideologues and directly affected legislation at both state and federal levels. The resurgence of Christian nationalism has sparked intense discourse about religion's place in public and political life and the separation of Church and State. Through examination and analysis of Christian nationalist activism and rhetoric surrounding the issue of abortion, I argue that this growing movement cannot be neatly categorized as a religious movement nor a political ideology. Instead, Christian nationalism is a unique combination of religious and social doctrine drawn from fundamentalist evangelical Christian sources and social conservatism. Now more than ever, it is critical to understand how Christian nationalism informs and shifts our understanding of the relationship between religion, politics, and society.