Wind River clash: Arapaho move to boot church denouncing Indigenous ceremonies

On Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation, the Northern Arapaho and Shoshone tribes are pushing to shut down Foundations for Nations, a private-land church whose pastor condemns Indigenous ceremonies like Sundance and sweat lodges. Tribal ordinances now require consent for religious groups on reservation land, but enforcement is complicated because the church sits on private property within the reservation. The dispute highlights sovereignty tensions between tribal authority and non-Native religious activity, with community members divided over the church’s mission and its impact on Native families and cultural practices.