Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA)

• Main Author: Lee Irwin
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1978
• Subjects: Indian; aleut; eskimo*; Eskimo–Aleut
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.130.7111; http://www.sacredland.org/resources/bibliography/irwin.pdf

was passed by Congress as a guarantee of constitutional protection of First Amendment rights for Native Americans. This act was passed as an attempt to redress past wrongs by the federal government or its agents. That history of legal suppression was due to “the lack of a clear, comprehensive and consistent Federal policy [which] has often resulted in the abridgement of religious freedom for traditional American Indians. ” The summary text of this act states: Henceforth it shall be the policy of the United States to protect and preserve for American Indians their inherent right of freedom to believe, express, and exercise the traditional religions of the American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, and Native Hawaiians, including but not limited to access to sacred sites, use and possession of sacred objects