From the point of contact, European colonizers theologically rationalized the conquest of Indian lands by the fact that Indian peoples were not Christian. Throughout United States history, American Indian religions have never benefited from the First Amendment’s protections of free exercise of religion. Particularly during the period 1880–1930, the U.S. government pursued policies intended to destroy native spiritual practices. In the 1800s, the government placed entire Indian reservations under the administrative control of church denominations in an effort to Christianize and civilize them through Grant’s Peace Policy. Interior Secretary Henry M. Teller ordered an end to all “heathenish dances” in 1882. Two years later, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) mandated thirty days imprisonment for Indians who participated in traditional rituals. In 1890, Sioux Ghost Dance participants were slaughtered at Wounded Knee. In 1892, the BIA outlawed the Sun Dance and banned other ceremonies. Indians were made citizens in 1927, but the outright ban on the right to worship was in effect until 1934, when John Collier’s reforms in BIA policies were instituted during Roosevelt’s presidency.

In the wake of Collier’s reforms, pantribal native organizing grew in prominence and effectiveness. Native religious freedom became a key issue of concern. Legal policy debates included concerns about sacred sites, the use of peyote, and the repatriation of native remains. As struggles for sovereignty became more prominent in the public eye during the 1960s and 1970s, native peoples began to wrestle with the legacy of Christian colonialism.