A Wyoming church located on a Native American reservation has filed a federal complaint against a local food bank it accused of discrimination after the church’s pastor garnered headlines for denouncing the Sun Dance ritual of the Northern Arapaho Tribe as idol worship.
The complaint was filed on behalf of Foundations For Nations Church with the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week against Food Bank of the Rockies and Food Bank of Wyoming, which is its operational hub.
At issue is a decision by the USDA-funded food bank to stop sending supplies to the food pantry operated by Foundations For Nations, which is located on private land within the Wind River Indian Reservation near Riverton, Wyoming.
According to the complaint, the food bank “wrongfully terminated FFN Food Pantry’s partnership” on July 7 on the basis of the church’s “protected religious speech and beliefs.”
“FBR/W has refused to make food deliveries to the Food Pantry. This violates USDA regulations promulgated at 7 C.F.R. § 16.3(a) and 7 C.F.R. § 16.4 and other relevant laws,” reads the complaint, in part.
“Nothing in FBR/W’s ‘Partnership Agreement’ or the facts of this matter justifies this termination. In taking sides in a religious dispute against FFN’s religious beliefs, teaching and expression, FBR/W has cut off food supplies to the people who need it most while discriminating against the religious free exercise of FFN Church and its pastors.”
The complaint calls on the USDA and other government entities to compel the food bank to reinstate its partnership with the church food pantry and restart their food deliveries.
The Christian Post reached out to Food Bank of the Rockies and Food Bank of Wyoming for this story. A response is pending.
The church is being represented by Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian law firm founded and led by Mat Staver, who said in a statement Friday that the complaint “is the next step to bring scrutiny to the unlawful termination of a church from a USDA-funded program.”
“By taking sides in a religious dispute, Food Bank of the Rockies and Food Bank of Wyoming are withholding food supplies from the people that they purport to serve over the demand of third parties who disagree with a church’s religious beliefs and teachings,” stated Staver.
“The church’s partnership with the Food Bank should be reinstated immediately to avoid further constitutional and statutory violations and to resume food deliveries to those who depend on Foundations For Nations’ food pantry ministry for food.”
Sarah Lucas, a pastor and co-founder of Foundations For Nations, preached a sermon on July 5 in which she labeled the traditional Sun Dance practice of the local tribe “idol worship.”
“This nation gathered this week and they prayed. They prayed to pipes, they prayed to their ancestors, believing that this is the way for their freedom to get free from addiction, for people to be healed from their sickness. This is what this culture did this week, and we went on as church as normal,” she said.
“Jesus is the chain breaker. He is the only God that we should be praying to. A pipe cannot hear your prayers. It’s just a piece of material.”
According to the Oklahoma Historical Society, the Sun Dance is an annual multi-day religious ceremony practiced by a variety of Native Americans in the summer as a form of community renewal and prayer for healing. The Arapaho creation story teaches that “the world was made from the mud at the bottom of the endless waters.”
The sermon prompted backlash from many on the reservation, with the congregation reportedly facing protests and being asked by the local Northern Arapaho leadership to leave the area.
Foundations For Nations is a nondenominational church founded in 2017 that is located on private property within the reservation territory. The church has no intentions of leaving the property.
A New Testament passage that many Evangelicals view as a core message of the faith is John 3: 16, which states: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
