Professor Scott challenges Professor Denny about Navajo Religion

In this weeks Navajo Times, Dr. Tacheeni Scott, a Navajo professor, wrote an interesting response ("Letter to the Editor: Yes we need to reclaim our minds") to an earlier article about Navajo Dine College professor and Medicine Man Dr. Avery Denny, ("Hataali: Elders' predictions of chaos coming true"). The article is about how we are losing our language and traditions, and Dr. Denny encouraging our Dine people to relearn their traditional ways. I thought it was a very good article that needs more attention and discussion by our leaders and the general Dine population. We are faced with a lot of problems today such as racism, alcoholism, gender identity issues, violence, and missing people. Dr. Denny says the philosophy of Sa’ah Naagháí Bik’eh Hózhóón can help us solve these social problems. Dr. Scott says he agrees with Dr. Denny about "reclaiming our mind", but Dr. Scott seemed to disagree with Dr. Denny that "Sa’ah Naagháí Bik’eh Hózhóón" is a philosophy.

To try to gain some credibility, termed by Dr. Scott as a "right to question" Dr. Denny, Dr. Scott says he was raised by his father who was a medicine man.

Dr. Scott then says his elders in the 1920's taught him to never participate in the Peyote NAC ways. Dr. Scott says the Peyote practitioners also use that term, "Sa’ah Naagháí Bik’eh Hózhóón", in their ceremonies. Then out from left field, Dr. Scott says that term, "Sa’ah Naagháí Bik’eh Hózhóón", means "God" and recites how the Christian Bible describes "God".

I wondered why Dr. Scott treated the NAC Peyote way like a foreign disease, but not the Christian Bible way? The Christian Bible way is also foreign just like the NAC Peyote way. I did not understand that.

I though about how Dr. Denny and Dr. Scott are both professors at prestigious colleges, NAU and Dine College (Dr. Scott might not actually be at NAU now). Dr. Scott has a doctor's degree. Dr. Denny does not have a doctor's degree, but nonetheless, he is a college professor, and more substantially, Dr. Denny is a medicine man, which Dr. Scott is not. In deciding who has more credibility between these two educated men, I guess it comes down to individual values on whether you value western education or traditional Navajo education more. For this issue on what "Sa’ah Naagháí Bik’eh Hózhóón" means, that term comes from the Navajo traditional ceremonial context. Dr. Denny is the expert in the Navajo traditional ceremonial context more so than Dr. Scott. If the question was concerning microbiology, then I would give more credibility to Dr. Scott, but microbiology is not the issue here.

This exchange between the two Navajo professors also raises a major problem in our Dine society that may be the cause of our Dine society not progressing, being stuck, and just deteriorating away with assimilation. Our major problem is that our people are too factioned (i.e., divided) into the three religions on the Navajo reservation: Christian, Native American Church, and Traditional Navajo. If you study your history, you realize that Christianity and NAC are foreign and newcomers onto Dine Bikeya. Traditional Navajo has always been there with the Dine from the beginning.

Overall, I thought it was a good discussion by both professors. They both did a great job raising some important issues.  Great job Navajo Times!