Clash over Bear Ears land tests years of progress on Native American spirituality

(The Christian Science Monitor) Davis Filfred wishes President Trump would take a page from General “Stormin’ Norman” Schwarzkopf’s playbook in thinking about Bears Ears National Monument. When Filfred served as a Marine Corps combat engineer in Operation Desert Storm, Schwarzkopf ordered troops not to target religious or archaeological sites for bombing.

Filfred, a member of the Navajo Nation Council representing districts in Utah, wants the Trump administration to take the same approach to Bears Ears, a 1.3-million-acre swath of southern Utah that has become the latest battleground between the federal government and a Native American movement of religion-infused environmental activism.

“This is the place where we worship,” he said. “This is our holy ground.”