The Native American Church: Ancient Tradition and Modern Controversy

“We do not go into ceremony to talk about God. We go into ceremony to talk with God.” These are the words of Quanah Parker, the last chief of the Quahadi Comanche people, and the man credited with playing a key role in the peyote movement and the establishment of the Native American Church. Born sometime between 1848 and 1852 (the exact year of his birth is not known) in Texas or Oklahoma (his birthplace is also a subject of dispute), Quanah was the son of a Comanche chief and a white woman who was captured by the Comanche at the age of…