President Joe Biden and his administration have effectively destroyed the constitutional barrier between church and state. The object of Biden’s religious favoritism is neither Christianity nor Judaism nor Islam. Instead, on the basis of an unholy alliance of “white guilt,” virtue signaling, and political correctness, Biden has mandated that “indigenous knowledge”—meaning, the religious beliefs of Native American tribes—be treated as objective and scientific, and that it be used to set policies for such agencies as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Unsurprisingly, the consequences—from closing thousands of museum exhibits to blocking fossil fuel projects—are proving disastrous.
On January 27, 2021, shortly after taking office, President Biden published the “Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking.”1 He promised that his administration would make decisions based on evidence, including research based on well-established scientific procedures and peer-reviewed publications. Biden supposedly was committed to using the “best available science and data.” This term “best available science” had been defined, in 2001, by a government-wide set of guidelines provided by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), as science that “maximized the quality, objectivity, and integrity of information, including statistical information.”2
Yet, on December 1, 2022, Biden’s administration contradicted itself, issuing the “First-of-a-Kind Indigenous Knowledge Guidance for Federal Agencies.”3 This guidance does not provide a clear definition of “indigenous knowledge,” nor do any of the sources cited therein. However, descriptions of “indigenous knowledge” often include terms such as “spiritual,” “beliefs,” and “spiritual systems.” For instance, one memo states, “Indigenous Knowledge is a body of observations, oral and written knowledge, innovations, practices, and beliefs developed by Tribes and Indigenous Peoples through interaction and experience with the environment.”4 And “It is applied to phenomena across biological, physical, social, cultural, and spiritual systems.”5
In short, “indigenous knowledge” is simply a euphemism for the religious beliefs of Native Americans coupled with stories and claims handed down by tribe members without methods for collecting or verifying data. The new federal guidance tells researchers to “respect different processes and world views” and that “indigenous knowledge” may be “embedded in songs and prayers.”6 Further, the guidance states, “Indigenous people have creation narratives that are tied to places in every region of the United States and beyond” and that these are “essential to spiritual practice.”7 In another guide for federal agencies, the Biden administration declares, “Indigenous Knowledge is a valid form of self-supporting evidence that should be included in federal policy, research, and decision-making, as appropriate.”8 Thus, such agencies as the DOE, EPA, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality are required to take into account religious beliefs before coming to their supposedly “evidence-based” conclusions. In the words of one memo, they must “include Indigenous Knowledge as an aspect of best available science.”9 Following suit, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), has promised to use “Indigenous Knowledge” as evidence.10
This is the Biden administration’s attempt to enforce epistemological egalitarianism—that is, the view that all types of “knowing” are equally valid. . . .
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1. “Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking,” whitehouse.gov, January 27, 2021, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/memorandum-on-restoring-trust-in-government-through-scientific-integrity-and-evidence-based-policymaking/.
2. “Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information Disseminated by Federal Agencies,” October 1, 2001, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Guidelines-for-Ensuring-and-Maximizing-the-Quality-sept28-2001.pdf.
3. “White House Releases First-of-a-Kind Indigenous Knowledge Guidance for Federal Agencies,” whitehouse.gov, December 01, 2023, https://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/news-updates/2022/12/01/white-house-releases-first-of-a-kind-indigenous-knowledge-guidance-for-federal-agencies/; “Memorandum for Heads of Federal Departments and Agencies, Guidance for Federal Departments and Agencies on Indigenous Knowledge,” whitehouse.gov, November 30, 2023, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/OSTP-CEQ-IK-Guidance.pdf.
4. “Memorandum for Heads of Federal Departments and Agencies,” 4.
5. “Memorandum for Heads of Federal Departments and Agencies,” 4.
6. “Memorandum for Heads of Federal Departments and Agencies,” 11.
7. “Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Interagency Coordination and Collaboration for the Protection of Indigenous Sacred Sites,” doi.gov (accessed February 28, 2024), https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/mou-interagency-coordination-and-collaboration-for-the-protection-of-indigenous-sacred-sites-11-16-2021.pdf, 1.
8. “Best Practices Guide for Federal Agencies Regarding Tribal and Native Hawaiian Sacred Sites,” bia.gov (accessed February 28, 2024), https://www.bia.gov/sites/default/files/media_document/sacred_sites_guide_508_2023-1205.pdf, 6.
9. “Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Interagency Coordination and Collaboration for the Protection of Indigenous Sacred Sites,” 19.
10. “Draft: The Scientific Integrity Policy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” hhs.gov (accessed February 28, 2024), https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/draft-hhs-scientific-integrity-policy.pdf, 8.
11. Amanda Black and Jason M. Tylianakis, “Teach Indigenous Knowledge alongside Science,” Science 383, no. 6683 (2024): 592–94, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi9606, 594.
12. “Memorandum for Heads of Federal Departments and Agencies,” 4.
13. “Memorandum for Heads of Federal Departments and Agencies,” 5.
14. “Memorandum for Heads of Federal Departments and Agencies,” 10, 14.
15. Hans Bader, “FDA and CDC May Soon Use Indigenous Folk Wisdom on Par with Scientific Evidence,” Liberty Unyielding, February 13, 2024, https://libertyunyielding.com/2024/02/13/fda-and-cdc-could-soon-employ-indigenous-folk-wisdom-on-par-with-scientific-evidence/.
16. “Best Practices Guide for Federal Agencies Regarding Tribal and Native Hawaiian Sacred Sites,” 8.
17. “Best Practices Guide for Federal Agencies Regarding Tribal and Native Hawaiian Sacred Sites,” 9.
18. Sq’ Baa Hane’; Story of the Stars (Educational Activities Weaving NASA Science and Navajo Knowledge), nasa.gov (accessed February 28, 2024), https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/uploads/filer_public/d7/fd/d7fdeb5d-549c-4248-b219-02e3e125b56e/storystars-2.pdf.
19. Sq’ Baa Hane’; Story of the Stars, 3.
20. Elizabeth Weiss, “The Navajo Nation’s Spiritual Battle for the Moon,” Reality’s Last Stand, January 20, 2024, https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/the-navajo-nations-spiritual-battle.
21. Stephen Clark, “Navajo Objection to Flying Human Ashes to the Moon Won’t Delay Launch,” Ars Technica, January 6, 2024, https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/01/navajo-objection-to-flying-human-ashes-to-the-moon-wont-delay-launch/.
22. “2019 Traditional Medicine Summit Report: Maintaining and Protecting Culture through Healing,” nih.gov (accessed February 28, 2024), https://dpcpsi.nih.gov/sites/default/files/NIH-THRO-2019-Traditional-Medicine-Summit-Report.pdf, 4.
23. “2019 Traditional Medicine Summit Report,” 4.
24. “2019 Traditional Medicine Summit Report,” 5.
25. “2019 Traditional Medicine Summit Report,” 5–6.
26. Julia Jacobs and Zachary Small, “Leading Museums Remove Native Displays Amid New Federal Rules,” New York Times, January 26, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/26/arts/design/american-museum-of-natural-history-nagpra.html.
27. Elizabeth Weiss, “Politically Correct Creationism,” City Journal, December 7, 2023, https://www.city-journal.org/article/the-american-museum-of-natural-historys-politically-correct-creationism.
28. William Timothy Treal Taylor et al., “Early Dispersal of Domestic Horses into the Great Plains and Northern Rockies,” Science 379, no. 6639 (2023): 1316–23, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adc9691.
29. “Biden Administration’s ‘Indigenous Knowledge’ Push Violates Its Own Scientific Integrity Rules,” protectpublicstrust.org, February 19, 2024, https://protectpublicstrust.org/press-releases/biden-administrations-indigenous-knowledge-push-violates-its-own-scientific-integrity-rules/.
30. Paul Basken, “U.S. Pushes Integration of Indigenous Knowledge in Science,” Times Higher Education, October 24, 2023, https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/us-pushes-integration-indigenous-knowledge-science.
31. “Memorandum for Heads of Federal Departments and Agencies,”5.
32. Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World : Science as a Candle in the Dark (New York: Random House, 1995).
33. Geoffrey A. Clark, “NAGPRA, Science, and the Demon-Haunted World,” Skeptical Inquirer 23 (1999): 44–48, accessed February 28, 2024, https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/1999/05/22164945/p44.pdf.
