A Christian pastor called Arapaho ceremonies 'idol worship.' Now the tribe wants her church gone

ARAPAHOE, Wyo. (AP) — Every Sunday morning on the Wind River Reservation, congregants gather at Foundations for Nations Church to pray while protesters outside do the same.

The two rituals have unfolded in parallel since the Christian church's pastor, Sarah Lucas, preached a sermon condemning Arapaho ceremonial ways.

The Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone Tribes that share the reservation have made clear that Lucas is no longer welcome. Lucas, who is not Native American but owns the land under her church, says she isn't going anywhere. The standoff tests the boundaries of religious freedom and the right of a tribal nation to govern according to its own values and protocols.

The conflict stems from a video that circulated in July as Arapaho people surfaced from their weeklong sundance ceremony. In it, Lucas called that cornerstone of Arapaho spiritual life “idol worship.”

“Jesus is the chain breaker. He is the only God that we should be praying to,” Lucas said.

Lucas says her words reflect her interpretation of the Bible and are constitutionally protected. Many Arapaho people say she took aim at something central to who they are, reopening wounds from a not-so-distant era of religious assimilation and abuse.

With the smell of coffee and sweetgrass swirling, regular Sunday demonstrators were recently joined by activists from the American Indian Movement and Arapaho Chairman Keenan Groesbeck as they marched past ranchland and scattered homes toward the church.

“We brought in our ceremonial elders. We heard them loud and clear,” said Groesbeck. “They don’t want them here no more.”

The sundance marks a time of connection, offering and collective renewal. As Arapaho people closed this year's ceremony and welcomed a new year according to their traditions, Lucas and her smaller-than-usual congregation prayed for them.

“You have generations, centuries of people doing this offering, going in and making vows to change,” Lucas said. “Father God, we see no fruit.”

Many Arapahos were stunned to hear an outsider not only disparage the ceremony but talk about closely held details that aren't meant to be discussed openly.

Big Wind Carpenter, who was among the protesters, said Lucas couldn't have chosen a more painful target.

“There's nothing I could say to make non-Arapahos understand,” Carpenter said.

Lucas said she regrets her sharp delivery captured in clips that went viral but not the message itself. Since founding her church nine years ago, she said she has had “hard conversations” urging Native congregants to renounce sundance, sweat lodges and burning cedar during prayer, traditions she equates to idolatry.

“The Bible makes it very clear to only worship one God,” Lucas said.

Some members of her mixed Native and white congregation were unaware of her stance. Lucas said Sunday turnout is down half from 150. Some weeks, the protest crowd has rivaled church attendance.

Arapaho congregant Tearany Black, who considers Lucas a stand-in parent, said she agrees Native Christians should turn away from ceremony but found the tone of the sermon racist.

“She cares for our people,” said Black. “I just don’t think she understands where we’re coming from.”

DJ Gardner grew up praying in sweat lodges and reading the Bible. He joined Lucas' congregation last year and didn't anticipate being asked to choose.

“I thought they accepted us,” Gardner said. “In my view, why else would you be on a reservation?”

The 28-year-old, who has walked away from Foundations for Nations, associates Lucas' rhetoric with assimilationist boarding schools like the one his grandfather survived.

In part to repair that dark history, the Episcopal and Catholic missions that have been active on Wind River since the late 1800s now embrace ceremonial practices.

“It’s an irony of colonialism, the degree to which Native people have remade Christianity according to their own values,” said Michael McNally, a professor of religious studies at Carleton College in Minnesota.

Lucas interprets the Bible differently.

“I don't believe you can have mixture,” she said.

Mary Rose Goggles was struggling with the costs of raising her grandchildren in 2017 when Lucas knocked on her door and warmly invited her to join her new church.

Goggles, who practices Arapaho ceremonial ways but dabbles in Christianity, liked the worship band and activities that kept her grandchildren busy. As Foundations for Nations grew, she visited its food bank, clothing giveaways and events like a fall harvest festival.

“It was good to see the kids enjoying themselves. It was good to see my relations getting help,” Goggles said.

Lucas built relationships on Wind River by filling gaps. Her church offers free after-school and summer day camps. Visiting missionaries fill tribal members’ gas tanks and replace their sagging roofs.

Foundations for Nations' website solicits outside donations to “revive, raise up and restore” Wind River, listing grim statistics about addiction, sexual assault and unemployment. The Associated Press found those numbers were pulled from national studies not specific to the reservation or could not be traced to a verifiable source.

A page asking donors to “sponsor” a child in exchange for photos and letters was recently removed.

Goggles left Foundations for Nations several years ago after moving away but thought warmly of the church until seeing Lucas' sermon, which she said left her “heartbroken.”

Jenea Mandan has cycled through feelings of anger and shame about sending her children to the church's summer camp. An Arapaho traditionalist, Mandan had misgivings about the Christian program but needed childcare help.

“At that time I was a single mom, I was in a low-income situation,” Mandan said. “It feels like they took advantage of that.”

Lucas believes God called her to Wind River. But she deliberately built her church on private property within the reservation's boundaries rather than tribal land where, she said, the tribes would effectively be her landlords.

Foundations for Nations is located amid a patchwork of federal, tribal and private property — the legacy of 19th century federal policies designed to eliminate tribes by breaking up collective land bases.

“That era has cascading effects that are devastating for tribal sovereignty,” said Jessica Shoemaker, a professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law.

Shoemaker said tribes have broad civil authority over non-Natives on tribal land, including to banish them. But jurisdiction over private property within reservations is litigated case-by-case.

Lucas and her attorneys with the Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian legal organization, assert that her ownership of the property shields her from banishment.

In July, the Arapaho and Shoshone councils passed ordinances requiring religious groups to seek their approval before operating on Wind River.

“That’s the law of the land on our reservation,” said Groesbeck.

That has forced Foundations for Nations to suspend youth programming since it is now prohibited from picking up and dropping off children on the reservation.

In an Aug. 31 memo, the Arapaho council acknowledged that “jurisdictional limits” likely prevent it from regulating church activity on private land. And any tribal court enforcement of those ordinances could face federal review, where there's a high bar for proving non-Native conduct threatens tribal well-being.

Meanwhile, the 21,000 square-foot (1,950 square-meter), steel-sided building that houses Foundations for Nations’ sanctuary, community spaces and indoor playground has been unusually quiet. Construction on a neighboring youth center continues.

“God would not have us build this and provided all of it to empty it out,” Lucas said.

Gardner has returned to the Catholic church of his childhood, where Arapaho geometric motifs adorn the sanctuary and he is welcome to burn cedar.

He has been praying for guidance on forgiveness.

This story is published through the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at The Associated Press.

A truck passes through the Wind River Reservation on its way to Riverton, Wyo., on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

The sun shines on a hay field on the Wind River Reservation near Riverton, Wyo., on Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Native American imagery is displayed on the ceiling of the St. Stephens Indian Mission Catholic church in Arapahoe, Wyo., on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

The frame of a teepee is displayed outside the St. Stephens Indian Mission Catholic church in Arapahoe, Wyo., on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Jaelynn Duran, left, and Abigail Whiteman play in front of a mural at a gas station on the Wind River Reservation near Riverton, Wyo., on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Raphael C'Hair stands amid protesters near the Foundations for Nations church in Arapahoe, Wyo., on Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

The general view of Foundations for Nations church is seen in Arapahoe, Wyo., on Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Danelle Kawasaki, a spokeswoman for the Montana American Indian Movement, protests near the Foundations for Nations church in Arapahoe, Wyo., on Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Sarah Lucas, pastor of the Foundations for Nations church, is interviewed in Arapahoe, Wyo., on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Native American imagery is displayed at the St. Stephens Indian Mission Catholic church in Arapahoe, Wyo., on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Pastor Sarah Lucas sits inside the Foundations for Nations church in Arapahoe, Wyo., on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Savannah Peters)

Kolten Lawrence protests near the Foundations for Nations church in Arapahoe, Wyo., on Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom does not like being on Donald Trump's side on any issue.

But when it comes to transgender girls and women in sports, particularly at the school level, the Democrat said he largely agrees with the Republican president. Newsom, one of his party's leading White House prospects, believes it's “deeply unfair” for people who are assigned male at birth to compete against girls.

“I don’t want to be on that side of it, but I’m being honest — I’d be lying to you if I said differently,” Newsom told The Associated Press as he was campaigning recently in South Carolina. "I haven’t been able to figure out how to make it fair from my perspective.”

Newsom is not alone.

While most Democratic officials remain steadfast supporters of the transgender community, an increasing number in red and blue states are distancing themselves from their party’s unflinching support for the transgender community’s policy priorities, such as allowing athletes to compete on teams that match their gender identity. The shift follows years of conservative attacks against Democrats on the divisive issue, which affects a relatively small number of transgender people and their families, but has emerged as one of Republicans' most potent political weapons in the Trump era.

Soul searching over transgender issues is one facet of a sprawling identity crisis that Democrats are confronting during the midterms and before the next presidential election. Although they risk a backlash from their progressive base, there is also a sense in some corners that the party must evolve on an issue where the overwhelming majority of voters — even many Democrats — agree with Trump.

The issue was a central theme for Trump and his Republican allies on the main stage at their midterm convention in Dallas last week, where the president said he hoped Democrats would continue to stand up for transgender girls and women who want to compete in girls' and women's sports.

“I’m petrified that they’ll change,” he said. “That will really hurt us.”

Republicans are already replaying some of the same political attacks that they used against Kamala Harris in the presidential campaign two years ago, when they said she's “for they/them, not you.” On Friday, they released a new advertisement targeting James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas, with the same phrase.

A political group backed by billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk has begun running digital ads targeting Democrats in key Senate races in Texas, Ohio and Alaska, accusing them of allowing men to compete in women’s sports.

In Texas’ pivotal Senate contest, the new ad from Musk’s America PAC opens with a video clip of Talarico saying that “God is nonbinary."

Talarico began to distance himself from those positions months ago. He went further in a Fox News interview last week, saying he would vote in favor of a national ban for gender-affirming surgeries for transgender minors, which are rare.

“I’ve missed the mark on some of my past statements. I will be the first to admit it,” Talarico said in an interview near the Republican convention site. “I think the reason that politicians in that convention center across the street want to talk about six sexes is because they don’t want to talk about $6 diesel."

In Iowa, State Auditor Rob Sand, the Democratic Party's nominee for governor, has spoken out against transgender athletes competing in women's sports as a matter of fairness. Ohio Democratic gubernatorial nominee Amy Acton has taken a similar position, although she has drawn criticism from the left for adopting Trump's language after saying she opposed “boys playing in girls’ sports."

And in deep-blue Massachusetts, transgender rights became a defining campaign issue during the state's recent Democratic U.S. Senate primary, illustrating the potential backlash that party members can face.

Sen. Ed Markey, 80, secured the nomination and later credited his win to not shying away from advocating for transgender rights. He used the issue to attack his Democratic opponent, Rep. Seth Moulton, who had said he wouldn't want his daughters to play against transgender athletes.

Moulton apologized for his comments, which drew outrage from some progressives, but the damage was done.

While Moulton lost his primary, his position — not Markey's — is in line with the majority of voters nationally.

A June poll from Quinnipiac University found that about 7 in 10 registered voters think that transgender women and girls should not be allowed to play on women’s and girls' sports teams. About one-quarter think they should. Democrats are divided, with about half saying transgender women and girls should be allowed and about half saying they should not.

A Pew Research Center poll conducted last year found that just over half, 55%, of Democrats would be “not too” or “not at all” comfortable with athletes playing on teams that don’t match their sex at birth, while 21% said they were “somewhat” comfortable and only 23% said they were “extremely” or “very” comfortable with this.

Markey’s public commitment to transgender rights stood out because Democratic politicians are increasingly running away from the issue, said Tyler Hack, executive director of the Christopher Street Project, which is dedicated to electing supporters of transgender rights to federal office.

“The reality of being a transgender person in America in 2026 is that on election nights, while other folks are talking about who had a good night and who had a bad night, sometimes you are quietly wondering, ‘Am I going to be OK?’” Hack said.

At the same time, even transgender activists are divided over supporting Democrats who have positions that are unfriendly to transgender people.

Erin Reed, an advocate and independent journalist covering transgender issues, this month put out a guide flagging Democratic candidates who she accused of taking anti-transgender positions. She highlighted 15 states that have such Democrats, saying that she would not vote for the “worst offenders” even if it means a Republican wins.

She doesn’t want Democrats to see that “throwing transgender people under the bus is a winning strategy.”

“One seat can be won back,” Reed wrote. “A party cannot.”

Meanwhile, Hack would probably vote for a Democrat even if that candidate supports some policies the Christopher Street Project opposes, in hopes that the party can take control of Congress. However, those candidates shouldn't expect the organization's endorsement.

“While I hope many of them win, I think they can do it without our resources and without our support," Hack said.

The political debate is evolving as transgender people increasingly become the target of conservative backlash through state laws and the Trump administration.

Sports participation has become one of the main fronts in a political battle over transgender rights, although most Republican-controlled states have also implemented policies that affect a bigger slice of the population. There are bans on some gender-affirming health care for transgender young people and rules barring transgender people from using the bathrooms that match their gender identity in schools and occasionally other public places.

At least 25 states are now enforcing laws or policies banning transgender women and girls from competing in at least some women’s and girls' sports and three others have adopted laws but have enforcement blocked by the courts.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld state laws barring transgender girls from school teams.

Transgender athletes make up a small portion of team rosters. NCAA president Charlie Baker testified in 2024 that he knew of fewer than 10 transgender college student-athletes out of more than 500,000 total.

The debate within the Democratic Party heading into the 2026 midterms offers a preview for those Democrats contemplating presidential bids in 2028.

Newsom, who is considered a frontrunner in the shadow primary, highlighted his long record of supporting LGBTQ+ priorities, including sanctioning same-sex marriage as the San Francisco mayor decades ago and later appointing the first trans judge in California history.

But in sports, he thinks it's unfair to allow people assigned as males at birth to compete against girls.

“It’s a hard issue. I struggle with it,” Newsom said. “I think people know where my heart is, my soul is. I have a trans godson.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, another likely Democratic presidential contender, has taken the opposite position.

He has consistently criticized state-level bans and restrictions on transgender athletes, calling them “bullying” and a “setback for equality.” Following the recent Supreme Court ruling that upheld state bans on transgender athletes, Pritzker, whose cousin is transgender, reaffirmed his position on social media.

“There’s a place for you in Illinois,” he wrote.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro opposes bans on transgender athletes in school sports, which he's called cruel and designed to discriminate. He argues that athletic participation and eligibility should not be dictated by politicians, but rather handled by local athletic organizations — a stance in line with several LGBTQ+ groups.

He's also raised questions of fairness, however.

“Look, I think it’s a tough deal being born into the wrong body. And I don’t think these kids deserve to be persecuted and bullied by the president of the United States," Shapiro told The Atlantic last year. "I also don’t think they deserve an unfair advantage on the playing field.” Research has been mixed on whether transgender women have advantages in sports, and it depends partly on whether they went through puberty as boys.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is gay and a potential presidential contender, said on Fox earlier in the year that he takes people seriously on both sides of the debate “whether you’re talking about parents who are wondering what this means for fairness for their kids competing, or parents who want to make sure that their kids aren’t being discriminated against and get a chance to participate.”

Associated Press writers Kimberlee Kruesi in Providence, Rhode Island, and Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington contributed.

FILE - People hold signs and point after comments on transgender athletes made by Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, before a WNBA basketball game between the Minnesota Lynx and Indiana Fever, Aug. 2, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, File)

FILE - Demonstrators rally in support of transgender athletes in women's sports outside of Barclay's Center before the WNBA basketball game between the Indiana Fever and the New York Liberty, Aug. 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, File)

FILE - Fans wear shirts saying, "Trans Kids Belong In Sports," during a WNBA basketball game between the Minnesota Lynx and the Indiana Fever, Aug. 2, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

FILE - A woman holds a sign supporting trans people during a rally before a WNBA basketball game between the Portland Fire and the Indiana Fever in Portland, Ore., July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer, File)

FILE - Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand speaks during a campaign rally, June 7, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Texas state Rep. James Talarico speaks during a television interview at a food drive at the Frederick Douglass Human Services and Justice Center, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a rally for democratic candidates Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, in Monroe, N.C. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)