Biography
Kara Lyn Moran is a MESc ‘25 at the Yale School of the Environment and has a B.A in Environmental and Religious Studies from Lafayette College. At Yale, she is doing research in faith and sustainability in how religious institutions fulfill national sustainability commitments in local communities.
Paper Abstract
This paper explores the role of religion in the No Dakota Access Pipeline Protests (#NODAPL) and the way that religion was used and misused in the movement. It seeks to answer the question: How can religion be both a unifying and positive element for the Water Protectors and also a negative way to undermine the movement in the public discourse? The main actors in this case study were the Water Protectors and the private security firm TigerSwan hired to protect the pipeline. Religion was entangled in uniting the water protectors against the building of the pipeline and constructing care for each other against the violent actions of TigerSwan. TigerSwan was entangled by using these connections and spirituality to break down the movement in the larger discourse through rhetorical framing which drew upon the deep connection of negativity related to perceived religiously motivated terrorism present in American society.