Reducing the Risks of Future Violence Over Sacred Waters: Religion and Climate Adaptation Planning at the Interface of Indigenous and Rural Settler Communities

This paper reports on transdisciplinary scenario planning workshops that imagine viable futures with Indigenous and settler communities in the Rocky Mountains, home to headwaters of three major rivers with Indigenous heritages that provide water for millions of people downstream: the Snake River (Columbia River), the Wind River (Missouri River), and the Green River (Colorado River).  As water futures grow more uncertain on a warming Earth, the risk of violence increases. The paper frames the relationship between natural resource scarcity and the activation of religious language to justify violence. With the ascent of settler community Dominionism and white Christian nationalism, water futures adaptation planning networks on both sides of the contact zone might shelter burgeoning Indigenous, sustainable worldmaking.   The orientations forged in scenario planning workshops, where memories and stories meet best science future scenarios recall parable and storytelling traditions and provide a vehicle for religious studies analysis and community engagement.