Navajo culture has been in a state of flux for over 150 years and religion, more than ever, holds the key to its survival and as well as its extinction.

Ten years ago, it was reported that the number of Navajo medicine men was in a state of decline. The number of traditional ceremonies had gone from 300 to 29 and not many men were willing to sacrifice 24 hours of training a month for a vocation that paid $15,000 a year.

The Francis family is caught in between two worlds. Peterson Francis used to work exclusively as a medicine man like his father and his father's father before him. However, due to Christianity's popularity even deep in the reservation, in rural and inaccessible places like Black Mountain, Peterson is forced to take a part time job as a janitor in a local Christian school. His brother Chester used to play-around when his father was teaching them the traditional ways. Soon after their father told Chester he was destined to follow the "white man's ways," and today he works for a classic-rock radio station.

One of the culprits is western religion. More and more Navajos are practicing Christians. Joe Shirley Jr., the President of the Navajo Nation, is a Christian. A steady growth of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup, N.M. has created 53 parishes in the Navajo Nation and more than 79,000 Catholics.

Many fear Navajo tradition as it had been practiced for centuries is on the verge of extinction, making traditionalists feel as if they’re grasping at straws. “Our culture is dying,” said Barbara Morgan, a senior education specialist at the Department of Diné (Navajo) Education.

The Yellowhorses have been living in the outskirts of Tuba City near the north rim of the Grand Canyon for many generations. The oldest male of eight children, Hubert is the keeper of his five surviving sisters who now live a quarter of a mile away. Next to his hut are several dozen graves belonging to his father, mother and ancestors. Hubert's and his sisters' children all live Christian lives far away from home, where as customary, their umbilical cord is buried. Most live off the reservation in Phoenix, Los Angeles and even Las Vegas. "When we pass to the next world, nobody will be left to rear our sheep, practice our ways and live with our ancestors," Hubert said through a translator.

Not all changes are negative however. Raised in the traditional ways, Alfreda Curley, a mother of five living in a small hut with no electricity or indoor plumbing, found God and was saved in her 50th year. "I used to sin everyday: I slept with my clan-members, my own relatives and was a drunk. When I found Jesus, I put all that behind me because I know he loves me," Alfreda said.

Alfreda’s pastor at the Black Mountain Mennonite church, Daniel Smiley, said his congregation fluctuates because it’s the only church on the reservation where people can come and go as they please, without promising to devote their lives to Jesus. He has no rules, just faith and individual responsibility to live it.

When visiting other churches he felt he had to “leave his Navajo-ness outside,” but he invites everyone to share his preaching. “We go to ceremonies and invite traditional people,” he said. “Even those who smoke peyote.”

During Ohio University's winter break, I lived in the rural western agency of the Navajo Nation. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would bear witness to something as amazing and historic as the latest Navajo transition from the traditional to the modern.

In the spirit of Edward Curtis, I hope to document, in the non-obtrusive way, the effects of religion on the Dine people of the Navajo Nation. The Alexia Foundation will give me the opportunity to return to the reservation and document the traditional ways, spirit of the land and produce a time capsule of contemporary Navajos living with western religion. At the conclusion of this journey and with the support of the foundation I will produce a photographic book.