Case Study: Native American Religions
Background/Basic Information:
Creating a definition of one universal “Native American religion” is impossible; every native tribe throughout the country incorporates different values, traditions and teachings into their own unique religious beliefs.
Tribes vary in their theories of creation, how nature and human beings came to exist and where they originated from. Different traditions utilize different gods (The Great Creator, Great Spirit, Earth Mother).
Spirituality factored into all aspects of daily life; the natural and supernatural worlds were one in the same, thus incorporating religion into everything.
Traditions took on many similar forms between tribes: ceremonial dances, tribal gatherings and sacrifices of goods were most prominent.
Sacred gatherings and insights were led by different members of the tribe (a medicine man or shaman) who possessed the power to engage the supernatural more strongly, through visions and dreams.
Most, if not all Native American religions, functioned under some form of belief in animism. Tendency for tribes to hold polytheistic views led to many early settlers perceiving them as paganistic, therefore different and dangerous.
Animism illustrates the belief that a living spirit resides in all things, living or not. Animals, materials, elements of nature such as the sun and the moon, all possessed an individual spirit.
Nature is an integral role in spirituality, geography dictating traditions and cultures born out of a constant sense of gratitude; different natural entities played a crucial role in ceremony and worship (Mother Earth, sun and moon gods).
Specifics of any Native American religious or spiritual practices were rarely recorded; oral history passed down through generations was utilized to maintain the upkeep of traditions.
How has the unjust treatment of Native Americans from the Colonial Era to present day denied us more in-depth knowledge concerning tribes and their religious practices?
Native American culture and religion is still prominent in the United States today, having been passed down through generations. List of Federal and State Recognized Tribes
The Native American Church (NAC), or the practice of Peyotism, is one of the most influential religious practices among tribes in the United States today. Officially chartered in the early 20th Century, it integrates Christian principles with ancient tribal traditions and rituals.
Readings/Resources
Aldred, Lisa. "Plastic Shamans and Astroturf Sun Dances: New Age Commercialization of Native American Spirituality." American Indian Quarterly 24, no. 3 (2000): 329-52. www.jstor.org/stable/1185908.
Doty, William G. "WE ARE ALL RELATIVES: The Significance of Native American Religions." Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal 81, no. 3/4 (1998): 513-51. www.jstor.org/stable/41178851.
Echo-Hawk, Walter R. "Under Native American Skies." The George Wright Forum 26, no. 3 (2009): 58-79. www.jstor.org/stable/43598120.
Forbes, Jack D. "Indigenous Americans: Spirituality and Ecos." Daedalus 130, no. 4 (2001): 283-300. www.jstor.org/stable/20027728.
Irwin, Lee. "Freedom, Law, and Prophecy: A Brief History of Native American Religious Resistance." American Indian Quarterly 21, no. 1 (1997): 35-55. doi:10.2307/1185587.
Wiedman, Dennis. "Upholding Indigenous Freedoms of Religion and Medicine: Peyotists at the 1906–1908 Oklahoma Constitutional Convention and First Legislature." American Indian Quarterly 36, no. 2 (2012): 215-46. doi:10.5250/amerindiquar.36.2.0215.
The Pluralism Project: First Encounters: Native Americans and Christians, Harvard University.
The Pluralism Project: Native American Church, Harvard University.
