Week 5
Assigned Readings
** Work on CAP Projects **
Lectures and Site Visits
Musical Instrument Museum - https://mim.org/our-story/
Holocaust Museum - https://www.ushmm.org/
Arizona State University (ASU) Walter Cronkite School of Journalism - https://cronkite.asu.edu/
Tempe Institute of Religion - https://lds.asu.edu/
Indigenous Religions
Background/Basic Information:
Creating a definition 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.
Native American culture and religion is still prominent in the United States today, having been passed down through generations.
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.
Extra Resources:
Watch: Mark Wallace on the History of the Lenni Lenape and the Crum Woods
The Pluralism Project: First Encounters: Native Americans and Christians, Harvard University.
The Pluralism Project: Native American Church, Harvard University.
Watch Arizona’s indigenous communities shape the state’s past and present
Sikh
Watch “Introduction to Sikhism” by Andrew Henry and Simran Jeet Singh
Founded by Guru Nanak about 500 years ago
Originated in the Punjab region now divided by India and Pakistan
23 million adherents today
In the U.S. today, there are between 500,000 and 750,000 adherents
Hinduism and Islam
Some Hindus and Muslims sought to acknowledge commonalities between the religions.
Guru Nanak created a new monotheistic religion
They were critical of caste and religious imagery
The goal of religious life is liberation or merging with God
A sikh is a disciple or learner
Sikhism is a convergence of two movements:
Bhakti devotionalism (from Hinduism)
Sufism – (from Islam)
Both traditions emphasize union with God and utilize practices such as singing, chanting and dancing
During the 19th century through immigration, Sikhism started to appear and slowly grow in the United States. Desperate to escape the effects of British mercantilism on the Indian subcontinent, Sikhs immigrated to areas like California from ports in Hong Kong and would be employed within farms and other types of manual labor employment.
During World Wars I and II, the British would recruit Sikhs in India to serve in battle, thus prompting an increase in immigration to escape the risk of having to fight and die under British rule.
Over the course of the 20th Century, Sikhism in the U.S. spread from the West Coast to all over the country, with Sikhs establishing homes and citizenships while expanding their religious institutions.
Gurdwara: place of worship for Sikhism (first American Gurdwara in Stockton, California, 1912)
The Pluralism Project: The Sikh Community Today https://pluralism.org/the-sikh-community-today
Dr. Simran Jeet Singh: renowned activist for Sikhism, Singh maintains social media presence and his background as a writer and educator to enlighten the public to Sikhism.
Website: https://www.simranjeetsingh.org/
Extra Resources:
Look through The Sikh Project - Photography exhibition to capture the essence of modern Sikhism
Watch How Balpreet Kaur turned cyber bullying into a teachable moment on the Sikh faith
Watch “They Called Me Osama: A short document on Sikhi in America”
Latter Day Saints/Mormonism
Mormonism is a religion founded in the United States.
A Brief History:
Joseph Smith born in 1805
His family moves to Palmyra, New York – an area known as the “burned-over district” due to the number of evangelical revivals.
According to his account, he was visited by an angel that told him to look for golden plates buried in a hillside.
Smith found the plates and translated the text into what would be published as the Book of Mormon (1830). The book now serves as the sacred scriptures for Mormons around the world.
Smith led his followers to Kirtland, Ohio - first called Latter Day Saints – all male members could be priests, almost 3000 members by 1837. Smith built an Old Testament-style temple instead of a church. Due to financial difficulties, Smith, Young and others moved to Missouri.
In Missouri, Mormons were attacked - the governor issued an extermination order.
The Mormons fled to Nauvoo, Illinois and founded a theocratic town. Smith was killed and Mormons were asked to leave.
Brigham Young took over leadership and he lead a mass migration to the Salt Lake Basin - a new promised land. Hundreds died on the journey west and Mormons understand it to be an Exodus-type experience. Utah was a difficult place to found a community – but it was free of persecution.
Temples
Temples are are used for several different church ordinances or rituals
Only Mormons that are in good standing with the church are permitted to enter temples.
The Baptismal: Mormons believe that the ordinance of baptism is required to enter heaven. Ancestors are baptized by proxy, or a living person on their behalf.
Instruction Room: members are taught that life is an eternal journey that begins before they are born. Members are asked to make sacred promises or covenants to follow obey God and follow Jesus Christ.
Sealing Room: In the Mormon notion of marriage, husbands and wives are sealed together for all of eternity. Even deceased couple can be sealed together in this room.
Celestial Room: the room is meant to symbolize the kingdom of God or the eternal home for Mormons.
Extra Resources:
Holocaust Museum
https://www.ushmm.org/
Look through The Holocaust: History and Memory Walkthrough by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW
Washington, DC 20024-2126
More resources:
Read “A profound sense of loss” from After Genocide : How Ordinary Jews Face the Holocaust. Routledge; 2015.
Listen to “Surviving Auschwitz” Kitty Hart-Moxon's story of how she survived almost two years in the notorious Nazi death camp.
Read “God Does Not Live Here Anymore” from Yaffa Eliach’s Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust
Read “In the Image of God” from Yaffa Eliach’s Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust
Read The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Holocaust: A Comparative Analysis from Is the Holocaust Unique? : Perspectives on Comparative Genocide. Alan S Rosenbaum.