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Native-American
INTRODUCTION
The history of Christianity as it pertains to Native Americans is a complex one that, unfortunately, began with intolerance and violence. Across much of the new world, the message of Christ was spread through fear and intimidation. Many Native Americans were threatened with death or imprisonment if they failed to convert. Not only did they have to convert in order to appease the missionaries but they also had to reject their culture which was seen as evil and backward. Likewise there existed major differences between many of the natives traditional religions and Christianity which made conversion extremely difficult. From the complex system of the Iroquois to the simple system found among the Apaches, every tribe had their own unique understanding of religion. But something that is found in all the different types of religions among the natives would be their idea that spirituality is connected with nature. For them, religion was not just a label but something that encapsulated their whole way of life. This may have been the biggest, most fundamental difference between the native religions and Christianity. It is important to note however that there existed many similarities between the religions as well. For example, the natives’ religions all included some form of a supreme being who created the world and who must be worshipped. Although there is some cohesion with Christianity, today approximately 95% of Native Americans do not claim to follow Jesus Christ. This is due to a popular view held by many that He is European and that Christianity represents a western religion. Furthermore, many believe that conversion would be giving into and assimilating with white culture.
HISTORY
The native tribes of North America through DNA evidence have been linked to an Asian decent. These tribes were thought to have migrated over the ice bridge between Alaska and Russia, the time frame is uncertain but at least 4,000 years ago.[1] The accounts given by the now called Native American tribes would tell of a creation or entry into this world or land. Their creator designates the land they inhabit to them and as such it will always belong to them. 500 years before Columbus reached America, the Vikings had landed in North America only to abandon their colonies due to violent encounters with the natives. When Columbus brought word back to Spain of a New World there started a steady flow of Europeans to the Eastern shores of what would soon be known as America.[2]
Several tribes were warned through dreams that the white men would cross the great water and take their lands with frightful weapons. Native Americans would long be given the title of savage – defending your family, your home and your land is nothing close to savagery.[3] The actions against the Native Americans are the greatest atrocity of our nation. The eradication of hundreds upon hundreds of tribes equaling millions of people is the darkest page of American history that many turn for the inability to take in this unfathomable horror.
From the 1600’s the Native American populations began to decline to the ravaging affects of disease brought by the Europeans. Smallpox was a big killer, killing so many that hundreds of bodies were never buried but left to rot. The colonists interpreted these deaths as a punishment for their sin and a sign to them that God was handing this land over to them. “Ironically Indian death came to mean Life for the Pilgrims.”[4] The Native Americans were either pushed from their land or wiped out in violent attacks. What had started out as an attempt to live with the Native Americans soon pushed nearly all Native Americans west of the Mississippi around 1830.[5]
Now came expansionism at its worst, frontiersmen struck out across the land west of the Mississippi and with their return brought reports of rich ground and plentiful game. These reports sent thousands streaming over the Mississippi as their forerunners had rushed over the Atlantic in search of new opportunity for a better life. This advancement on to frontier land brought with it terrible consequences for the Native Americans. As before the land would not be shared between Native Americans and settlers, there would be bloodshed and though they won many battles the Native Americans would lose the war. A war not for riches or new land, they fought to keep what they had – not take from others. Luther Standing Bear of the Sioux says that “the man from Europe is still a foreigner and an alien”. American history tells how the west was won, Native Americans remember the story of their people as how the west was lost. Lost to men whose greed was too great, too unfathomable and sinful to comprehend. Greed that created ethnic cleansing when the natives were unwilling to give what had for more generations than they could remember belonged solely to them.[6]
Eventually every tribe was either cleansed from the land through war, or corralled into reservation land. For many tribes the reservation was far from their homelands and this caused much hurt and sadness. Their land was taken so settlers and primarily white people could “make a new start”, any place gold was found the Army would then come and push off the Native Americans. The rationale for such barbaric behavior comes from the idea of Manifest Destiny. It was God’s plan to give this land over to Christians and the demise of so many tribes and their ancient way of life was then justified.[7]
BEFORE THE SETTLERS
Native American tribes were separate from each other with different lifestyles, languages, religious practices, etc, but there still existed several similarities. One commonality between all Native American tribes was and is their belief in a spirit world and the connection it has to the natural world. Along with this they also share a spiritual connection to the Earth. There existed and still exists a symbiotic relationship between the Native American people and the Earth. While the Earth itself was not an object of worship, the people “left offerings of a precious substance, such as corn pollen, to plants and animals that gave their lives for human benefit.”[8] “Many groups believed in a single Creator or Great Spirit; others believed there were multiple holy beings who joined together to create and guide human beings into existence. Spiritual forces were believed to be present in every natural object, from insects to mountains.”[9] Because spirituality was and is such an integral part of life for Native Americans there are roles within the tribe that are responsible specifically, for spiritual aspects they are called shamans and priests. Their roles differ in that “priests had more formal religious training than did shamans, and often led the ceremonies that marked major events in community life.” Shamans, sometimes also known as “medicine men” or “medicine women”, are believed to have “direct contact with the supernatural…diagnose and treat illness and to divine the location of an enemy, food source, or missing object.”[10] Common celebrations for Native American tribes are the rites of passage ceremonies which took place for the “birth of a child, the coming of age for a young woman, the warrior status of a young man, or the death of a loved one.”[11] While the specifics are not shared by all tribes, most believe(d) in an afterlife or another world that the soul will travel to after death, which, because of this belief was not corporately feared.
DIASPORA
The idea of diaspora is usually associated with the Babylonian exile of the Jews or other immigrants seeking refugee from famines, wars, or civil unrest (i.e. the Irish and potato famine). However, many do not realize that the Native Americans experienced a diaspora of their own. By "civilizing" the Native Americans, the white settlers were able to acquire more land for themselves and push the Native Americans westward. As a result, these Native Americans felt a sense of displacement, as they became exiles within their land! As defined by Edward Said, “Exile is the unhealable rift forced between a human being a native place, between the self and its true home. The essential sadness of the break can never be surmounted…but these are no more than stories, efforts to overcome the crippling sorrow of estrangement.”[12] Therefore, the story of Native American diaspora is one filled with many tears.
Land Allotment Strategy (Creeks, Chickasaws, and Choctaws)
By the 1760s, the white settlers and their descendants had established colonies and were trying to create new nation. Therefore, the Native Americans were struggling to hold onto their ancestral lands. And so, the battle over land ensued. Thomas Jefferson's number one concern was American expansion. He informed Andrew Jackson that he needed to "advise" the Native Americans to sell their lands and to become farmers. If they did not agree to become "civilized," they would face elimination. In fact, President Jackson said, "The fate of Mohican, the Narragansett, and the Delaware is fast overtaking the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and the Creek. That this fate surely awaits them if they remain within the states does not admit of a doubt."
For the Chickasaws who agreed to sell some of their land, Jackson paid $100 for 2,500 acres of their bluffs. As president, Jackson encouraged the leaders of Mississippi and Georgia to abolish Native American tribal units and to extend state authority. After settlers purchased Native American land, many of the Native Americans went deeper into the wilderness. Therefore, they were becoming less "civilized" as a result of being removed off of their land.
Like the Chickasaws, the Choctaws were "encouraged" to move westward. In the 1805 Choctaw treaty, specific land was allotted for the individual Choctaws. By 1830, the sovereignty of the Choctaw nation was abolished. Therefore, any Choctaw who violated state law would be fined $1,000 and could spend one year in prison. By this point, Jackson had already uprooted 70,000 Native Americans and drove them west of the Mississippi River (through land allotment and treaties).
Eventually, the Choctaws were coerced into being governed by Mississippi state law (the alternative was for them to move and leave their land behind). In fact, the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek meant that the Choctaws must give all of their 10,423,130 acres to the federal government and migrate westward. Meanwhile, many whites just took land from the Native Americans without any official treaties. Because they were forced to choose between the "lesser of two evils," the Choctaws denounced Jackson for betraying them. In the end, the cost of the Choctaw removal was $5,097,367.50, but the government received $8,095,614.39 from their land. Because of the unfair treatment they received, the Native Americans sued in federal court and received $2,981,247.39, but most of that money went to their lawyers.
Treaty Strategy (Cherokees) and the Trail of Tears
In Georgia, the Cherokees were given the same choice as the Choctaws. The Cherokee would be allowed to stay in Georgia, but then the U.S. government would rule over them. Their other option was to move westward. Not wanting to be ruled by the U.S. government or to move westward, Chief John Ross protested the new policy. Because of their resistance, Jackson sent Commissioner J.F. Schermerhorn to negotiate a treaty. If the Native Americans left their lands, they would receive $3,250,000. In order for the treaty to be ratified, it had to be approved by the tribal council. However, Chief Ross was jailed during the treaty proposal meeting. Furthermore, limited information was provided to the local newspapers. Consequently, none of the tribal officials attended that meeting and only about 300 Cherokees were present. Yet, the treaty was still ratified. Regardless of the ratification of the treaty, the Cherokees refused to leave their land. Instead, they sent a petition to Jackson signed by 15,665 Cherokees.
(This is an artistic depiction of the "Trail of Tears" and the harsh winter they endured.)[13]
In response to petition, Jackson sent 7,000 soldiers to round up the Cherokees, like cattle, and forced them to move westward in the middle of winter. By the time the Cherokee made it to the new "Indian country," almost 4,000 of their people had died (1/4 of the nation's population). Consequently, their journey to "Indian country" is bitterly known as the "Trail of Tears."
From Wounded Knee to Reservation Life
At Wounded Knee, a battle broke out between the soldiers and the Native Americans. Louise Weasel Bear recounted, "We tried to run, but they shot us like we were buffalo." For many Native Americans, Wounded Knee violently symbolized the end of the Frontier. Sadly, they knew that life would never go back to the way things were before the white settlers came. As a result of the battle at Wounded Knee, Francis Amasa Walker, commissioner of Indian Affairs during 1870s, tried to advocate for a "Peace Policy." He also promoted the idea of moving Native Americans to reservations. Originally, the Native Americans would not be allowed to leave the borders of their reservations. Therefore, the state authorities had the right to send Native Americans back to their reservations, if they had happened to "wander off." By 1887, the Dawes Act had reversed Walker's strategy. This act also allowed the President to allot 160 acres of land to individual heads of family; after 25 years, these lands would be eligible for sale. The reductions caused by the Dawes Act were further accelerated in 1902. Unless the family could purchase their allotted land, they lost their property. To add insult to injury, Congress nullified the 25-year trust provision in Dawes Act. Therefore, the Native Americans were no longer protected from white buyers. By 1933, almost half of the Native Americans involved in the allotment program were landless and they had lost 60% of their 138,000,000 acres!
Indian Reorganization Act
Fortunately, by 1934, the allotment program was stopped by the Indians Reorganization Act (founded by John Collier). This Indian Reorganization Act reversed the policies dating back to 1607. In 1935, 172 tribes representing 132,426 people voted in favor of the law whereas 73 tribes representing 63,467 people chose to be excluded. In the end, those chose to be excluded did so, because they did not like Collier telling them what was going to be best for them.
Current Statistics
Today, 4,100,000 people claim to be of Native American descent
Only 538,300 people on reservations
That means that only 7.62% still live on reservations [14]
Of all of the Native Americans, only 4% of Native Americans are Christians [15]
Dreams
It is obvious that the Native Americans are a "displaced" people. All Native Americans, living on and off reservations, are in need of redemption. For the small percentage of Native Americans living on reservations, life is not at all ideal. On many reservations, there are high mortality rates (infants, homicide, and suicide). Also, there are high percentages of unemployment, substance abuse, and domestic violence. For those not living on reservations, there is concern about the preservation of the culture of the Native Americans. Understandably, many Native Americans are still bitter about being forced to leave their homelands, assimilate into the European culture, and to accept a foreign religion. However difficult it may be, the Church cannot give up on making disciples of the Native Americans. Although the road may be long and taxing, it does not negate the fact that God loves the Native American people. It is the job of the Church to figure out a way to communicate God's love in tangible ways. In the end, God will be the one to heal the broken hearts of the Native Americans and to bring restoration to their lands.
UNIVERSALITY
Universalism as it applies to post colonial studies is the notion of a unitary and homogeneous human nature which marginalizes and excludes the distinctive characteristics and the differences of post colonial societies. The ‘universal’ features of humanity are the characteristics of those who occupy positions of political dominance. It is these people who define humanity and the world.[16] The Europeans carried universalism with them when they came to the Americas. The Native Americans were subjected to the universality of the dominant Europeans power. The Europeans had universally defined humanity and civilization and left no room for anything else.
The Europeans imposed this universalism through the most basic definition of being human. Their universal belief about themselves, who they believed were the only valuable creation of God, led to the rigid separation of themselves and Native Americans. Native Americans because of their differences from the Europeans were personified as savagery. At this time the universal definition of Christianity was limited to European culture and civilization. To the colonists, the Native Americans lacked everything that identified them as being civilized or Christian.[17] If there was any hope at all for Native Americans they would need to assimilate into both the culture and religion of the colonists. However, the strong perceptions of Native Americans made it difficult for even “religious mission.”
The colonists created their own representation of the Native Americans. The European way of life was what was defined as being civilized, therefore the Native Americans became less than human. Because the Native Americans didn’t fit into the European universals the colonists removed the Native Americans face, identity, value, and story. If the Native Americans were believed to have no value their destruction could be justified. Even Native American deaths were thought to be ‘a sign from God’ to the Europeans.[18] The universal belief was that the traits of the Native Americans made them incapable of becoming civilized. The belief that Native Americans were inherently inferior and considered the enemy, even of God, served as the justification for the European actions towards them. As expansion continued into the West, the colonists believed that the Native Americans must remain separated and they attempted to push them further and further into the frontier. However, the end of the frontier became a reality and the ability to hide the Native Americans in the ‘wilderness’ began to diminish.[19]
Universal beliefs about religion, land, work and education drove the colonists to strip the Native Americans of their way of life as the colonists continued to expand theirs. As the colonists began to dominate the land, the only way of life became the American way. There were some who believed the Native Americans could be converted and should be assimilated into American culture. The universal belief was that with the help of Americans, the Native Americans could be trained and reformed on reservations as preparation for civilized Christian life. The only and best way for the Native Americans to live, was as westerners; “Indians could not remain Indians.”[20] With the expansion and growth of the United States of America the pressure increased to the find an answer to the ‘Indian question’ and the result is the experience of many Native Americans today. The effects of universalism on the Native American people, their religion and their way of life can still be seen today. The church has been one of the institutions that has confined the Native American people to such universals. The Native American people speak out for a God that is with them, for them and identifies with their own journey. The western idea and universal beliefs that are held about God from the perspective of a dominant and colonial power, will not do.
"Is there a god, a spirit who will hear us and stand with us in the Amazon, Osage County, and Wounded Knee? Is there a god, a spirit, able to move among the pain and anger of the Nablus, Gaza and Soweto of 1989? Perhaps. But we the wretched of the earth, may be well advised this time not to listen to outsiders with promises of liberation and deliverance. We will perhaps do better to look elsewhere for our vision of justice, peace and political sanity – a vision through which we escape not only our oppressors, but our oppression as well. Maybe for once we will just have to listen to ourselves, leaving the gods of this continent’s real strangers to do battle among themselves."[21]
REPRESENTATION & DIFFERENCE
Since the beginning of colonization in the United States the Native Americans have been plagued with the dichotomy between perception and reality. They have faced everything from prejudice to pity, neither attitude affirming the Native Americans as an individual competent people group. As late as 1929, the Native Americans and other marginalized groups continued to face extreme discrimination, despite the six pleas of the Protestant church condemning segregation. More recently, “Liberals and conservatives alike have too often surveyed the conditions of Native Americans and decided to come to the rescue, always using their methods, their ideas, and their programs. The idea that Indians might know best how to address their own problems is seemingly lost on these well meaning folks.”[22]
These representations of the Native American people are due in large part to the Christian church. Since the 1700s the Native Americans have struggled with the difference between how they have been perceived and who they truly are. Because of the abuse of the Christian church, when a Native American decides to join the Christian faith, they are confronted with the opposite problem. These Native Americans struggle with the difference between how the church is perceived in their ethnic community and what it truly means to be a Christian.
[23]
The Puritans viewed the Native Americans as savage and demonic. The Native Americans represented everything they were afraid of: sensuality, passion, unity between the mind and body. They believed that the Native Americans were accustomed to “habits of chase” and lacked “forethought,” “intellectual tastes,” and “self-discipline.”[24]
While the Puritans focused on the binarisms of mind vs. body, tactile vs. visual, linear knowledge vs. knowledge through experience to justify their dominance and representation, the Native Americans used different binarisms. The binarisms of the Native Americans were sacred relationship to nature vs. conquering relationships over nature, community/interdependence vs. individuality/independence and sacred evolution vs. conflict revolution.[25] Though the Native Americans were represented as demonized based on the projections of the Puritans the difference is that they are actually a community who respects the earth, live in cooperation with one another, are self-sacrificing, generous and tranquil.
Instead of bringing many to Christ the Puritans used their representation of the Native Americans as a means to justify their brutality. The Native Americans were required to conform or to leave. In the process their homes were destroyed, their family members killed and their food source diminished. When all else failed the Puritans used the Bible to further their justification for violence and representation of the Native American people. In Biblical terms the Native Americans were often referred to as Amalekites and Canaanites. This carried the assumption that the Native Americans were worshipers of false gods, they were heathens and they were worthy of annihilation. The Puritans believed that God had given them a new land and it was within their right to do whatever they saw fit to remove the Indigenous people from it.
(Native Americans who conformed to the white man's way of dress.)[26]
Well meaning Christians today have hurt the Indigenous people by failing to see the different affect that this Biblical story has had on the Indigenous people of the past. Over the last 20 years liberation theology has gained great momentum in defending marginalized people groups. Liberationist’s prime scriptural trophy is the same Exodus story the Puritans used to abuse the Native Americans. Liberationists have presented this story as a means of evangelism to the Native Americans. The white American culture fails to see the difference this story has upon the Native Americans because their personal history relates to that of the Israelites, not that of the Canaanites. When the Indigenous people hear this story they are reminded again of their past and the representation put on them by the Christian church. Because the liberationists have failed to see the differences, in hopes of evangelizing this particular culture, they have reinforced all the negative beliefs the Native Americans’ indigenous ancestors held about whites and God.
The repercussion of the brutal representations of Native Americans and the difference of who they truly are has left a divide among the Christian church and this marginalized people group. Today only four percent of Native Americans are Christians. These particular people have and are faced with the extreme challenge of reconciling the difference between how the Christian church has represented itself over the past few hundred years and what it means to be a Christian today. Current Native American Christians are represented in their own communities as sell-outs and people who have forgotten what their ancestors fought and died for. One Native American, Marlene, was able to reconcile her Native background to the Christian faith because God showed her that while her ancestors shed their blood in battle the difference was that Christ had personally shed his blood for her.
RESISTANCE
One of the earliest resistance efforts to the Christian church came in the form of a letter to Pope John Paul II. It read:
"We, Indians of the Andes and America, decided to take advantage of John Paul II’s visit to return to him his Bible because in five centuries it has given us neither love, nor peace, nor justice. Please, take your Bible and give it back to our oppressors, because they need its moral precepts more than we. Since the arrival of Christopher Columbus the Bible was imposed upon America with force: European culture, language, religion, and values. The Bible came to us as part of imposed colonial change. It was the ideological arm of the colonial assault. The Spanish sword, which by day attacked and assassinated the body of the Indians, by night changed itself into the cross which attacked the Indian soul."[27]
(Ghost Dance Shirt) 28]
One of the main forms of resistance of the Native American people, when it came to the church, was not through war but it was through rejection. They rejected the Christian message and they rejected white people. One possible reason that the Native Americans today are not filing into churches is because it is not the number one place they turn to for help. How can they turn to a place that has demolished their ancestors in the name of God?
Though they were deemed as savages, most resistance efforts by the Native Americans were very peaceful. At one point the Paiutes believed that Christ had returned to earth as an Native American. They believed that restoration of their traditions and land was on its way. To protect themselves from the Englishmen they did not take up weapons but rather clothed themselves with “ghost shirts” in hopes of finding protection from the white man’s bullets. Their resistance was guided by faith that a savior would be their ultimate defender and protector. In this attempt at resisting white rule the Native Americans did not stage a revolt, they did not wage a war, instead the Native Americans danced to their god.
NATIONALISM
According to Frantz Fanon, nationalism refers to, “the whole body of efforts made by a people in the sphere of thought to describe, justify, and praise the action through which that people has created itself and keeps itself in existence.”[29] As far as possessing a sense of nationalism to the United States of America, the Native Americans can hardly be thought of as a group that would look favorably toward a people and a country that invaded their homeland and forcibly took away land, culture, and livelihood. The Dawes Act in 1887 which granted the president power to allot reservation lands to individual heads of families without Native American consent followed by the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 signaled the end of the frontier. However, allotment was halted in 1934 by the passing of the Indian Reorganization Act which was a policy introduced by John Collier. In an effort to preserve the Native American way of life, this act abolished the allotment program in favor of self-governments established by the Native Americans themselves. One of the tribes that were first to reject this notion was the Navajos, reflecting their belief that Collier seemed to be dictating what was and was not good for the tribes. With such a rich history of oppression, it is not surprising to find a hostility (such as the response of the Navajo Indians) toward the nation that they live under out of necessity and not by choice.[30]
EDUCATION[31]
From 1776-1926, Native American education essentially meant "assimilation" into the predominantly white culture. During this span of 150 years, the United States of America entered into over 370 treaties with Indian nations which included agreements that the federal government would provide adequate education, health, technical, and agricultural services to the various tribes. As a way to "civilize" Native American children, the ones promoting assimilation deemed non-reservation boarding schools the most effective way to make Native American children accept and adopt white men's beliefs and values. One of the more well-known schools was founded in Carlisle, Pennsylvania by Richard Henry Pratt in 1879. As a way to isolate them from their native culture, children were forced to wear standard uniforms instead of traditional clothing, boys were required to cut their long hair, and the students were given new names. Traditional Native American foods were obsolete in these new schools, and students were prohibited to speak in their native languages, even to one another. Conversion to Christianity was seen as a priority to white culture. This specific schools taught the important cultural value of winning by creating football teams for the boys, and to further promote the white culture, holidays such as Columbus day, Thanksgiving, and Memorial day were observed. Pratt's goal was complete and total assimilation of thought, mind, and action for these Native American children.
The beginning of reform in the area of education took place in the 1920s, triggered by John Collier, the Executive Secretary for the American Indian Defense Association. Publishing a bulletin entitled "American Indian Life," Collier launched a publicity campaign to inform the public about the level of Native American poverty in comparison to the general prosperity of the 20s. The most tangible and significant work of reform came out of the Meriam Report of 1926, which recommended that schools do away with curriculum that stressed only white cultural values, that only older children should attend non-reservation schools, that younger children should go to a community school located close to their homes, and that Native American service must provide tools to adapt to both the white and Native American world. Charles Rhoades was the first Indian Commissioner to attempt to realize the recommendations of this report. By the 1930s, Native American education placed a value on their native culture. With Collier as the new Commissioner of Indian Affairs, a progressive approach toward education began to take place. Children now learned through the cultural lenses of their own cultural values while still becoming aware of the values of white civilization around them. Teachers were taught to be sensitive to Native American culture, and school began introducing curriculum that included Native American history, art, and language.
During World War II, Native American education had a regression - the policy of assimilation began to take shape again as funding for reservations were cut back and school closed down. However, the decade following brought organized Native American leadership in the government which fought vigorously against assimilation and encouraged the Native American people to take on a responsibility in their own future. As the 60's and 70's rolled around, the stage had been set for this ethnic minority to take their role in the political scene. With Native Americans serving under President Lyndon Johnson, the US government established a variety of councils to serve Native American interests. Under this leadership, Native American education made a number of curriculum changes and instituted all-Native American school boards. Native American Studies programs appeared in universities while scholarship programs aimed specifically for Native Americans were developed for the very first time in history.
During the 1980s-1990s, the Office of Indian Education (OIE) experienced severe financial hardship and endured a period where they were almost voted out of existence. By 1997, funding came no longer came from the Department of the Interior but shifted to the Education Department, securing the possibility for restoring the budget reductions that the OIE had previously experienced. Today, the most recent goals regarding Native American education include increasing high school completion and post-high school attendance rates, the improvement of reading, mathematics, and science, and reducing risks such as poverty and substance abuse.
HYBRIDITY & INDIGINEITY WITHIN INDIGENOUS CHURCH PRACTICES
Much early mission among the tribes of North America in the 18th century is marked mostly by racist colonial hubris – Sir William Johnson, Chief Joseph Brand, and Rev. Charles Chauncy disdained Native American culture and barred it from churches. The early Christian missionaries, suffering from blindness induced by nationalist idolatry, failed to recognize the intrinsic value of all human life as created in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Despite European's attempts to erase the cultures of the first nations, the Native people have managed to survive; a Native man, referring to the “melting pot concept of America, once said “Whatever it is that Indian people are made of, we don't melt too easy.”[32]
Many Natives have been taught by colonial missionaries and even some misguided Native Christian leaders that their cultural practices were a form of “witchcraft” and should be feared and abandoned. However, many Native Christians have found that when they abandon their cultural ancestry they forfeit their identities, and no longer have a story that enables them to identify with the Biblical narrative Native American Christian churches recognize their culture to be one of many cultures to reflect attributes of their Creator, for them it has been a process of finding out what their unique contextual expression looks like.
Vatican II led a shift in attitude toward the inclusion of Native American religious practices within Catholicism and in liberal Protestant congregations. The 1977 Statement of U.S. Catholic Bishops of American Indians spoke of respect for the “distinctive traditions, customs, institutions and way of life of its people” and that the “Gospel message must take root and grow within each culture and each community.”
Jesus as Chanku
“The Road” or “The Way” is a term quickly being adopted by Native American believers to express their faith in Jesus. This phrasing allows Native American (Christian and Non) to relate to the story of Christ in a way more in line with the Native approach to life. The word “Christianity” on the contrary, speaking to the oppressive hypocrisy of religious ethnocentric colonizers.
Spiritual Divides
As a result of the Enlightenment, modernism fragmented Christianity into various binary worlds (Ex. Secular/Spiritual, Natural/Supernatural), only at the turn of the 21st century, have some emerging forms of Christianity begun to recover Biblical holism. The Native American people however, did not suffer such compartamentalizations of their religious practices. Natural and the supernatural realities have never existed as separate realms for Native American spiritualists, Christian and non. The conflict between integrated world views of the Native American and the compartmentalized world\views of most Western evangelicals has been one of the greatest hindrances to White/Native relations. This split, to Native Americans, means that in order to follow Christ, one must abandon their entire approach to community and spirit. The Western mentality stems not from the Hebraic-Christian faith, but from classic Greek philosophy, so in this sense, the Native American approach to spirituality, is actually a truer Christian view than what is practiced by the bulk of white American Christians. This spiritual/secular divide simply does not make since to Native American spiritual practice so, the Native American Christian Church retains a more holistic approach to God than most of the surrounding non-native Christians.
Native believers see the world, not as existing within a hierarchy of separate realms, but their Creator as one manifesting in all things. Western Christians, when confronted with the biblical account of spectacular events such as God speaking to Moses from a burning bush would question whether or not a bush could speak and therefore set off to rationalize how this might be merely a contextualized symbolic event not to be taken literally. But for the Native believer, these kinds of events are not surprising and would be much more interested in what the bush was actually saying. The Native American church has been accused as being guilty of pantheism, spirits, or animism for their easy belief in such things, however Western Christians neglect the many biblical accounts of this same nature. In fact, most, if not all, Native Americans affirmed the existence of one Supreme Being before the arrival of white Christian monotheists.
Most Western Christian traditions see man as created superior to the rest of creation, the Native American however, sees themselves created as part of creation, participating in it as one player within a greater natural order. So they seek to fill that niche in a way that respects the rest of created life. In Pawnee buffalo hunts only sufficient buffalo were killed to provide for food and other needs. Strict taboos limited the buffalo kill to what the Pawnees were able to consume, thus conserving this crucial food supply. Nothing was wasted. All was treated in a sacred manner -embracing a complex understanding of the interrelatedness of all beings. This sits contrastingly to the consumerist American mainstream that sees material commodities that exist in order to supply the ever increasing banal needs of the industrial world.
Worship Practices
Some Christian traditions, especially that of the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, have utilized the burning of incense to represent the raising of prayers to the heavens and the symbolic gesture that prayers are heard and answered. In this way too, Native American believers view the burning of sage, sweet grass, or cedar, as a symbolic act. The ascending smoke and aroma have the power to cleanse and purify the body and spirit as well as deliver prayers to the Creator.
Traditional Native Drums are used in worship practices and sometimes painted with Biblical imagery. These are typically done in circles, where members are welcome to join in the rhythm as the church sings songs in their native tongues.
Some utilize feathers are used in coming of age ceremonies, and at other important events to offer faith and courage in times of temptation and difficulty.
The Sacred Pipe[33]
The Sacred Pipe serves as a means for people of different cultures and traditions to joint together. In the fall of 1987, at an Anglican retreat center in British Columbia, the Dialog with People of Living Faiths brought together a unique gathering of of Native elders and spiritual leaders. The meeting was intended to be a step in the direction of reversing a half-millennium of Christian persecution and suppression of Native spirituality. The Native representatives came from all over the continent. After a sweat lodge ceremony, a circle gathered about four Sacred Pipes, representing the east, west and center, with a woman's pipe for the female spiritual energies. The Pipes were lit as verbal prayers accompanied the offering of smoke. Natives and non-Natives, traditionalist and Christians together smoked and prayed with the same goals: to end strife and bring peace to all the people, to end the suffering of the oppressed and persecuted, for the children to grow in dignity and wholesomeness, and for the end of the destruction of mother Earth. For the Native Americans, the Sacred Pipe went around and joined their offerings together, becoming one people, and voicing one prayer.
ETHNICITY, RACE ISSUES, & CHANGE
Ethnicity in the case of the Native Americans has been a challenge of retention fought by Native Americans against direct and indirect attempts made by colonial powers to confiscate indigenous people's ways of life in order to steal resources; all under the sentimental guises of “Christianizing” “Educating” or “Civilizing” a presumably helpless savage population.
18th Century Citations on Early Mission to Indigenous Peoples[34]
In 1911 Ethnologist, Baron Erland Nordenski öld stated, “We know full well that all Indian tribes will sooner or later succumb to our culture. That is part of the evolutionary process. Facing this inevitability, it is, therefor, best that those who first establish contact with them are missionaries, for they come to give and not to take.” 1935 - G. Lowes Dickinson “Civilization is a whole. Its art, its religion, its way of life, all hang together with its economic and technical development.” Christian missionaries have worked on this principle, especially among our Native Americans. They have been the first and best civilizers, realizing that no primitive culture can long persist side by side with an aggressive machine civilization. Even though the English fixed Native Americans within a lower class stratification, Christopher Columbus has been sited as describing them to be “very gentle and without knowledge of evil” (Although, genocide still proceeded their introduction) This sentiment is a far cry from the portrait of the “savage cannibal” propagated by many early American colonists. Native Americans are no stranger to religious bigotry. Early missionaries often dismissed their cultural practices as pagan and insisted that if they were to follow Christ, they must isolate themselves from their “pagan” practices – meaning anything that remotely reminded them of anything Native American. The church today however, is reverting from this kind of fallible theological assumptions and instead, apologizing for the actions of misguided evangelists of the past and encourage Native peoples to implement ethnic traditions in Christian worship. Native Native Americans have mostly sought to defy Christian influence, seeing it as dishonorable to their identity. However, some Native Americans have become Christians and have assimilated traditional Native American spiritual practices into their worship of Jesus Christ. Many feel that their ethnic heritage of struggle and endurance allows them to relate to the Biblical narrative in profound ways. Christian Native American Churches, such as the “First Nations Churches” of the 4-square Denomination often consist of multiple tribes and are inclusive from Mexican, Central-American, and South-American tribal ancestry
Native American Biblical translations:
Cherokee in the Sequoya (1831)
Nez Perce Bible (1871)
Dakota Bible 1879
Pseudo-cults
Peyotism and Shakerism (mostly in Navajo communities).
Majority self-governing churches are Navajo
FEMINISM
(This picture represents the seven clans of the Cherokee Nation represented by these matriarchs.) [35]
Until recently, scholars had thought of feminist and post-colonial discourses as topics separate from each other. Now, these scholars have taken interest in studying the relationship between these two fields. For Native American women, this research has revealed how many of them had been "doubly colonized" by both imperial and patriarchal ideologies[36] Many European settlers and missionaries perceived Native American women as playing subservient roles in male-dominated societies. However, researchers have found that many tribes were much more matriarchal than observed by the Europeans. Particularly, studies concerning the Iroquois of New York, the Inuit societies in the Arctic, the Tlingit society of the Northwest Coast, Blackfoot societies of the Plains, and the Cherokee women of the Southeast have revealed that these tribes were very matriarchal and matrilineal societies.[37] Regardless of matrilineal or patrilineal practices, all tribes treated women with respect.[38]
Native American Matriarchy
Land Tenure
Many Native American tribes were hunter-gatherer societies composed of small populations of people.[39] Prior to the European settlers arrival, only a small percentage of Native American tribes were settled into farming communities. Yet, regardless of whether they were hunter-gatherers or farmers, most Native Americans set up their communities based upon equal division of labor between men and women. When it came to the land, tenure favored women, because land was inherited through the mother's side. Consequently, these women controlled the use of the land whereas men controlled the distribution of goods from the land.[40]
Marital and Political Rights
Because the land belonged to the women, this had severe ramifications for men if a marriage ended in divorce. In Cherokee societies, the man would have to return to his family and leave their house and belongings with his wife, with the exception of what she was allowed to take.[41] Even more shocking that this, for the Europeans, was the fact that Iroquois women were allowed to initiate divorce. It was entirely within her prerogative to divorce her husband.[42] In terms of political rights, these Iroquois women were allowed to nominate and recall civil chiefs.[43] Therefore, these women were active participants within the governments of their tribes.
Immortalizing Women through Story-Telling
Story-telling is a powerful device of oral tradition. Through studying ancient stories of the Native Americans, M.A. Jaimes Guerro identified "female organic archetypes" including: "Corn Daughter (Hopi); Changing Woman (Navajo/Dineh); First Woman (Abanaki); Sky Woman (Iroquois); Spider Woman (Navajo/Dineh and Hopi); Thought Woman (Laguna); White Buffalo Calf Woman (Lakota, Dakota); and…the traditional Cherokee…Beloved Woman of the Nation" (http://awakenedwoman.com). Because of his study, he concluded that Native American cultures revere women rather than subordinate to men. Furthermore, many Native American tribes had a desire for harmony between human beings and "Mother Earth". This understanding of earth as being categorically feminine was in stark contrast to Columbus' monolithic "Father God".
The Effects of Colonization on Women
The Native American tribes were deeply affected by colonization. Again, Native American women experienced oppression twice! Colonizers demanded that tribal people re-organize their entire way of life, which included granting decision making totally to men and disregarding traditional tribal kinship organization.[44] Therefore, women lost control over the land as well as their marital and political rights. Essentially, the voices of women were being silenced. To add insult to injury, residential schools took their children away from them; the mother's role of educator was being minimized.[45] The colonists did not respect even Pocahontas and Sacajawea, the only two Native American women "revered" in Western history. In fact, they were "honored" for their contribution to western expansion, but were detested for their subhuman status and feared for their potential to lure white men (UCLA Center for the Study of Women).
A Re-Definition of Feminism ('Native Womanism')
The Dreams of Native American Women In order to re-claim their traditional place as spokespersons and decisions makers within their tribes, Native American women must resist in two ways. First of all, they must resist the stereotypes placed upon them, because of their place in the "Fourth World". Secondly, they must resist the cultural shift that has occurred within their societies (from an egalitarian structure to a male dominated model).[46]
In an attempt to reinstate their traditional roles, many Native American women have wished for an alternative to the term 'feminism'. Therefore, M.A. Jaimes Guerrero has suggested the idea of 'native womanism' (www.awakenedwoman.com). She borrowed the term 'womanism' from Alice Walker; Walker defines it to mean women who are 'committed to the survival and wholeness of the entire people, male and female.'[47] Therefore, 'native womanism' is "primarily premised on kinship traditions and 'birthright' tied to indigenous homelands."[48] Perhaps, this term could be understood as reinstating the egalitarian principles previously found amongst the Native Americans. In the end, this 'native womanism' or egalitarianism would re-establish reciprocity amongst the Native American people and their land.
PRODUCTION & CONSUMPTION[49]
Native American tribes “excelled at using natural resources and adapting to the climates and terrains in which they lived.” This determined all aspects of their lives including their food and shelter.
There was no universal or staple food for all Native American tribes, the surrounding environment and conditions determined what food sources the tribe would depend on. “But no group ever relied on only one type of food. Even those who practiced agriculture still relied on game and wild plants to supplement their harvests.” For tribes who farmed maize/corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, chili peppers, pumpkins, vanilla, and avocados would be the most common produce grown. Foraging was another aspect of providing food. Again, the surrounding environment would determine what would be found, but various berries, nuts grasses, wild rice and cactus products would be common. Tribes living along rivers, lakes and the coasts depended on fishing and whaling as a source of food while others hunted local wildlife. Only after encounters with Europeans did Native American tribes begin to take on livestock, but those who did herded sheep and cattle.
Native American tribes were very conscious of what they consumed and took from their surroundings. They would only take what was needed and utilize all aspects of their resources. For instance the hide a deer could be used for clothing or blankets, the meat would be consumed and preserved, the stomach and bladder could be used for containing liquids and the bones would be used for tools. Other materials produced by Native Americans were used for clothes, tools and jewelry and shelter. Earth lodges, tipi’s, longhouses, wigwams, hogans, wickiups, pueblos, kivas, plank houses, igloos, and chickees were all forms of shelter used by various tribes and were built using materials native to their surroundings.
GLOBALIZATION, ENVIRONMENT, & RELIGION
The Christian Mission to Native Americans
In understanding where the current Native American Christian church it is crucial to understand how the Christian church has predominantly interacted with Native Americans in the past. In particular, remember how the table has been set for the current religious climate in light of Colonial interaction is key.
Common in the Colonizers dealings with Native Americans has been a harsh mistreatment and subhuman view of the Native Americans based largely on an assumption of religious superiority. One story states how the King James I of England placed such a high emphasis on adolescent conversion that missionaries were permitted to use kidnapping if the situation demanded it.[50]
This view also manifested itself in religious and societal paranoia. English Puritans believed that the heathen natives were liars, lazy, and lacking family government (discipline). Furthermore, the “heathens” were looked at as devils who threatened the New World’s ability to become “the city on a hill.”[51]
Thomas Jefferson said in one regard that “Indians” and “Americans” were all born of the new land and hoped for a long sustained friendship between the two. However, Jefferson also stated that he preferred to have the Native American people group wiped off the face of the earth.[52]
The major frame of early Christian interaction was that Native Americans were, ultimately, nothing more than a nothing chunk of material in the New World to be assimilated if possible, conquered if need be and annihilated if all else failed.
The Imperialist ideals that the early settlers brought with them created sharp division between those who had the knowledge, that is the correct answers and right doctrine, and those who were ignorant, that is the natives. One way of describing the Native Americans in this framework was to see them as the Samaritan woman in John 4 who held to be lacking both morally and religiously, a woman so outside the realm of proper orthodox that she does not even know what she worships. Additionally, she is so unaware of her lostness that she not only has had five husbands but the one she is with now is not even her husband.
Another popular view of the Native Americans was to put them on par with the Canaanites in the Israelite Exodus story. The Canaanites were horrible idolaters who abused God’s gracious gifts and therefore, it was justifiable to enslave Native Americans as an essential component of the Christian church in mission and colonizing of the New World as dictated by the divine will of God.[53]
Christian Interaction
Three keys will be essential in moving forward in Native American interactions. The first will be understanding the biases and lenses used in reading the Bible. The Bible has a long and inimical history with Native Americans because of how the text has been disabused, misread and selectively read the text. Second would be to further research Liberation Theology and explore how this view of God’s interaction with the oppressed and marginalized can help confront systems and structures that systematically hold Native Americans from equal opportunities. Finally, from a Christian perspective, there must be an insistence on viewing all people with equal dignity and respect. There must be intention and pursuit to hear the story Native Americans have to share. In Who We Are: Our Dignity as Human, by Paul K. Jewett with Marguerite Shuster, the authors state, “(W)hen in the name of a Christian anthropology, American theologians protest the inhumanity that violates a neighbor’s dignity, they need not search for illustrations in faraway times and places. They live in a country that was violently taken from Native Americans.”[54]
Native American Map Making
Native Americans have a rich and detailed history of map making. This history long predates the first encounters Native Americans had with European settlers. It is a history with strong animistic ties. William Garner notes that the maps were used as, “a beacon for heavenly forces, an earthly guide, as a symbol of cosmological unity, and as a flag to identify during the Thunder and/or Great Washing ceremonies.”[55]
Religious traditions such as this are quite common in PreColonial Native American thinking because they express the balance, holistic framework and mutual interdependence of the universe.
LANGUAGE, BODY & PERFORMANCE
Language
Native American Literature is often held in the background of most literary discussion. As Brian Swann states, “Initially, the very ‘idea of a (Native American) literature was inherently ludicrous because (American) Indian languages themselves were primitive.”[56] The thought was that if Native Americans were as poor as they were in speaking they certainly lacked the capacity to write.[57]
Margaret Atwood observes that Native American language has no noun-forms, only verb-forms. Further observation goes on to state, “Such a language cannot exist if language is either anterior or posterior to the world but reinforces the notion that language inhabits the world, in practice. The semantic component of sentence is contained in the syntax: the meaning of a word or phrase is its use in language, a use which has nothing to do with the kind a user ‘has in his or her head’.” All that is to say that the language appears to be confusingly flexible and fluid. As such, one can understand why the thought was Native Americans were slightly inarticulate and unskilled in oration. It is an understanding that is birthed in a place of cultural assumption and colonial determination.
Consequently, most Native American literature is written by someone outside of the group who is attempting to speak on behalf of that group and as a voice for that group. Furthermore, Native Americans have had their culture so dominated and indoctrinated by colonial influences that whatever voice Native Americans would attempt to write in there would be the affect of a foreign tongue.[58]
Ethnic Representations
Ethnic representation has not always been favorable to Native Americans. Often times, in show, presentations have used “mimic or countermimic strategies” to bring forward cultural perceptions.[59]
One example of this is James Luna’s The Artifact Piece, which was done by San Diego’s Museum of Man. In the performance, “ (James) Luna placed himself on display, his body laid out in one case labeled with tags identifying scars inflicted during drunken fights. Another case showed his college degree, photos of his children, arrest record, and divorce papers along with objects used in contemporary Native American Ceremonies. Explanatory panels described with mock ethnographic objectivity a modern Native American life in which AA meetings have taken the place of traditional ritual ceremonies.”[60]
In 1992 a different, but similar show entitled Two Undiscovered Amerindians Visit was also popular. The show mirrored previous presentations which had featured native peoples from Africa, Asia, and the Americas. “To the surprise of the performers, their mock scientific information and presentation of the “native culture” was taken seriously.[61]
CONCLUSION
Although much effort has been given in order to evangelize the Native Americans, it has been largely a losing battle. This is due to the history of the Christian missions among the natives and their mistreatment of the people and misrepresentation of the Gospel. These misrepresented ideas unfortunately still exist today in the minds of the natives and act as a hindrance to conversion. It is hard to forget the mistakes of the past and the gospel is still seen as intertwined with assimilation of white culture. They must be able to retain their cultural beliefs in combination with the gospel otherwise they will continue to reject it. In order for there to be progress made in this area, Christian missionaries need to divorce the message of the gospel from European culture. Also, it is hard for the Native Americans to identify with the Bible stories themselves. This is because they were victims of oppression by the very people who were trying to convert them. This has lead to a wholesale rejection of not only the white culture but what is seen as their religion as well. For them, the Bible brought oppression, war, and death instead of peace and love. Lastly, Christian missions failed to treat the native’s tribal religions with respect and labeled them “witchcraft”. This caused a divide between the two groups that has not been truly bridged since. These circumstances have all contributed to the fact that an overwhelming majority of Native Americans do not claim to know Jesus Christ. Due to the fact that there seems to be a very negative view of Christianity, especially when it is brought in by outsiders, the gap that exists between Christianity and Native Americans must be bridged from within.
References
American Indian Education Foundation, http://www.nrcprograms.org/site/PageServer?pagename=aief_index 12/1/08
Ashcroft, Bill. The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. New York, NY: Routledge, 1999.
Jewett, Paul K. and Shuster, Marguerite. Who We Are: Our Dignity as Human. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1996.
Paper, Jordan. Offering Smoke: The Sacred Pipe and Native American Religion. New York, NY: University of Idaho Press, 1989.
Lindquist, Gustavus E. The Indian in American Life. New York, NY: AMSP, Incorporated, 1976.
"Native Americans of North America," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2008 http://encarta.msn.com, 11/26/08.
Sugirtharajah, R .S. Voices From the Margin. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2006.
Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 1993.
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matriarchy.info 12/1/08.
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www.awakenedwoman.com/native_american.htm 12/1/08.
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www.echotacherokeewolfclan.com/id13.html 12/1/08
www.gatheringofnations.com/educational/articles/comparison_values 12/1/08.
www.lurj.org/article.php/vol1n1/running.xml 12/1/08.
www.nativevillage.org/Messages from the People/Native Americans in the Census.htm 12/1/08.
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ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2007/10-07NativeAmericanPhotoBIG.jpg 12/1/08.
The history of Christianity as it pertains to Native Americans is a complex one that, unfortunately, began with intolerance and violence. Across much of the new world, the message of Christ was spread through fear and intimidation. Many Native Americans were threatened with death or imprisonment if they failed to convert. Not only did they have to convert in order to appease the missionaries but they also had to reject their culture which was seen as evil and backward. Likewise there existed major differences between many of the natives traditional religions and Christianity which made conversion extremely difficult. From the complex system of the Iroquois to the simple system found among the Apaches, every tribe had their own unique understanding of religion. But something that is found in all the different types of religions among the natives would be their idea that spirituality is connected with nature. For them, religion was not just a label but something that encapsulated their whole way of life. This may have been the biggest, most fundamental difference between the native religions and Christianity. It is important to note however that there existed many similarities between the religions as well. For example, the natives’ religions all included some form of a supreme being who created the world and who must be worshipped. Although there is some cohesion with Christianity, today approximately 95% of Native Americans do not claim to follow Jesus Christ. This is due to a popular view held by many that He is European and that Christianity represents a western religion. Furthermore, many believe that conversion would be giving into and assimilating with white culture.
HISTORY
The native tribes of North America through DNA evidence have been linked to an Asian decent. These tribes were thought to have migrated over the ice bridge between Alaska and Russia, the time frame is uncertain but at least 4,000 years ago.[1] The accounts given by the now called Native American tribes would tell of a creation or entry into this world or land. Their creator designates the land they inhabit to them and as such it will always belong to them. 500 years before Columbus reached America, the Vikings had landed in North America only to abandon their colonies due to violent encounters with the natives. When Columbus brought word back to Spain of a New World there started a steady flow of Europeans to the Eastern shores of what would soon be known as America.[2]
Several tribes were warned through dreams that the white men would cross the great water and take their lands with frightful weapons. Native Americans would long be given the title of savage – defending your family, your home and your land is nothing close to savagery.[3] The actions against the Native Americans are the greatest atrocity of our nation. The eradication of hundreds upon hundreds of tribes equaling millions of people is the darkest page of American history that many turn for the inability to take in this unfathomable horror.
From the 1600’s the Native American populations began to decline to the ravaging affects of disease brought by the Europeans. Smallpox was a big killer, killing so many that hundreds of bodies were never buried but left to rot. The colonists interpreted these deaths as a punishment for their sin and a sign to them that God was handing this land over to them. “Ironically Indian death came to mean Life for the Pilgrims.”[4] The Native Americans were either pushed from their land or wiped out in violent attacks. What had started out as an attempt to live with the Native Americans soon pushed nearly all Native Americans west of the Mississippi around 1830.[5]
Now came expansionism at its worst, frontiersmen struck out across the land west of the Mississippi and with their return brought reports of rich ground and plentiful game. These reports sent thousands streaming over the Mississippi as their forerunners had rushed over the Atlantic in search of new opportunity for a better life. This advancement on to frontier land brought with it terrible consequences for the Native Americans. As before the land would not be shared between Native Americans and settlers, there would be bloodshed and though they won many battles the Native Americans would lose the war. A war not for riches or new land, they fought to keep what they had – not take from others. Luther Standing Bear of the Sioux says that “the man from Europe is still a foreigner and an alien”. American history tells how the west was won, Native Americans remember the story of their people as how the west was lost. Lost to men whose greed was too great, too unfathomable and sinful to comprehend. Greed that created ethnic cleansing when the natives were unwilling to give what had for more generations than they could remember belonged solely to them.[6]
Eventually every tribe was either cleansed from the land through war, or corralled into reservation land. For many tribes the reservation was far from their homelands and this caused much hurt and sadness. Their land was taken so settlers and primarily white people could “make a new start”, any place gold was found the Army would then come and push off the Native Americans. The rationale for such barbaric behavior comes from the idea of Manifest Destiny. It was God’s plan to give this land over to Christians and the demise of so many tribes and their ancient way of life was then justified.[7]
BEFORE THE SETTLERS
Native American tribes were separate from each other with different lifestyles, languages, religious practices, etc, but there still existed several similarities. One commonality between all Native American tribes was and is their belief in a spirit world and the connection it has to the natural world. Along with this they also share a spiritual connection to the Earth. There existed and still exists a symbiotic relationship between the Native American people and the Earth. While the Earth itself was not an object of worship, the people “left offerings of a precious substance, such as corn pollen, to plants and animals that gave their lives for human benefit.”[8] “Many groups believed in a single Creator or Great Spirit; others believed there were multiple holy beings who joined together to create and guide human beings into existence. Spiritual forces were believed to be present in every natural object, from insects to mountains.”[9] Because spirituality was and is such an integral part of life for Native Americans there are roles within the tribe that are responsible specifically, for spiritual aspects they are called shamans and priests. Their roles differ in that “priests had more formal religious training than did shamans, and often led the ceremonies that marked major events in community life.” Shamans, sometimes also known as “medicine men” or “medicine women”, are believed to have “direct contact with the supernatural…diagnose and treat illness and to divine the location of an enemy, food source, or missing object.”[10] Common celebrations for Native American tribes are the rites of passage ceremonies which took place for the “birth of a child, the coming of age for a young woman, the warrior status of a young man, or the death of a loved one.”[11] While the specifics are not shared by all tribes, most believe(d) in an afterlife or another world that the soul will travel to after death, which, because of this belief was not corporately feared.
DIASPORA
The idea of diaspora is usually associated with the Babylonian exile of the Jews or other immigrants seeking refugee from famines, wars, or civil unrest (i.e. the Irish and potato famine). However, many do not realize that the Native Americans experienced a diaspora of their own. By "civilizing" the Native Americans, the white settlers were able to acquire more land for themselves and push the Native Americans westward. As a result, these Native Americans felt a sense of displacement, as they became exiles within their land! As defined by Edward Said, “Exile is the unhealable rift forced between a human being a native place, between the self and its true home. The essential sadness of the break can never be surmounted…but these are no more than stories, efforts to overcome the crippling sorrow of estrangement.”[12] Therefore, the story of Native American diaspora is one filled with many tears.
Land Allotment Strategy (Creeks, Chickasaws, and Choctaws)
By the 1760s, the white settlers and their descendants had established colonies and were trying to create new nation. Therefore, the Native Americans were struggling to hold onto their ancestral lands. And so, the battle over land ensued. Thomas Jefferson's number one concern was American expansion. He informed Andrew Jackson that he needed to "advise" the Native Americans to sell their lands and to become farmers. If they did not agree to become "civilized," they would face elimination. In fact, President Jackson said, "The fate of Mohican, the Narragansett, and the Delaware is fast overtaking the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and the Creek. That this fate surely awaits them if they remain within the states does not admit of a doubt."
For the Chickasaws who agreed to sell some of their land, Jackson paid $100 for 2,500 acres of their bluffs. As president, Jackson encouraged the leaders of Mississippi and Georgia to abolish Native American tribal units and to extend state authority. After settlers purchased Native American land, many of the Native Americans went deeper into the wilderness. Therefore, they were becoming less "civilized" as a result of being removed off of their land.
Like the Chickasaws, the Choctaws were "encouraged" to move westward. In the 1805 Choctaw treaty, specific land was allotted for the individual Choctaws. By 1830, the sovereignty of the Choctaw nation was abolished. Therefore, any Choctaw who violated state law would be fined $1,000 and could spend one year in prison. By this point, Jackson had already uprooted 70,000 Native Americans and drove them west of the Mississippi River (through land allotment and treaties).
Eventually, the Choctaws were coerced into being governed by Mississippi state law (the alternative was for them to move and leave their land behind). In fact, the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek meant that the Choctaws must give all of their 10,423,130 acres to the federal government and migrate westward. Meanwhile, many whites just took land from the Native Americans without any official treaties. Because they were forced to choose between the "lesser of two evils," the Choctaws denounced Jackson for betraying them. In the end, the cost of the Choctaw removal was $5,097,367.50, but the government received $8,095,614.39 from their land. Because of the unfair treatment they received, the Native Americans sued in federal court and received $2,981,247.39, but most of that money went to their lawyers.
Treaty Strategy (Cherokees) and the Trail of Tears
In Georgia, the Cherokees were given the same choice as the Choctaws. The Cherokee would be allowed to stay in Georgia, but then the U.S. government would rule over them. Their other option was to move westward. Not wanting to be ruled by the U.S. government or to move westward, Chief John Ross protested the new policy. Because of their resistance, Jackson sent Commissioner J.F. Schermerhorn to negotiate a treaty. If the Native Americans left their lands, they would receive $3,250,000. In order for the treaty to be ratified, it had to be approved by the tribal council. However, Chief Ross was jailed during the treaty proposal meeting. Furthermore, limited information was provided to the local newspapers. Consequently, none of the tribal officials attended that meeting and only about 300 Cherokees were present. Yet, the treaty was still ratified. Regardless of the ratification of the treaty, the Cherokees refused to leave their land. Instead, they sent a petition to Jackson signed by 15,665 Cherokees.
(This is an artistic depiction of the "Trail of Tears" and the harsh winter they endured.)[13]
In response to petition, Jackson sent 7,000 soldiers to round up the Cherokees, like cattle, and forced them to move westward in the middle of winter. By the time the Cherokee made it to the new "Indian country," almost 4,000 of their people had died (1/4 of the nation's population). Consequently, their journey to "Indian country" is bitterly known as the "Trail of Tears."
From Wounded Knee to Reservation Life
At Wounded Knee, a battle broke out between the soldiers and the Native Americans. Louise Weasel Bear recounted, "We tried to run, but they shot us like we were buffalo." For many Native Americans, Wounded Knee violently symbolized the end of the Frontier. Sadly, they knew that life would never go back to the way things were before the white settlers came. As a result of the battle at Wounded Knee, Francis Amasa Walker, commissioner of Indian Affairs during 1870s, tried to advocate for a "Peace Policy." He also promoted the idea of moving Native Americans to reservations. Originally, the Native Americans would not be allowed to leave the borders of their reservations. Therefore, the state authorities had the right to send Native Americans back to their reservations, if they had happened to "wander off." By 1887, the Dawes Act had reversed Walker's strategy. This act also allowed the President to allot 160 acres of land to individual heads of family; after 25 years, these lands would be eligible for sale. The reductions caused by the Dawes Act were further accelerated in 1902. Unless the family could purchase their allotted land, they lost their property. To add insult to injury, Congress nullified the 25-year trust provision in Dawes Act. Therefore, the Native Americans were no longer protected from white buyers. By 1933, almost half of the Native Americans involved in the allotment program were landless and they had lost 60% of their 138,000,000 acres!
Indian Reorganization Act
Fortunately, by 1934, the allotment program was stopped by the Indians Reorganization Act (founded by John Collier). This Indian Reorganization Act reversed the policies dating back to 1607. In 1935, 172 tribes representing 132,426 people voted in favor of the law whereas 73 tribes representing 63,467 people chose to be excluded. In the end, those chose to be excluded did so, because they did not like Collier telling them what was going to be best for them.
Current Statistics
Today, 4,100,000 people claim to be of Native American descent
Only 538,300 people on reservations
That means that only 7.62% still live on reservations [14]
Of all of the Native Americans, only 4% of Native Americans are Christians [15]
Dreams
It is obvious that the Native Americans are a "displaced" people. All Native Americans, living on and off reservations, are in need of redemption. For the small percentage of Native Americans living on reservations, life is not at all ideal. On many reservations, there are high mortality rates (infants, homicide, and suicide). Also, there are high percentages of unemployment, substance abuse, and domestic violence. For those not living on reservations, there is concern about the preservation of the culture of the Native Americans. Understandably, many Native Americans are still bitter about being forced to leave their homelands, assimilate into the European culture, and to accept a foreign religion. However difficult it may be, the Church cannot give up on making disciples of the Native Americans. Although the road may be long and taxing, it does not negate the fact that God loves the Native American people. It is the job of the Church to figure out a way to communicate God's love in tangible ways. In the end, God will be the one to heal the broken hearts of the Native Americans and to bring restoration to their lands.
UNIVERSALITY
Universalism as it applies to post colonial studies is the notion of a unitary and homogeneous human nature which marginalizes and excludes the distinctive characteristics and the differences of post colonial societies. The ‘universal’ features of humanity are the characteristics of those who occupy positions of political dominance. It is these people who define humanity and the world.[16] The Europeans carried universalism with them when they came to the Americas. The Native Americans were subjected to the universality of the dominant Europeans power. The Europeans had universally defined humanity and civilization and left no room for anything else.
The Europeans imposed this universalism through the most basic definition of being human. Their universal belief about themselves, who they believed were the only valuable creation of God, led to the rigid separation of themselves and Native Americans. Native Americans because of their differences from the Europeans were personified as savagery. At this time the universal definition of Christianity was limited to European culture and civilization. To the colonists, the Native Americans lacked everything that identified them as being civilized or Christian.[17] If there was any hope at all for Native Americans they would need to assimilate into both the culture and religion of the colonists. However, the strong perceptions of Native Americans made it difficult for even “religious mission.”
The colonists created their own representation of the Native Americans. The European way of life was what was defined as being civilized, therefore the Native Americans became less than human. Because the Native Americans didn’t fit into the European universals the colonists removed the Native Americans face, identity, value, and story. If the Native Americans were believed to have no value their destruction could be justified. Even Native American deaths were thought to be ‘a sign from God’ to the Europeans.[18] The universal belief was that the traits of the Native Americans made them incapable of becoming civilized. The belief that Native Americans were inherently inferior and considered the enemy, even of God, served as the justification for the European actions towards them. As expansion continued into the West, the colonists believed that the Native Americans must remain separated and they attempted to push them further and further into the frontier. However, the end of the frontier became a reality and the ability to hide the Native Americans in the ‘wilderness’ began to diminish.[19]
Universal beliefs about religion, land, work and education drove the colonists to strip the Native Americans of their way of life as the colonists continued to expand theirs. As the colonists began to dominate the land, the only way of life became the American way. There were some who believed the Native Americans could be converted and should be assimilated into American culture. The universal belief was that with the help of Americans, the Native Americans could be trained and reformed on reservations as preparation for civilized Christian life. The only and best way for the Native Americans to live, was as westerners; “Indians could not remain Indians.”[20] With the expansion and growth of the United States of America the pressure increased to the find an answer to the ‘Indian question’ and the result is the experience of many Native Americans today. The effects of universalism on the Native American people, their religion and their way of life can still be seen today. The church has been one of the institutions that has confined the Native American people to such universals. The Native American people speak out for a God that is with them, for them and identifies with their own journey. The western idea and universal beliefs that are held about God from the perspective of a dominant and colonial power, will not do.
"Is there a god, a spirit who will hear us and stand with us in the Amazon, Osage County, and Wounded Knee? Is there a god, a spirit, able to move among the pain and anger of the Nablus, Gaza and Soweto of 1989? Perhaps. But we the wretched of the earth, may be well advised this time not to listen to outsiders with promises of liberation and deliverance. We will perhaps do better to look elsewhere for our vision of justice, peace and political sanity – a vision through which we escape not only our oppressors, but our oppression as well. Maybe for once we will just have to listen to ourselves, leaving the gods of this continent’s real strangers to do battle among themselves."[21]
REPRESENTATION & DIFFERENCE
Since the beginning of colonization in the United States the Native Americans have been plagued with the dichotomy between perception and reality. They have faced everything from prejudice to pity, neither attitude affirming the Native Americans as an individual competent people group. As late as 1929, the Native Americans and other marginalized groups continued to face extreme discrimination, despite the six pleas of the Protestant church condemning segregation. More recently, “Liberals and conservatives alike have too often surveyed the conditions of Native Americans and decided to come to the rescue, always using their methods, their ideas, and their programs. The idea that Indians might know best how to address their own problems is seemingly lost on these well meaning folks.”[22]
These representations of the Native American people are due in large part to the Christian church. Since the 1700s the Native Americans have struggled with the difference between how they have been perceived and who they truly are. Because of the abuse of the Christian church, when a Native American decides to join the Christian faith, they are confronted with the opposite problem. These Native Americans struggle with the difference between how the church is perceived in their ethnic community and what it truly means to be a Christian.
[23]
The Puritans viewed the Native Americans as savage and demonic. The Native Americans represented everything they were afraid of: sensuality, passion, unity between the mind and body. They believed that the Native Americans were accustomed to “habits of chase” and lacked “forethought,” “intellectual tastes,” and “self-discipline.”[24]
While the Puritans focused on the binarisms of mind vs. body, tactile vs. visual, linear knowledge vs. knowledge through experience to justify their dominance and representation, the Native Americans used different binarisms. The binarisms of the Native Americans were sacred relationship to nature vs. conquering relationships over nature, community/interdependence vs. individuality/independence and sacred evolution vs. conflict revolution.[25] Though the Native Americans were represented as demonized based on the projections of the Puritans the difference is that they are actually a community who respects the earth, live in cooperation with one another, are self-sacrificing, generous and tranquil.
Instead of bringing many to Christ the Puritans used their representation of the Native Americans as a means to justify their brutality. The Native Americans were required to conform or to leave. In the process their homes were destroyed, their family members killed and their food source diminished. When all else failed the Puritans used the Bible to further their justification for violence and representation of the Native American people. In Biblical terms the Native Americans were often referred to as Amalekites and Canaanites. This carried the assumption that the Native Americans were worshipers of false gods, they were heathens and they were worthy of annihilation. The Puritans believed that God had given them a new land and it was within their right to do whatever they saw fit to remove the Indigenous people from it.
(Native Americans who conformed to the white man's way of dress.)[26]
Well meaning Christians today have hurt the Indigenous people by failing to see the different affect that this Biblical story has had on the Indigenous people of the past. Over the last 20 years liberation theology has gained great momentum in defending marginalized people groups. Liberationist’s prime scriptural trophy is the same Exodus story the Puritans used to abuse the Native Americans. Liberationists have presented this story as a means of evangelism to the Native Americans. The white American culture fails to see the difference this story has upon the Native Americans because their personal history relates to that of the Israelites, not that of the Canaanites. When the Indigenous people hear this story they are reminded again of their past and the representation put on them by the Christian church. Because the liberationists have failed to see the differences, in hopes of evangelizing this particular culture, they have reinforced all the negative beliefs the Native Americans’ indigenous ancestors held about whites and God.
The repercussion of the brutal representations of Native Americans and the difference of who they truly are has left a divide among the Christian church and this marginalized people group. Today only four percent of Native Americans are Christians. These particular people have and are faced with the extreme challenge of reconciling the difference between how the Christian church has represented itself over the past few hundred years and what it means to be a Christian today. Current Native American Christians are represented in their own communities as sell-outs and people who have forgotten what their ancestors fought and died for. One Native American, Marlene, was able to reconcile her Native background to the Christian faith because God showed her that while her ancestors shed their blood in battle the difference was that Christ had personally shed his blood for her.
RESISTANCE
One of the earliest resistance efforts to the Christian church came in the form of a letter to Pope John Paul II. It read:
"We, Indians of the Andes and America, decided to take advantage of John Paul II’s visit to return to him his Bible because in five centuries it has given us neither love, nor peace, nor justice. Please, take your Bible and give it back to our oppressors, because they need its moral precepts more than we. Since the arrival of Christopher Columbus the Bible was imposed upon America with force: European culture, language, religion, and values. The Bible came to us as part of imposed colonial change. It was the ideological arm of the colonial assault. The Spanish sword, which by day attacked and assassinated the body of the Indians, by night changed itself into the cross which attacked the Indian soul."[27]
(Ghost Dance Shirt) 28]
One of the main forms of resistance of the Native American people, when it came to the church, was not through war but it was through rejection. They rejected the Christian message and they rejected white people. One possible reason that the Native Americans today are not filing into churches is because it is not the number one place they turn to for help. How can they turn to a place that has demolished their ancestors in the name of God?
Though they were deemed as savages, most resistance efforts by the Native Americans were very peaceful. At one point the Paiutes believed that Christ had returned to earth as an Native American. They believed that restoration of their traditions and land was on its way. To protect themselves from the Englishmen they did not take up weapons but rather clothed themselves with “ghost shirts” in hopes of finding protection from the white man’s bullets. Their resistance was guided by faith that a savior would be their ultimate defender and protector. In this attempt at resisting white rule the Native Americans did not stage a revolt, they did not wage a war, instead the Native Americans danced to their god.
NATIONALISM
According to Frantz Fanon, nationalism refers to, “the whole body of efforts made by a people in the sphere of thought to describe, justify, and praise the action through which that people has created itself and keeps itself in existence.”[29] As far as possessing a sense of nationalism to the United States of America, the Native Americans can hardly be thought of as a group that would look favorably toward a people and a country that invaded their homeland and forcibly took away land, culture, and livelihood. The Dawes Act in 1887 which granted the president power to allot reservation lands to individual heads of families without Native American consent followed by the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 signaled the end of the frontier. However, allotment was halted in 1934 by the passing of the Indian Reorganization Act which was a policy introduced by John Collier. In an effort to preserve the Native American way of life, this act abolished the allotment program in favor of self-governments established by the Native Americans themselves. One of the tribes that were first to reject this notion was the Navajos, reflecting their belief that Collier seemed to be dictating what was and was not good for the tribes. With such a rich history of oppression, it is not surprising to find a hostility (such as the response of the Navajo Indians) toward the nation that they live under out of necessity and not by choice.[30]
EDUCATION[31]
From 1776-1926, Native American education essentially meant "assimilation" into the predominantly white culture. During this span of 150 years, the United States of America entered into over 370 treaties with Indian nations which included agreements that the federal government would provide adequate education, health, technical, and agricultural services to the various tribes. As a way to "civilize" Native American children, the ones promoting assimilation deemed non-reservation boarding schools the most effective way to make Native American children accept and adopt white men's beliefs and values. One of the more well-known schools was founded in Carlisle, Pennsylvania by Richard Henry Pratt in 1879. As a way to isolate them from their native culture, children were forced to wear standard uniforms instead of traditional clothing, boys were required to cut their long hair, and the students were given new names. Traditional Native American foods were obsolete in these new schools, and students were prohibited to speak in their native languages, even to one another. Conversion to Christianity was seen as a priority to white culture. This specific schools taught the important cultural value of winning by creating football teams for the boys, and to further promote the white culture, holidays such as Columbus day, Thanksgiving, and Memorial day were observed. Pratt's goal was complete and total assimilation of thought, mind, and action for these Native American children.
The beginning of reform in the area of education took place in the 1920s, triggered by John Collier, the Executive Secretary for the American Indian Defense Association. Publishing a bulletin entitled "American Indian Life," Collier launched a publicity campaign to inform the public about the level of Native American poverty in comparison to the general prosperity of the 20s. The most tangible and significant work of reform came out of the Meriam Report of 1926, which recommended that schools do away with curriculum that stressed only white cultural values, that only older children should attend non-reservation schools, that younger children should go to a community school located close to their homes, and that Native American service must provide tools to adapt to both the white and Native American world. Charles Rhoades was the first Indian Commissioner to attempt to realize the recommendations of this report. By the 1930s, Native American education placed a value on their native culture. With Collier as the new Commissioner of Indian Affairs, a progressive approach toward education began to take place. Children now learned through the cultural lenses of their own cultural values while still becoming aware of the values of white civilization around them. Teachers were taught to be sensitive to Native American culture, and school began introducing curriculum that included Native American history, art, and language.
During World War II, Native American education had a regression - the policy of assimilation began to take shape again as funding for reservations were cut back and school closed down. However, the decade following brought organized Native American leadership in the government which fought vigorously against assimilation and encouraged the Native American people to take on a responsibility in their own future. As the 60's and 70's rolled around, the stage had been set for this ethnic minority to take their role in the political scene. With Native Americans serving under President Lyndon Johnson, the US government established a variety of councils to serve Native American interests. Under this leadership, Native American education made a number of curriculum changes and instituted all-Native American school boards. Native American Studies programs appeared in universities while scholarship programs aimed specifically for Native Americans were developed for the very first time in history.
During the 1980s-1990s, the Office of Indian Education (OIE) experienced severe financial hardship and endured a period where they were almost voted out of existence. By 1997, funding came no longer came from the Department of the Interior but shifted to the Education Department, securing the possibility for restoring the budget reductions that the OIE had previously experienced. Today, the most recent goals regarding Native American education include increasing high school completion and post-high school attendance rates, the improvement of reading, mathematics, and science, and reducing risks such as poverty and substance abuse.
HYBRIDITY & INDIGINEITY WITHIN INDIGENOUS CHURCH PRACTICES
Much early mission among the tribes of North America in the 18th century is marked mostly by racist colonial hubris – Sir William Johnson, Chief Joseph Brand, and Rev. Charles Chauncy disdained Native American culture and barred it from churches. The early Christian missionaries, suffering from blindness induced by nationalist idolatry, failed to recognize the intrinsic value of all human life as created in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Despite European's attempts to erase the cultures of the first nations, the Native people have managed to survive; a Native man, referring to the “melting pot concept of America, once said “Whatever it is that Indian people are made of, we don't melt too easy.”[32]
Many Natives have been taught by colonial missionaries and even some misguided Native Christian leaders that their cultural practices were a form of “witchcraft” and should be feared and abandoned. However, many Native Christians have found that when they abandon their cultural ancestry they forfeit their identities, and no longer have a story that enables them to identify with the Biblical narrative Native American Christian churches recognize their culture to be one of many cultures to reflect attributes of their Creator, for them it has been a process of finding out what their unique contextual expression looks like.
Vatican II led a shift in attitude toward the inclusion of Native American religious practices within Catholicism and in liberal Protestant congregations. The 1977 Statement of U.S. Catholic Bishops of American Indians spoke of respect for the “distinctive traditions, customs, institutions and way of life of its people” and that the “Gospel message must take root and grow within each culture and each community.”
Jesus as Chanku
“The Road” or “The Way” is a term quickly being adopted by Native American believers to express their faith in Jesus. This phrasing allows Native American (Christian and Non) to relate to the story of Christ in a way more in line with the Native approach to life. The word “Christianity” on the contrary, speaking to the oppressive hypocrisy of religious ethnocentric colonizers.
Spiritual Divides
As a result of the Enlightenment, modernism fragmented Christianity into various binary worlds (Ex. Secular/Spiritual, Natural/Supernatural), only at the turn of the 21st century, have some emerging forms of Christianity begun to recover Biblical holism. The Native American people however, did not suffer such compartamentalizations of their religious practices. Natural and the supernatural realities have never existed as separate realms for Native American spiritualists, Christian and non. The conflict between integrated world views of the Native American and the compartmentalized world\views of most Western evangelicals has been one of the greatest hindrances to White/Native relations. This split, to Native Americans, means that in order to follow Christ, one must abandon their entire approach to community and spirit. The Western mentality stems not from the Hebraic-Christian faith, but from classic Greek philosophy, so in this sense, the Native American approach to spirituality, is actually a truer Christian view than what is practiced by the bulk of white American Christians. This spiritual/secular divide simply does not make since to Native American spiritual practice so, the Native American Christian Church retains a more holistic approach to God than most of the surrounding non-native Christians.
Native believers see the world, not as existing within a hierarchy of separate realms, but their Creator as one manifesting in all things. Western Christians, when confronted with the biblical account of spectacular events such as God speaking to Moses from a burning bush would question whether or not a bush could speak and therefore set off to rationalize how this might be merely a contextualized symbolic event not to be taken literally. But for the Native believer, these kinds of events are not surprising and would be much more interested in what the bush was actually saying. The Native American church has been accused as being guilty of pantheism, spirits, or animism for their easy belief in such things, however Western Christians neglect the many biblical accounts of this same nature. In fact, most, if not all, Native Americans affirmed the existence of one Supreme Being before the arrival of white Christian monotheists.
Most Western Christian traditions see man as created superior to the rest of creation, the Native American however, sees themselves created as part of creation, participating in it as one player within a greater natural order. So they seek to fill that niche in a way that respects the rest of created life. In Pawnee buffalo hunts only sufficient buffalo were killed to provide for food and other needs. Strict taboos limited the buffalo kill to what the Pawnees were able to consume, thus conserving this crucial food supply. Nothing was wasted. All was treated in a sacred manner -embracing a complex understanding of the interrelatedness of all beings. This sits contrastingly to the consumerist American mainstream that sees material commodities that exist in order to supply the ever increasing banal needs of the industrial world.
Worship Practices
Some Christian traditions, especially that of the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, have utilized the burning of incense to represent the raising of prayers to the heavens and the symbolic gesture that prayers are heard and answered. In this way too, Native American believers view the burning of sage, sweet grass, or cedar, as a symbolic act. The ascending smoke and aroma have the power to cleanse and purify the body and spirit as well as deliver prayers to the Creator.
Traditional Native Drums are used in worship practices and sometimes painted with Biblical imagery. These are typically done in circles, where members are welcome to join in the rhythm as the church sings songs in their native tongues.
Some utilize feathers are used in coming of age ceremonies, and at other important events to offer faith and courage in times of temptation and difficulty.
The Sacred Pipe[33]
The Sacred Pipe serves as a means for people of different cultures and traditions to joint together. In the fall of 1987, at an Anglican retreat center in British Columbia, the Dialog with People of Living Faiths brought together a unique gathering of of Native elders and spiritual leaders. The meeting was intended to be a step in the direction of reversing a half-millennium of Christian persecution and suppression of Native spirituality. The Native representatives came from all over the continent. After a sweat lodge ceremony, a circle gathered about four Sacred Pipes, representing the east, west and center, with a woman's pipe for the female spiritual energies. The Pipes were lit as verbal prayers accompanied the offering of smoke. Natives and non-Natives, traditionalist and Christians together smoked and prayed with the same goals: to end strife and bring peace to all the people, to end the suffering of the oppressed and persecuted, for the children to grow in dignity and wholesomeness, and for the end of the destruction of mother Earth. For the Native Americans, the Sacred Pipe went around and joined their offerings together, becoming one people, and voicing one prayer.
ETHNICITY, RACE ISSUES, & CHANGE
Ethnicity in the case of the Native Americans has been a challenge of retention fought by Native Americans against direct and indirect attempts made by colonial powers to confiscate indigenous people's ways of life in order to steal resources; all under the sentimental guises of “Christianizing” “Educating” or “Civilizing” a presumably helpless savage population.
18th Century Citations on Early Mission to Indigenous Peoples[34]
In 1911 Ethnologist, Baron Erland Nordenski öld stated, “We know full well that all Indian tribes will sooner or later succumb to our culture. That is part of the evolutionary process. Facing this inevitability, it is, therefor, best that those who first establish contact with them are missionaries, for they come to give and not to take.” 1935 - G. Lowes Dickinson “Civilization is a whole. Its art, its religion, its way of life, all hang together with its economic and technical development.” Christian missionaries have worked on this principle, especially among our Native Americans. They have been the first and best civilizers, realizing that no primitive culture can long persist side by side with an aggressive machine civilization. Even though the English fixed Native Americans within a lower class stratification, Christopher Columbus has been sited as describing them to be “very gentle and without knowledge of evil” (Although, genocide still proceeded their introduction) This sentiment is a far cry from the portrait of the “savage cannibal” propagated by many early American colonists. Native Americans are no stranger to religious bigotry. Early missionaries often dismissed their cultural practices as pagan and insisted that if they were to follow Christ, they must isolate themselves from their “pagan” practices – meaning anything that remotely reminded them of anything Native American. The church today however, is reverting from this kind of fallible theological assumptions and instead, apologizing for the actions of misguided evangelists of the past and encourage Native peoples to implement ethnic traditions in Christian worship. Native Native Americans have mostly sought to defy Christian influence, seeing it as dishonorable to their identity. However, some Native Americans have become Christians and have assimilated traditional Native American spiritual practices into their worship of Jesus Christ. Many feel that their ethnic heritage of struggle and endurance allows them to relate to the Biblical narrative in profound ways. Christian Native American Churches, such as the “First Nations Churches” of the 4-square Denomination often consist of multiple tribes and are inclusive from Mexican, Central-American, and South-American tribal ancestry
Native American Biblical translations:
Cherokee in the Sequoya (1831)
Nez Perce Bible (1871)
Dakota Bible 1879
Pseudo-cults
Peyotism and Shakerism (mostly in Navajo communities).
Majority self-governing churches are Navajo
FEMINISM
(This picture represents the seven clans of the Cherokee Nation represented by these matriarchs.) [35]
Until recently, scholars had thought of feminist and post-colonial discourses as topics separate from each other. Now, these scholars have taken interest in studying the relationship between these two fields. For Native American women, this research has revealed how many of them had been "doubly colonized" by both imperial and patriarchal ideologies[36] Many European settlers and missionaries perceived Native American women as playing subservient roles in male-dominated societies. However, researchers have found that many tribes were much more matriarchal than observed by the Europeans. Particularly, studies concerning the Iroquois of New York, the Inuit societies in the Arctic, the Tlingit society of the Northwest Coast, Blackfoot societies of the Plains, and the Cherokee women of the Southeast have revealed that these tribes were very matriarchal and matrilineal societies.[37] Regardless of matrilineal or patrilineal practices, all tribes treated women with respect.[38]
Native American Matriarchy
Land Tenure
Many Native American tribes were hunter-gatherer societies composed of small populations of people.[39] Prior to the European settlers arrival, only a small percentage of Native American tribes were settled into farming communities. Yet, regardless of whether they were hunter-gatherers or farmers, most Native Americans set up their communities based upon equal division of labor between men and women. When it came to the land, tenure favored women, because land was inherited through the mother's side. Consequently, these women controlled the use of the land whereas men controlled the distribution of goods from the land.[40]
Marital and Political Rights
Because the land belonged to the women, this had severe ramifications for men if a marriage ended in divorce. In Cherokee societies, the man would have to return to his family and leave their house and belongings with his wife, with the exception of what she was allowed to take.[41] Even more shocking that this, for the Europeans, was the fact that Iroquois women were allowed to initiate divorce. It was entirely within her prerogative to divorce her husband.[42] In terms of political rights, these Iroquois women were allowed to nominate and recall civil chiefs.[43] Therefore, these women were active participants within the governments of their tribes.
Immortalizing Women through Story-Telling
Story-telling is a powerful device of oral tradition. Through studying ancient stories of the Native Americans, M.A. Jaimes Guerro identified "female organic archetypes" including: "Corn Daughter (Hopi); Changing Woman (Navajo/Dineh); First Woman (Abanaki); Sky Woman (Iroquois); Spider Woman (Navajo/Dineh and Hopi); Thought Woman (Laguna); White Buffalo Calf Woman (Lakota, Dakota); and…the traditional Cherokee…Beloved Woman of the Nation" (http://awakenedwoman.com). Because of his study, he concluded that Native American cultures revere women rather than subordinate to men. Furthermore, many Native American tribes had a desire for harmony between human beings and "Mother Earth". This understanding of earth as being categorically feminine was in stark contrast to Columbus' monolithic "Father God".
The Effects of Colonization on Women
The Native American tribes were deeply affected by colonization. Again, Native American women experienced oppression twice! Colonizers demanded that tribal people re-organize their entire way of life, which included granting decision making totally to men and disregarding traditional tribal kinship organization.[44] Therefore, women lost control over the land as well as their marital and political rights. Essentially, the voices of women were being silenced. To add insult to injury, residential schools took their children away from them; the mother's role of educator was being minimized.[45] The colonists did not respect even Pocahontas and Sacajawea, the only two Native American women "revered" in Western history. In fact, they were "honored" for their contribution to western expansion, but were detested for their subhuman status and feared for their potential to lure white men (UCLA Center for the Study of Women).
A Re-Definition of Feminism ('Native Womanism')
The Dreams of Native American Women In order to re-claim their traditional place as spokespersons and decisions makers within their tribes, Native American women must resist in two ways. First of all, they must resist the stereotypes placed upon them, because of their place in the "Fourth World". Secondly, they must resist the cultural shift that has occurred within their societies (from an egalitarian structure to a male dominated model).[46]
In an attempt to reinstate their traditional roles, many Native American women have wished for an alternative to the term 'feminism'. Therefore, M.A. Jaimes Guerrero has suggested the idea of 'native womanism' (www.awakenedwoman.com). She borrowed the term 'womanism' from Alice Walker; Walker defines it to mean women who are 'committed to the survival and wholeness of the entire people, male and female.'[47] Therefore, 'native womanism' is "primarily premised on kinship traditions and 'birthright' tied to indigenous homelands."[48] Perhaps, this term could be understood as reinstating the egalitarian principles previously found amongst the Native Americans. In the end, this 'native womanism' or egalitarianism would re-establish reciprocity amongst the Native American people and their land.
PRODUCTION & CONSUMPTION[49]
Native American tribes “excelled at using natural resources and adapting to the climates and terrains in which they lived.” This determined all aspects of their lives including their food and shelter.
There was no universal or staple food for all Native American tribes, the surrounding environment and conditions determined what food sources the tribe would depend on. “But no group ever relied on only one type of food. Even those who practiced agriculture still relied on game and wild plants to supplement their harvests.” For tribes who farmed maize/corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, chili peppers, pumpkins, vanilla, and avocados would be the most common produce grown. Foraging was another aspect of providing food. Again, the surrounding environment would determine what would be found, but various berries, nuts grasses, wild rice and cactus products would be common. Tribes living along rivers, lakes and the coasts depended on fishing and whaling as a source of food while others hunted local wildlife. Only after encounters with Europeans did Native American tribes begin to take on livestock, but those who did herded sheep and cattle.
Native American tribes were very conscious of what they consumed and took from their surroundings. They would only take what was needed and utilize all aspects of their resources. For instance the hide a deer could be used for clothing or blankets, the meat would be consumed and preserved, the stomach and bladder could be used for containing liquids and the bones would be used for tools. Other materials produced by Native Americans were used for clothes, tools and jewelry and shelter. Earth lodges, tipi’s, longhouses, wigwams, hogans, wickiups, pueblos, kivas, plank houses, igloos, and chickees were all forms of shelter used by various tribes and were built using materials native to their surroundings.
GLOBALIZATION, ENVIRONMENT, & RELIGION
The Christian Mission to Native Americans
In understanding where the current Native American Christian church it is crucial to understand how the Christian church has predominantly interacted with Native Americans in the past. In particular, remember how the table has been set for the current religious climate in light of Colonial interaction is key.
Common in the Colonizers dealings with Native Americans has been a harsh mistreatment and subhuman view of the Native Americans based largely on an assumption of religious superiority. One story states how the King James I of England placed such a high emphasis on adolescent conversion that missionaries were permitted to use kidnapping if the situation demanded it.[50]
This view also manifested itself in religious and societal paranoia. English Puritans believed that the heathen natives were liars, lazy, and lacking family government (discipline). Furthermore, the “heathens” were looked at as devils who threatened the New World’s ability to become “the city on a hill.”[51]
Thomas Jefferson said in one regard that “Indians” and “Americans” were all born of the new land and hoped for a long sustained friendship between the two. However, Jefferson also stated that he preferred to have the Native American people group wiped off the face of the earth.[52]
The major frame of early Christian interaction was that Native Americans were, ultimately, nothing more than a nothing chunk of material in the New World to be assimilated if possible, conquered if need be and annihilated if all else failed.
The Imperialist ideals that the early settlers brought with them created sharp division between those who had the knowledge, that is the correct answers and right doctrine, and those who were ignorant, that is the natives. One way of describing the Native Americans in this framework was to see them as the Samaritan woman in John 4 who held to be lacking both morally and religiously, a woman so outside the realm of proper orthodox that she does not even know what she worships. Additionally, she is so unaware of her lostness that she not only has had five husbands but the one she is with now is not even her husband.
Another popular view of the Native Americans was to put them on par with the Canaanites in the Israelite Exodus story. The Canaanites were horrible idolaters who abused God’s gracious gifts and therefore, it was justifiable to enslave Native Americans as an essential component of the Christian church in mission and colonizing of the New World as dictated by the divine will of God.[53]
Christian Interaction
Three keys will be essential in moving forward in Native American interactions. The first will be understanding the biases and lenses used in reading the Bible. The Bible has a long and inimical history with Native Americans because of how the text has been disabused, misread and selectively read the text. Second would be to further research Liberation Theology and explore how this view of God’s interaction with the oppressed and marginalized can help confront systems and structures that systematically hold Native Americans from equal opportunities. Finally, from a Christian perspective, there must be an insistence on viewing all people with equal dignity and respect. There must be intention and pursuit to hear the story Native Americans have to share. In Who We Are: Our Dignity as Human, by Paul K. Jewett with Marguerite Shuster, the authors state, “(W)hen in the name of a Christian anthropology, American theologians protest the inhumanity that violates a neighbor’s dignity, they need not search for illustrations in faraway times and places. They live in a country that was violently taken from Native Americans.”[54]
Native American Map Making
Native Americans have a rich and detailed history of map making. This history long predates the first encounters Native Americans had with European settlers. It is a history with strong animistic ties. William Garner notes that the maps were used as, “a beacon for heavenly forces, an earthly guide, as a symbol of cosmological unity, and as a flag to identify during the Thunder and/or Great Washing ceremonies.”[55]
Religious traditions such as this are quite common in PreColonial Native American thinking because they express the balance, holistic framework and mutual interdependence of the universe.
LANGUAGE, BODY & PERFORMANCE
Language
Native American Literature is often held in the background of most literary discussion. As Brian Swann states, “Initially, the very ‘idea of a (Native American) literature was inherently ludicrous because (American) Indian languages themselves were primitive.”[56] The thought was that if Native Americans were as poor as they were in speaking they certainly lacked the capacity to write.[57]
Margaret Atwood observes that Native American language has no noun-forms, only verb-forms. Further observation goes on to state, “Such a language cannot exist if language is either anterior or posterior to the world but reinforces the notion that language inhabits the world, in practice. The semantic component of sentence is contained in the syntax: the meaning of a word or phrase is its use in language, a use which has nothing to do with the kind a user ‘has in his or her head’.” All that is to say that the language appears to be confusingly flexible and fluid. As such, one can understand why the thought was Native Americans were slightly inarticulate and unskilled in oration. It is an understanding that is birthed in a place of cultural assumption and colonial determination.
Consequently, most Native American literature is written by someone outside of the group who is attempting to speak on behalf of that group and as a voice for that group. Furthermore, Native Americans have had their culture so dominated and indoctrinated by colonial influences that whatever voice Native Americans would attempt to write in there would be the affect of a foreign tongue.[58]
Ethnic Representations
Ethnic representation has not always been favorable to Native Americans. Often times, in show, presentations have used “mimic or countermimic strategies” to bring forward cultural perceptions.[59]
One example of this is James Luna’s The Artifact Piece, which was done by San Diego’s Museum of Man. In the performance, “ (James) Luna placed himself on display, his body laid out in one case labeled with tags identifying scars inflicted during drunken fights. Another case showed his college degree, photos of his children, arrest record, and divorce papers along with objects used in contemporary Native American Ceremonies. Explanatory panels described with mock ethnographic objectivity a modern Native American life in which AA meetings have taken the place of traditional ritual ceremonies.”[60]
In 1992 a different, but similar show entitled Two Undiscovered Amerindians Visit was also popular. The show mirrored previous presentations which had featured native peoples from Africa, Asia, and the Americas. “To the surprise of the performers, their mock scientific information and presentation of the “native culture” was taken seriously.[61]
CONCLUSION
Although much effort has been given in order to evangelize the Native Americans, it has been largely a losing battle. This is due to the history of the Christian missions among the natives and their mistreatment of the people and misrepresentation of the Gospel. These misrepresented ideas unfortunately still exist today in the minds of the natives and act as a hindrance to conversion. It is hard to forget the mistakes of the past and the gospel is still seen as intertwined with assimilation of white culture. They must be able to retain their cultural beliefs in combination with the gospel otherwise they will continue to reject it. In order for there to be progress made in this area, Christian missionaries need to divorce the message of the gospel from European culture. Also, it is hard for the Native Americans to identify with the Bible stories themselves. This is because they were victims of oppression by the very people who were trying to convert them. This has lead to a wholesale rejection of not only the white culture but what is seen as their religion as well. For them, the Bible brought oppression, war, and death instead of peace and love. Lastly, Christian missions failed to treat the native’s tribal religions with respect and labeled them “witchcraft”. This caused a divide between the two groups that has not been truly bridged since. These circumstances have all contributed to the fact that an overwhelming majority of Native Americans do not claim to know Jesus Christ. Due to the fact that there seems to be a very negative view of Christianity, especially when it is brought in by outsiders, the gap that exists between Christianity and Native Americans must be bridged from within.
References
American Indian Education Foundation, http://www.nrcprograms.org/site/PageServer?pagename=aief_index 12/1/08
Ashcroft, Bill. The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. New York, NY: Routledge, 1999.
Jewett, Paul K. and Shuster, Marguerite. Who We Are: Our Dignity as Human. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1996.
Paper, Jordan. Offering Smoke: The Sacred Pipe and Native American Religion. New York, NY: University of Idaho Press, 1989.
Lindquist, Gustavus E. The Indian in American Life. New York, NY: AMSP, Incorporated, 1976.
"Native Americans of North America," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2008 http://encarta.msn.com, 11/26/08.
Sugirtharajah, R .S. Voices From the Margin. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2006.
Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 1993.
img.photobucket.com/albums/v189/plastic_turkeys/Rapture2.jpg 12/1/08.
matriarchy.info 12/1/08.
news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080313-AP-native-amer.html 12/1/08
www.awakenedwoman.com/native_american.htm 12/1/08.
www.buffalosoldier.net/CopyofGhostDanceShirt.jpg 12/1/08
www.echotacherokeewolfclan.com/id13.html 12/1/08
www.gatheringofnations.com/educational/articles/comparison_values 12/1/08.
www.lurj.org/article.php/vol1n1/running.xml 12/1/08.
www.nativevillage.org/Messages from the People/Native Americans in the Census.htm 12/1/08.
www.transmin.org 12/1/08
www.thearchetypalconnection.com/images/MurvJacobCherokeeTrailOfTearsLow.JPG 12/1/08.
ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2007/10-07NativeAmericanPhotoBIG.jpg 12/1/08.
[2] Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror. (New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 1993), 21-23.
[3] Ibid, 24.
[4] Ibid, 39.
[5] Ibid, 87.
[6] Ibid, 10.
[7] Ibid, 8.
[8] "Native Americans of North America," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2008 http://encarta.msn.com, 11/26/08.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Bill Ashcroft, The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. (New York, NY: Routledge, 1999), 439.
[15] www.transmin.org 12/1/08
[16] Bill Ashcroft, The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. (New York, NY: Routledge, 1999), 71.
[17] Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror. (New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 1993), 31.
[18] Ibid, 39.
[19] Ibid, 227.
[20] Ibid, 223.
[21] R.S. Sugirtharajah, Voices From the Margin. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2006), 241.
[22] Ibid, 236
[23] Picture from http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v189/plastic_turkeys/Rapture2.jpg 12/1/08.
[24] Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror. (New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 1993), 233.
[26] Picture from http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2007/10-07NativeAmericanPhotoBIG.jpg 12/1/08.
[27] R.S. Sugirtharajah, Voices From the Margin. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2006), 18.
[28] Picture from http://www.buffalosoldier.net/CopyofGhostDanceShirt.jpg 12/1/08
[29] Bill Ashcroft, The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. (New York, NY: Routledge, 1999), 120.
[30] Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror. (New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 1993).
[31] Entire section from, American Indian Education Foundation at http://www.nrcprograms.org/site/PageServer?pagename=aief_index 12/1/08 (with the exception that the term "Indian" was changed to "Native American" in order to achieve format consistency throughout the article).
[32]Jordan Paper. Offering Smoke: The Sacred Pipe and Native American Religion. (New York, NY: University of Idaho Press, 1989) 38.
[33] Ibid.
[34]Gustavus E. Lindquist. The Indian in American Life.(New York, NY: AMSP, Incorporated, 1976) 115-116.
[35] Picture from: http://www.echotacherokeewolfclan.com/id13.html 12/1/08.
[36] Bill Ashcroft, The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. (New York, NY: Routledge, 1999), 233.
[39] matriarchy.info 12/1/08.
[40] Ibid.
[43] Ibid.
[44] www.awakenedwoman.com 12/1/08.
[45] www.lurj.org 12/1/08.
[47] Ibid.
[48] Ibid.
[49] "Native Americans of North America," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2008 http://encarta.msn.com. 11/20/08
[50] Bill Ashcroft, The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. (New York, NY: Routledge, 1999), 33.
[51] Ibid, 44.
[52] Ibid, 46.
[53] R.S. Sugirtharajah, Voices on the Margin (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1995), p.170
[54] Paul K. Jewett andMarguerite Shuster,Who We Are: Our Dignity as Human: A Neo-Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1996), p. 102.
[55] Bill Ashcroft, The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. (New York, NY: Routledge, 1999), 364.
[56] Ibid, 176.
[57] Ibid.
[58] Ibid, 177.
[59] Ibid, 311.
[60] Ibid.
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