Religion Summary

The "Religion" article in the Encyclopedia of North American Indians discussed the concept of religion in Native American cultures.  The author of the article highlighted a few key characteristics of Native American "religion" that were very intriguing.  The author points out that describing Indian spiritual practices does not truly constitute the use of the term, "religion" to describe the spirituality of Native Americans.  In fact, many Native Americans do not use the "religion" to articulate their spiritual practices for several reasons.  First, the spirituality as infused with everyday life; every part of Native American life and culture is somehow connected to the spirit world.  Examples used in the article to explain this concept are daily routines and activities such as hunting and killing animals, in which a for of ceremony takes place.  Another important characteristic is that of spatiality meaning that the spiritual practices are relevant to the space and place in which they occur.  These spiritual practices are deeply rooted in space and place which, the author notes, differs from traditional Euro-American traditional religions that revolve around timing.

Native American religion is quite different from traditional Catholicism and Protestantism which fall under Christianity, however it does have some similarities.  It is important to note that is impossible to generalize Native American religion when comparing characteristics to Catholicism and Protestantism.  One difference, as mentioned by the article is that Native American religion is rooted in space and location, where as Christianity revolves around time.  Also, Christians believe in one God and his son Jesus, however Native Americans, depending on the culture, believe in multiple gods or spirits and they pray and worship multiple different gods.  Furthermore, Native Americans hold ceremonies for events that are not celebrated in Christianity such as hunting, killing and eating an animal.  However, Native American cultures do have coming of age ceremonies, as do Christians.  Christians celebrate baptism, first communion, and confirmation, and marriage and anointing of the sick and dying.  These sacraments are celebrating major steps in an individual's life that are also celebrated in many Native American cultures.