wfn.org | Commentary: Native traditions offer contributions to church

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TITLE:Commentary: Native traditions offer contributions to church

April 22, 2002  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.  10-34-71BP{177}

NOTE: Photographs will be available with this report. A head-and-shoulders
photo of Ray Buckley may be found at
http://umns.umc.org/photos/headshots.html online.

A UMNS Commentary
By Ray Buckley*

A drum arrived on the campus of Oklahoma City University on April 6. It was
placed carefully in the center of the gymnasium floor. 

Men, women and children arrived, carrying tribal dress, eagle-feather fans
and dance rattles. People exchanged greetings with one another. Quietly at
first, the singers and drummers began a Gourd Dance song. Native people
entered the circle and began the slow movements of a dance their elders had
performed.

Around the room were Pendleton blankets, pillows, baskets of food and
beadwork. Items to be given away. During the dance, a participant would move
close to another dancer and drop a dollar at that person's feet. Others
would follow suit, until a small pile of money lay on the floor. The person
honored would take the money and, in turn, give it away. This was not only a
redistribution of wealth but a sharing of the spirit, a value placed on
giving away.

These were Choctaw and Ponca. Cherokee, Osage, Chickasaw, Kiowa, Lakota,
Seminole, Creek and Otoe. These were God's children. These were United
Methodists publicly celebrating the beauty of the people God had made them. 

Gathering annually, members of five historic Native United Methodist
congregations from around Oklahoma City come in testament, a testament to
the faith and heritage that they share with 18,000 brothers and sisters
across the denomination. This event, called Powwow, was an act of grace that
our elders had known but not been allowed to practice as Christians. It was
also a contribution to the church.
 
The phrase "Native American spirituality" is a fairly new expression. It has
been used popularly to mean several things:
7	The traditional religious expressions of Native people.
7	Shared religious or cultural values among Native people.
7	Native religious practices that have become popularized by
non-Native culture.
 
Clearly, there is no one Native spirituality. Before European contact, more
than 500 distinct groups lived in North America alone. Each group had highly
developed systems of religion, eco-science, philosophy, tribal structure and
government.  Historically, Native people are very diverse.
 
Several factors had significant impact on Native religions, starting with
slavery. Nearly one-third of Native people were forced into slavery, and in
some states, Natives remained enslaved until the Emancipation Proclamation.
Afterward, however, the outlawing of many Native religious expressions by
the U.S. federal government limited access of Native people to their own
religions. Mandatory boarding schools for Native children denied both Native
language and culture, but the mingling of children from various tribes
allowed an exchange of cultural ideas. 

Compounding other setbacks, the influenza epidemic of the early 20th century
killed many Native religious and cultural leaders. And finally, the rise of
the Native American or American Indian church mixed Northern Plains
religious practices with Christianity to form a unique religious expression.
 
Despite these factors, Native communities have worked to preserve their own
unique religious expressions, which are as diverse as Hinduism and
Christianity. To assert that there is one concept of Native spirituality is
to deny the respect of each culture.
 
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, as the Native civil rights movement
was taking shape, the idea of developing a common (although not exclusive)
Native identity exerted a natural appeal. This was an effort to unite the
diverse factions of the Native community for political strength.
 
Pan-Indianism for nonpolitical purposes is not a credible philosophy today.
While tribes and Native groups work together for mutual support, studies
demonstrate the significance of tribal language, religious/cultural
expression, and identity for developing self-esteem among Native youth and
children. The necessity of helping Native people see themselves as a social
and political force has evolved into preserving tribal-specific cultures
amid the larger community.
 
Tribes that have maintained their own religious expression continue to
practice their religions in ways appropriate to their culture.  
 
Individuals from tribes that have lost significant portions of their
culture, those detached from their tribal cultures, or those seeking a
Native connection will often rely on practices popularized in current
culture. In addition, non-Native people attracted to Native culture find
elements of tribal religious expression meaningful and wish to become
participants in those expressions. These expressions are often referred to
in pop-religious literature as "Native American spirituality".  
 
What has been the response of tribal people to popularizing Native religious
traditions?
It is often like taking a sacrament of the church out of context and
participating in it because it sounds fun. Most Native religious expressions
cannot be isolated from the whole culture. To do so is to dishonor them. A
tribal spiritual leader will not do so.  
 
Some tribes, such as the Lakota, have developed legislation designed to make
unlawful the use or exploitation of Lakota religious practices. In this way,
tribes protect their specific religious expressions and the integrity of
their broader cultures. Most tribal groups do not find it complimentary for
other religious groups to imitate their religious practices, even if those
imitations are well intentioned.
 
Popularly, in some Christian circles, Native apologists have attempted to
draw general comparisons between biblical cultures and Native traditions.
Those who have attempted to do so have found sharp criticism from both
Native and non-Native scholarship. Often such studies are undertaken to
"prove" that pre-European-contact Native people possessed spiritual insight
comparable to biblical teachings. Such a premise is, and should be,
insulting to Native traditionalists. Since there is no one Native
spirituality, a viable study would have to be selective among tribes, and
individual expressions within tribes.
 
As an historical work, the Bible represents the transforming work of God in
the lives of men and women from vastly different times and cultures. While
many Native similarities exist, there are also vast distinctions. Careful
theological scholarship would have to ask the questions, "Are we granting
value to only those expressions which complement biblical cultures? Has God
only been active in historically biblical cultures?"
 
Among individual tribal religions, moral codes exist that vastly exceed
those of biblical literature. Some parallel biblical teachings. And there
are also rare Native traditions that established caste systems, slavery and
human sacrifice.  
 
Native people, historical and contemporary, are just people. Historical and
contemporary Native culture was and is growing, changeable and susceptible
to outside influence.
 
Although not completely universal, key elements of Native cultures transcend
cultural boundaries. Many of these religious values have the potential to
significantly impact the world in our time. We can draw hope from
understanding the importance of family (birth, clan and extended); viewing
oneself as part of a creation that is all sacred; recognizing the importance
of each portion and person of creation; seeing the importance of community
over self; understanding the value of consensus; approaching prayer as both
an act and a way of living; recognizing the value of deference to elders;
understanding the need for including children in all activities; seeing
every elder as your grandmother or grandfather; seeing every child as your
child; viewing labor as a means to subsistence and not an identity; and
regarding material gain as a means of sharing.
 
While specific religious expressions should remain the property of tribal
communities, Native spirituality might be understood as the personal set of
values and expressions meaningful to a Native person in his or her
relationship with the Creator and the world. These expressions are probably
tribe specific. They may be ancient practices within a community setting.
They may be ancient values, practiced in a contemporary world.  Native
spirituality is the heart, spirit and tools used to express those values. We
reflect them in the way we work, play, pray, love and think. The
spirituality defines us. 
 
A Navajo doctor might pray before making an incision, conscious of the
special "universe" on the table in front of her. A Cheyenne artist might
burn sweet grass to remind him that creating something is a sacred act. A
Pomo attorney might remove her shoes at lunch and stand on the grass to feel
a part of something larger. A mother with three children might remind
herself that every act lived in good relationship to God is a sacred thing. 
 
Christianity has been continually shaped by the cultures to which it was
carried.  We have often been hesitant about allowing Native Christians to
help shape the church. In the Christian world, we are familiar with the
phrase "personal convictions," meaning the particular guidance of God for a
specific individual. In the same fashion, Native people, traditional and
Christian, and with the guidance of God, evaluate and celebrate their
cultures as they worship and honor God. 
 
Five generations of Native people were sent to boarding schools. Very often,
these schools were operated by Christian denominations, including the United
Methodist Church. Native children were taught to read by reading the Bible.
If they spoke in their tribal language, the same people who taught them to
read the Bible beat them. They were taught that their language, culture,
hymns in tribal languages and all cultural elements were sinful. What they
were not taught is that God often uses the cultures of God's people to
illustrate, brighten and bring truth.
 
Native United Methodist Christians believe that the plan of God for
salvation is complete. We believe that our ancestors knew God, and God knew
them. We believe that the customs of our people edify our faith and have
potential to revitalize the church and the world in which we live. We
believe that participation in our cultures honors God, and that the Holy
Spirit is faithful to guide us in the decisions of how we live - within our
cultures and the broader society. We believe that God speaks to us as Native
people in ways that are familiar to us, enabling us to embrace in love all
of God's people.  

We believe these things and dance for joy.
# # #
*Buckley is director of the Native American Office of Communications, a unit
of United Methodist Communications in Nashville, Tenn.

Commentaries provided by United Methodist News Service do not necessarily
represent the opinions or policies of UMNS or the United Methodist Church. 

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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