Otherworks: Custer Died For Your Sins And We Talk

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Recommended: Dimensions of indigenous religions

INDG 1116 Module 2 Reading 1AIM is only one voice addressing these concerns.Vine Deloria, Jr., wrote about the unique character ofNative American religious life in God is Red. In otherworks—Custer Died for Your Sins and We Talk,. YouListen—Debra expressed urgent Indian concerns andcalledfor Euro-Americans to recognize a failed pluralism, especially the nation’s economic system that hasmarginalized the tribes and devastated their remaining lands.Religiousness and Contemporary NativeAmerican PeoplesUnlike Christianity, which concentrates all power inthe hands of God who bestows it on human beings as anact of grace, Native American religious world viewsemphasize the interdependence of all beings. Even theGreat Spirit needs humans, just as they need him,because ifpeople live beyond the pale of religious orderby not honoring the other beings of the cosmos, theywill create disturbances that will cause destruction …show more content…

The Yaqui(Yoeme) people of Arizona, for example, do Jesus’swork and think of him as being like their little brother,the Deer. Both Deer and Jesus are perfect innocentswho give their lives so that others may live. The Yoemeperform ceremonies in honor of Jesus: at theend of theEaster Ceremony in which they empower Jesus to(p. 700) resurrect Himself, they ring the bell of their church tocall St. Michael to carry to heaven the flowers thatbloom from their ritual labor. Every year, in a ceremonythat attracts thousands of people, the Zuni of NewMexico perform Shalako, a ceremony in which thegreat powers of the cosmos enter the Pueblo and dancewith the people. In the Pacific Northwest, the Salishsing and dance the powers given them by their spirithelpers, thereby acknowledging the religious obligations that make life possible.(Picture missing)Indian medicine conference (Photo by Ilka Hartmann)These are key insights expressed in past and presentNative American religious activity.

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