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NATIVE AMERICANS AND CHRISTIANITY The question of whether Native Americans are Christian is a curiosity of many people. A 2001 study indicated that about 37% of the Native American population is Christian. This percentage represents a struggle that ensued after religion was used along with the sword to subject the American Indians to slavery and dispossession of their land and then reservation encampment.
This same struggle occurred with the African Americans because religion was used to justify their enslavement rather than to remove and relinquish it. Thus, many African Americans have had to find their voice and their place in Christian belief and worship. Seeking to understand and interpret the Holy Bible for himself or herself.As personal and collective interpretation of Christianity occurred the Native Americans and African Americans found freedom. They found a freedom that conquered their physical captivity. Thus, in progressively larger numbers the traditional religions of the Indian and African have been replaced by Christianity. Richard Twiss of the Rosebud Lakota/Sioux in his book, “One Church Many Tribes”, indicates that for five long centuries the Native American has struggled to find a place of acceptance and recognition of their cultural identity in the Church.” But, Twiss is encouraged and hopeful that Native Americans are seeking and will seek freedom and wholeness in Christianity. So, in examining the question are there Native American Christians? The answer is “Yes”. Article by CherokeeCloud Written: August 27, 2006 Reposted: December 10, 2006 |
