by Rena Sherwood

Created on: September 21, 2008

How can religion lead to violence? Just as any Native American or part Native American alive today that question. Mainstream organized Christianity tried very, very hard to completely wipe out all Native American tribes and nearly did. There are many other cultures and civilizations that have suffered from the followers of one religion trying to destroy followers of other religions or no religions. But for the purposes of this article, we'll just focus on the tragedy of the Native Americans.

The Concept of Land Ownership

People have a tendency to believe that all other people share their same thoughts, concepts and teachings. This was a major problem not just for the religious European colonists but for the Native Americans themselves. The colonists believed that every inch of land had to have an owner and went about becoming that owner.

However, the Native Americans considered land a free resource available to all. It was like the sunlight and the clouds who owns them? No one, and yet everyone. So, when the first colonists bought some areas with trinkets and blankets, the Native Americans at first thought they were getting presents from lunatics.

Manifest Destiny

There were many Biblical reasons given for slavery of African Americans, persecution of the Jews and the displacement, harassment and abuse of Native Americans. Native Americans were considered demon worshippers and therefore deserved to be pounded by the righteous Wrath of God.

Besides, Jesus had commanded to spread his word all over the world. By getting rid of the competition, the white religious Americans believed that they merely the instruments of God's will to spread the Gospel all over the world.

Even in 1994, this writer had a conversation with a three quarter white, one quarter Native American woman who firmly told me that it was the white colonist's moral obligation to exterminate the Native Americans because they not only had the Bible, but also were more scientifically advanced and therefore more evolved. This person had a college degree and attended church regularly.

Somehow, the idea of manifest destiny is still alive and well in America. It must be. Have you seen any ancestral land given back to any Native American tribe?

It Continues Today

Had the religious colonists bothered to learn Native American spirituality, they would have found it very similar to their own. Now, after centuries of not only killing off as many Native Americans as possible, but also tried to erase any trace of Native American existence. They forced generations to give up their ceremonies, language and customs, punishing the children who stayed Indian and rewarding those who acted white. Many customs have been forever lost. Many elders cannot remember what their tribe's legends were like before Christianity.

It wasn't just physical bodies that suffered violence from the religious. Art, culture, herbal healing and an untold treasure trove of knowledge were also victims of violence.

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