Native American religion Essays - American Culture,

Before the North Americans had contact with the Euro-Americans, the religious systems included cosmologies such as creation myths, which explained how societies had come into being. These were transmitted orally from one generation to the next. They also worshiped an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator known as the Master Spirit. There were other hosts of supernatural entities, including an evil god who dealt out disaster, suffering, and death. Also, the members of most tribes also believed in the immortality of the human soul and an afterlife. Many key Native American religious beliefs closely resembled those of Euro-American religion, both Catholic and Protestant. These cultures also had a creation myth, which was described in the book of Genesis, worshiped a Creator God, believed in a malicious deity known as Lucifer, and anticipated an afterlife. Although the indigenous Native American Religion had their similarities with Euro-American Religion, they also had their conflicts. Cultural and political interactions occurred in the US, Mexico, and Canada when the Euro-American viewed North American lands as an opportunity. They showed interest in bargaining lands for exploitation with the Native Americans but they had different beliefs in accordance to their Native American Religion. They viewed God-created lands are holy and believed that their sacred lands cannot be owned by a natural human. Worship practices given to the natural lands were a common practice in Native-American Religions. Conflicts arose when Euro-Americans attempted to seize and develop lands in North America that eventually led to a war. Influences of English Puritans in North America, Spanish Catholicism in Mexico, and French Catholicism in Canada had deviated Native-American religion dramatically. Force-teaching of the Bible to the Native Americans and observ ing practices of their religious worship practices was Euro-Americans primary interactions with Native-American religion.