Native American church and native views of God, etc

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Dsivanish

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I work in Indian country serving youth and working with mostly American Indians in a traditional environment. I would like to think that when they mention Creator, or Great Spirit we are addressing the One God that we understand differently.
I wonder though if that’s wishful thinking or not, I’d appreciate thoughts and (name removed by moderator)ut.
 
From what you’ve mentioned it sounds like it. What is knowable of God without faith–that is, without believing His true revelation–is that He is the one Creator on which all being is dependent. Honoring Him as such is the virtue of religion, which is in the natural order of justice, rather than a theological virtue.

St. Paul summed this up in Athens:
Acts 17:22 So Paul, standing in the middle of the Are-op′agus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us, 28 for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
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My father was from a Plains state and was always interested in Native American culture. I have always thought since childhood that the Great Spirit, Creator etc is the one God. Also their teachings on respect for creation are very much in harmony with what God would want.

I don’t think it’s wishful thinking. God has a way of manifesting himself to people sometimes. They don’t always have to wait for missionaries to show up and teach them everything. I’m also sure there have been holy people in the Native American tribes for many centuries who perhaps were given the gift by God to teach others at least the basic knowledge of him.

By the way, you probably want to say “Native American” because these days, “Indians” means the thousands of people from India now in USA working in the tech industry and as doctors.
 
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You may be shocked to learn that “Indian” is not necessarily offensive. My friends here don’t seem to care.
 
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Dsivanish said:
You may be shocked to learn that “Indian” is not necessarily offensive. My friends here don’t seem to care.
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As someone with a considerable amount of American Indian ancestry and strong tribal ties, I concur.
 
It’ s not a matter of “offensive”, it’s simply a confusing term. I see a thread about Indians, I think it’s either about a baseball team or like I said the hundreds of people from India at my office.

I rarely or never see this term used to describe Native Americans for well over 10 years now. Maybe it’s just where I live.

People from foreign countries also tend to be unfamiliar with the term “Indian” unless we’re discussing India.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
People from foreign countries also tend to be unfamiliar with the term “Indian” unless we’re discussing India.
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Fun story: A former coworker of mine, who is from India, once asked me about what the term “Indian” means in America, because he found the occasional usage of it to refer to Native Americans confusing. It took me a little bit to realize he was referring to Native Americans (he didn’t know the phrase “Native American”), partially because I rarely ever hear “Indian” to refer to Native Americans anymore.
 
What you describe sounds very mormon. I dont mean that in a bad way. A man I respected very much in this life was mormon and Cherokee. Political correctness’s problem is in its lack of uniformity. Most Indians I know wish to be called by their nation or tribe. If not that, then Indian. But some of the vocal ones insist on native American.
 
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I’m just going by the term I hear used in the areas I currently spend time in. As an example, here’s the official biography of Archbishop Chaput, who is archbishop of the archdiocese where my workplace is located and is a member of the Potawatomie. His bio calls him “Native American”.

http://archphila.org/archbishop-chaput/ACJC_Biography.pdf

Also when ethnicity is referenced at employers I work at, “Native American” is the term used for indigenous tribal people from North America. “Indian” like I said refers to people from India, of whom there are many working at my workplace, working at other tech and health care companies/hospitals in cities I’ve lived, and living in my towns (which have a relatively large number of people from India and a very small number of Native Americans; I would imagine this is different in other parts of the USA.)

I agree that I have noticed a preference to be identified by tribe or nation rather than by any umbrella term.
 
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Yeah, I wouldn’t go by what employers say. The man I mentioned earlier was my great uncle and he was a war hero from ww2 and a great geologist. He was employed by oil companies in the 90s to find oil. Summers were often spent riding horses near the Idaho Nevada border and many times included traveling through reservation land. Indians was not only the term used in conversation but also in signage on the reservations. I miss my Indian friend. Real “education of little tree” stuff.
 
As I have stated numerous times, I am on the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic of USA and terminology is different there.

This is also an international forum and as two of us have stated, the term “Indian” can be confusing to people who are not from USA. I have seen this myself in the workplace where I work with people who are mostly from Europe, Asia and South America, not from USA.

In any event, this discussion is derailing the thread from the original topic. If I’m ever in Idaho, I will certainly conform to what they do out there. With that, having already responded to the OP’s original question, I will depart the thread.
 
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I don’t think anyone would care one way or the other out here. You can indeed call them native American. You can call me caucasian if you want. I think where it goes off the rails is when you try to correct others who may have a different experience than you. Eastern time zone huh… what’s that baseball team in Ohio again? We aren’t so different you and I.
 
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