Comparative Religions : Native Americans And The Africans

In sum, this chapter from Native American Religion (1999) helps explain some of the current relationships between the Native Americans that still survive today and how they often

In Afro- Caribbean cultures religions are very essential aspects in the daily lives of the Caribbean people. They combine beliefs and practices that were originally brought to the Caribbean by the African slaves, with other beliefs and practices that were dominant or native to the islands. A multiplicity of these commonly practiced Afro-Caribbean religions such as Santeria, Haitian Vodou and Espiritismo have countless similarities, some of which include the way they carry out different ceremonies and traditional rituals that they carry out both in and outside of these ceremonies. However, although there are numerous similarities between these religions there are also many distinct differences between theses religions, including some of the

Native American religions are very closely connected to the land in which Native Americans dwell and the supernatural. While there are many different Native American religious practices, most address the following areas of supernatural concern: an omnipresent, invisible universal force, pertaining to the "three 'life crises ' of birth, puberty, and death", spirits, visions, the medicine people and communal ceremony. Greek religion encompasses the collection of beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Greece in the form of both popular public religion and cult practices. These different groups varied enough for it to be possible to speak of Greek religions or "cults" in the plural, though most of them shared similarities. Africa

This paper will also look at historical processes and relationship with indigenous cultures in relations to how these factors have led to the creation of these distinctive religions, despite the similarities in influences from West African religions and culture and

animism- The attribution of soul to animals. This was an occurrence in Native American tradition.

African and Native American religions both share the polytheistic trait, meaning that both worship multiple god, goddesses, ancestors and other deities. The African and Native American religions share more common traits than they have differences. A common belief is that the High God is the creator whom is not used or appealed to on a regular use. Hopfe states that “The High God is appealed to rarely, perhaps only in an extreme emergency called upon on rare occasions or emergencies, and is seldom mentioned in religious conversation” (Hopfe pg 30). This pretty much goes for both religions when it comes to the High God. Another similar trait would be how these two religions High God is not always the same among the many different diverse groups

The Ashanti tribe is located in central Ghana in the rainforest of West Africa. They are the major ethnic group in this roughly 50 years-old young nation. The Ashanti people are known as fierce fighters whether they are women or man. The tribe have a slogan: “If I go forward I die, If I go backward I die, better go forward and die.” (Baden-Powell) When they are faced by a war, you can hear drums from the villages to signal each others. The Ashanti religion combines both spiritual and supernatural powers. They believe that every living thing have souls, including plants and animals. They believe that there are fairies, monsters and witches, and their religious belief surrounds an all-powerful, all-knowing god called “Onyame”. In this research

From a European stand point, altering the lives of the Native Americans was a perfectly justifiable action. They were uncivilized, and thus must be welcoming of their attempts to convert them to a more advanced manner of living. At the same time, however, they must have notions of owning land, of claiming sections of the Earth as their own, of trade and association of certain objects with high value. This, however, was a paradoxical viewpoint. The main problem that resulted from the intermixing of European and Native American populations was a misunderstanding of what each culture maintained as important within their lives. To the natives, mourning wars, gods who were part of the Earth itself, sacrifices, and any other number of various traditions were natural to who they were. The Europeans, in contrast, valued war as a means of gaining territory, not people; they often were monotheistic, with odd customs all their own, such as self-torture or confession. The differences between the two cultures could have been overcome, perhaps, if there had been some attempt to understand one another’s values. However, as evidenced, Europeans did not attempt to understand without an ultimate aspiration to change.

When most western people think about Native American or African religions there is a certain stigma that comes with the topic. This is in part because there is a lot of misinformation in the world about Native American and African religions. When most westerners think of African religions they think of voodoo and black magic. Likewise, the view of Native American religions is still looked at through the lens of the pilgrims who wrote about Native Americans as being savages and less than human. These stereotypes were all formed from a lack of accurate information. African and Native American religions are very similar. It is difficult to find a lot of accurate information on African and Native American indigenous religions because of the lack of written history but there is a lot of oral history that has been passed down from generation to generation. From this information, it is clear that Native American and African religions have many more similarities than they do differences. Three of these similarities will be discussed in this paper. The first topic of discussion is the similarity between African and Native American people when it comes to their perception of the spirit world. Following this topic are the similarities between Native American and African views on the afterlife and finally, the diversity of beliefs within African and Native American religions.

Native Americans hold a type of esoteric concept that comes from their philosophy of preserving their environment as well as their kinship that ties them together (Access Genealogy, 2009). They not only have social ties, they are politically and religiously organized through their rituals, government, and other institutions (Access Genealogy, 2009). They work together to reside in a territorial area, and speak a common language (Access Genealogy, 2009). They are not characterized by any one certain structure (Access Genealogy, 2009). However, the society agrees on fundamental principles that bond together a certain social fabric (Access Genealogy, 2009). Different Native American tribes throughout the years have had different ideas, opinions, philosophies, which are not always predetermined by their past ancestors.

During the times of colonization, native tribes saw huge changes in the way they lived. One thing that drastically changed and it was certainly an important one was religion. Native tribes already had their own religion but when colonization got to them, they were exposed to something they had never seen or experienced. In this essay will see how religion was affected in the native tribes in Nigeria and Macau and see the similarities and differences between these changes. Colonization was mostly done by powerful european countries like Spain, Britain, France, Italy and, Portugal.

“Know Thyself” is an ancient Kemtic (Egyptian) saying that most black people throughout the African continent and diaspora have seem to forgotten its true meaning. Africa’s rich metaphysical, spiritual and physical history has been tainted and contaminated with negative agendas for the past five centuries. We as in black people have been stripped of our ancestral history only to have it replaced by an artificial compilation of our failures. Which is taught in public schools across the United States. I had a life changing experience in late 2015 and I believe because of that particular event I am able

Indigenous religions should not be considered as a primitive entity. A religion that does not have a doctrine should not mean that it should be considered uncivilized or in a sense, savage. Furthermore, a religion is not any less of a religion compared to any of its newer religion counterparts. It is sad that a lot of indigenous religions are being forgotten simply because of the ever growing, younger generation and their lack of traditions and beliefs. But most of these religions are still being practiced today, which in term could not be considered primitive. Our text book fully describes this type of behavior which has instructed society to categorize these various religions specific phrases such as: “non-literate, primal, and basic.” After reading the passages assigned, I was beginning to theorize that this type of categorization is somewhat a form of prejudice.

Animism derives from the Latin word anima which means soul, spirit, life or breath (Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) International, n.d.). Animism is the belief that non-living objects have souls (life) and those natural phenomena possess supernatural or magical power. Animism encompasses the beliefs that there is no separation between the spiritual and physical or material world. Animism believes that natural physical entities which include animals, plants, and even inanimate objects such as forest, mountains, rivers or village and phenomena possess a spiritual essence. Most Animists even be certain that human beings are spiritual at their core and they will become spirits too in the spirit world upon their physical death (Davis, 2011). The power of the spirits infuses everything. Therefore, the term “animism” can be summed up by “belief in spiritual beings”. It can also be summarized as “all that exists lives” and, sometimes, “all that lives is holy” (Taylor, 2005).

Animism has Latin roots and means "soul" or "life" conferring to the dictionary. It is cosmologically involved. Also, it includes two beliefs—the belief in measured forces throughout nature, in natural objects, animals and humans; and the belief in personal gods and spirits throughout nature, in natural objects, animals and human beings. Perhaps, this belief is interrelated with cosmology. It seems to most religions that cosmological theory has an important role. God or gods is the sole and sustainer of their faith and also of the universe. Yes, human beings like the Apache tribe have shown significant traditional rites through the Sunrise Dance. It is an Apache girl who first experiences her menstruation. The tradition has set her