October 21, 2009

Stealing Native religion is okay?

Stealing religion ignored if it’s Native

By Jim KentPicture if you will: a Native American man in a priest's cassock, standing at an altar on a reservation anywhere in the state. He raises bread above a large gold cup and addresses the crowd around him: "We are all one in the body of the Great Spirit of Roslyn."

No, this isn't a new version of the Catholic Mass, nor is the man a Catholic priest. He just "digs" the Catholic religion, "respects" its history and culture and finds himself inexplicably "drawn" to all things Vatican. He wasn't born Catholic; never attended Catholic church or schools. But this recent hub-bub about Jesus Christ and the DaVinci Code has grabbed his "inner spirit." He's thinking that's because "way back" his ninth cousin on his father's side may have been 1/16 Catholic. He just feels it.

So, he did some research, sat in on some masses, picked up an abridged version of the Bible and decided he'd start his own congregation. He calls it "The Cody Two Bear Church of the New Holy Grail." Visitors "donate" $100 minimum for this unique spiritual experience that will bring them closer to the Knights Templar, Christ and Mary Magdalene while discovering the healing capabilities of candle wax--long used in the church, but with little awareness of its true powers. Retreats are available at a higher cost.

Yeah, I'll be surprised not to get e-mails from someone upset just by the mention of this fictional scenario. Imagine the reaction if it actually took place, regularly, across the country. It does; just not with the spiritual teachings of Christianity, Judaism, Islam or any of our other "major" religions.

But just suppose it did. There'd be hell to pay. From the local diocese to the Holy Land, the earth would tremble with accusations of blasphemy and calls for eternal damnation. Yet, it's perfectly all right for anyone to practice, preach and sell the spiritual ceremonies of the Native American cultures--and with little or no repercussions; even when it results in death.
Comment:  Good job, Jim. This posting makes it clear how far apart New Age and Native religions are.

Although James Ray doesn't use any Native terminology stronger than "Spiritual Warrior" on his website, he's incorporated vision quests and sweat lodges into his practices. As we've seen in photos, his retreats use hogans and teepees as well as sweat lodges. So yeah, he's ripping off Native culture and religion.

Actually, I bet people practice a lot of bastardized versions of Catholicism without getting hate mail. The difference is that these versions exist on the fringe, not at the center of a money-making machine. People don't promote them on Oprah or in bestselling books and videos as the true path to happiness. No one is deceived about which is genuine Catholicism and which is a cheap knockoff invented by some fool, fanatic, or fraud.

For more on the subject, see Giago:  Native Religions Don't Work and New Age Sweat Lodge = Honor?

3 comments:

dmarks said...

Not to defend the New Age charlatans, but Jim Kent is rather off with his

"Imagine the reaction if it actually took place, regularly, across the country. It does; just not with the spiritual teachings of Christianity, Judaism, Islam or any of our other "major" religions." statement.

This does take place regularly across the country, with countless huckster/faker "Christian" leaders starting their own churches and wild cults. Sometimes, these make the news in a big bad way (remember David Koresh?).

And, if one were a very strict narrow-minded Catholic (a member of the oldest, original Christian sect), just about anything non-Catholic in America could be seen as "he did some research, sat in on some masses, picked up an abridged version of the Bible and decided he'd start his own congregation"

Islam is a rather small minority religion in the US, but even it isn't immune to this. The "Nation of Islam" sect is just like the above, but using a bastardized abridged Koran instead.

Rob said...

Kent may be rather off, but I covered your point in my penultimate paragraph. I'm sure Kent would've said something similar if he'd had more time or space. Do you have a problem with my elaboration of his position?

P.S. It's not clear that Catholicism is the oldest Christian denomination. See the following postings for details:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_oldest_denomination

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Baptists-954/Oldest-denomination.htm

dmarks said...

In that penultimate paragraph, you said "The difference is that these versions exist on the fringe, not at the center of a money-making machine"

Well, there does happen to be a lot of money made by non-Catholic Christians. And some of these sects are really really big.

Just saying that there's a lot of "theft" of Catholic ideas going on.

(As for Catholics being the oldest, I should have said "oldest surviving sect")