8/8/2019 Newsletter December 2008 - Hopi and the Missionaries

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HopiReligionand

theMissionaries

HopiReligionand

theMissionaries

HopiReligionand

theMissionaries

HopiReligionand

theMissionaries

Based on article entitled Hopi Religion and the

Missionaries by Nuvayoiyava (Albert Yava).

Photo of Tewa girl is from www.firstpeople.us

Photo of Tewas winnowing wheat is from

www.old-pictures.com Article can be read at

the following:

http://southwestcrossroads.org/

record.php?num=574&hl=tewas

In The Spontaneous Healing of Belief by Gregg Braden there is a story involving the Te-

was, an Indian tribe that I was unfamiliar with so I googled Tewas. I discovered that the

Tewas live in the northern New Mexico area, not far from the Hopi Indians in northern Ari-

zona. Living in New Mexico at the time the Span-

ish first showed up, they were given the choice

of converting to the Spanish version of Christian-

ity, i.e. Roman Catholicism, or very possibly be

wiped out.

Sadly, it may be that the Tewas were being

forced to convert to a religion about Jesus

even though they were already experiencing the

spirituality of Jesus to a great degree.

Speaking of the missionaries:

The following quotes are taken from the article. Decide if you think they describe barbaric

Indians needing to be saved, or were the Tewas and Hopis more saved and more civi-

lized than those who were there to convert them and save their souls.

We are conscious that all men are brothers.

Life is to be valued and preserved. If you see a grain of corn on the ground, pick it up and

take care of it, because it has life inside.

We seek a way of communicating with the source of life.

Have we traded in the spirituality of

Jesus for a religion about Jesus?

They all came with that fixed idea that the poor,

barbaric Indians had to be saved.

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This knowledge is supposed to be translated into personal good behaviour, into the waywe act toward other individuals, our clan, and our village. If you meet a person, you greet

him. If he is a stranger or someone you know, it is all the same. If someone comes to thevillage from another place, even if he belongs to a different tribe, feed him. Keep your mind

cleansed from evil.

Be generous with whatever you have.

Avoid injuring others. Respect older people.

The author then makes this statement: Now if all these ideas dont meet the highest stan-

dards of the different Christian churches that have been busy trying to convert us, Id like

to know why.

The author points out the willingness of the Tewas to let all people choose their own spiri-

tual path. He then says: That is a choice everybody should have, and the missionaries

should stop putting themselves forward as the only ones who know the difference between

good and evil.

Some wonder why I dropped a fundamentalist view of salvation. After a great deal of

thought and study, biblical and otherwise, I came to the conclusion that it wasnt what Je-

sus taught and that alone brought my fundamentalism to an abrupt and screeching halt. I

cannot conceive of a God who would take someone following the teachings of the Tewas as

expressed in this article and send them to hell unless they abandoned their spiritual

path, a path that I think embodies the highest standards of Jesus teachings. Instead, to

be saved they had to convert to a religion that majors more on facts about Jesus than

the teachings of Jesus. It appears to me that the Tewas have faith in the Great Spirit,

a.k.a. God/Goddess, and they couple that faith with actions/works. If that isnt salvation

I am not sure I know what is. It is sad when we cannot see authentic spirituality being

lived out right before our eyes and instead feel the need to convert others to our brand of

religion. Perhaps this quote from the article sums it up very well. Welcome to the parable

of the good Samaritan!

I dont believe any of the Christian denominations has

something valuable that we dont already have. If a

man falls down, help him to get up. That is our belief.

Do the Christian churches have anything better thanthat? I dont think so. In fact, you have to judge those

churches by the way Christians act in their everyday

lives. And too often we have seen a man fall down and

a Christian walk right by, in a way of speaking.