Native American Spirituality

ABSTRACT

Followers of the New Age movement and others have been exploiting and commercializing “Native American” spirituality. This exploitation is being fought by many Native people. Native American spirituality may be studied and appreciated, but use of Native American religious forms outside of Native American communities is considered misappropriation and cultural theft. Native spiritualities address the needs of present-day Native communities. A Native spirituality that ignores that need is no longer a religion of and for the community. Disconnected from a Native community, religious beliefs, ceremonies, and religious art forms lose their primary significance.     

The Institute of Spirituality and Aging: Identifying and Promoting Spiritual Values of Elders

ABSTRACT

This study examined the constructions of aging through the eyes of the elders on Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. Classical ethnographic field techniques were used to collect data during 1800 hours of fieldwork on the Pueblo. In Zuni, indigenous constructs of aging are firmly rooted in their traditions. Most elders found it essential to stay on a traditional path, although, it was undeniable that Western constructions also existed in their cosmos. Zuni traditions triangulate with perspectives from the West to form a fluctuating middle that stays within prescribed boundaries of a “box” bounded by the four directions and the zenith and nadir planes. The degree to which an elder remains oral vs. literal, ages in the “Zuni way,” and within a sacred domain greatly affects decision-making, as well as action and or inaction in aging behaviors. Understanding perspectives rooted within an “inside-the-box” paradigm, valuing the old, the ancestors, sacredness, and the “Zuni way” will assist in deriving relevant theories and programs for these American Indian elders.     

South Asian American millennial marriages: Sikhs,Hindus, and Muslims

ABSTRACT

South Asian American millennial Sikhs, like millennial Hindus and Muslims, demonstrate a widening range of partner choices, marriage rituals, and celebratory practices. For young Sikh Americans, the roles of the bride and groom in planning their weddings are increasingly important, as are the cultural or secular aspects of the weddings. Furthermore, rather than considering community, the young people are emphasizing individual choice. These conclusions point to adaptation and cultural translations at the level of the couples, families, religious or regional diasporic communities, and diasporic communities more broadly defined (as Indian, Pakistani, South Asian), translations that reflect the changing context in America and the American cohorts of which these young people are members.     

Religious orientation and attitudes toward money: relationships with narcissism and the influence of gender

Psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, counselors, and other people involved in the mental-health fields are increasingly working with American Indians who practice various religious ceremonies and life ways foreign to Western-oriented epistemologies and ontologies. The American Indian Church and its sacramental use of peyote is one such example. This paper provides a brief history of the American Indian Church and its use of peyote, as well as the American Indian beliefs behind the use of peyote and the psychopharmacological data concerning peyote. It is shown that the sacramental use of peyote by the American Indian Church members is not a deviant hallucinogenic disorder and that in fact it provides a means of achieving and maintaining health, balance, respect, and a sense of community among participants and their social relations.     

The Path of Good Medicine: Understanding and Counseling Native American Indians

This article presents a brief overview of Native American cultural values, beliefs, and practices concerning the tribe, elders, family, and spirituality. Native American Indian communication style, humor, and cultural commitment are briefly discussed and recommendations are given for counseling with Native American Indians.     

Life,Death, and Life After Death: Meanings of the Relationship Between Death Anxiety and Religion

ABSTRACT

A sample of 389 individuals completed a death anxiety scale and a series of items that measured self-reported religious practices and beliefs. Those lowest in religious practices and beliefs were significantly higher in death anxiety. Contrary to some prior research, depth of belief had a stronger negative association with death anxiety than did religious activities. Strongest relationships had to do with concepts of life after death. The oldest respondents reported the least death anxiety.     

Navajo Morals and Myths,Ethics and Ethicists

Over a century ago a Western observer recognized an effective morality among Navajo Indians in the American Southwest, yet could not locate its expression, except in mythology recounting contradictory behaviors. Through the 1900s scholars delineated contours of Navajo moral values, myths, and taxonomies upon which moral traditions were based, and situations in which Navajos have engaged in ethical decision‐making. Recently individual Navajos have manifested their role as ethical agents, not merely as recipients of moral lore. A contemporary Navajo storyteller, Sunny Dooley, enunciates narrative ethical judgments, grounded in traditional Navajo mythology and its religious milieu, as she addresses the present conditions of her people. Thus she probes the contradictions that are inherent to life. Her stories testify to the insoluble conflicts within the human condition, ultimate and immediate conundrums that must be faced, even though they surely will not be resolved.     

Wittgenstein,Quasi-fideism,and Scepticism

In the discussion of certainties, or ‘hinges’, in Wittgenstein’s On Certainty some of the examples that Wittgenstein uses are religious ones. He remarks on how a child might be raised so that they ‘swallow down’ belief in God (§107) and in discussing the role of persuasion in disagreements he asks us to think of the case of missionaries converting natives (§612). In the past decade Duncan Pritchard has made a case for an account of the rationality of religious belief inspired by On Certainty which he calls ‘quasi-fideism’. Pritchard argues that religious beliefs are just like ordinary non-religious beliefs in presupposing fundamental arational commitments. However, Modesto Gómez-Alonso has recently argued that there are significant differences between the kinds of ‘hinges’ discussed in Wittgenstein’s On Certainty and religious beliefs such that we should expect an account of rationality in religion to be quite different to the account of rational practices and their foundations that we find in Wittgenstein’s work. Fundamental religious commitments are, as Wittgenstein said, in the foreground of the religious believer’s life whereas hinge commitments are said to be in the background. People are passionately committed to their religious beliefs but it is not at all clear that people are passionately committed to hinges such as that ‘I have two hands’. I argue here that although there are differences between religious beliefs and many of the hinge-commitments discussed in On Certainty religious beliefs are nonetheless hinge-like. Gómez-Alonso’s criticisms of Pritchard mischaracterise his views and something like Pritchard’s quasi-fideism is the correct account of the rationality of religious belief.

     

Traditional Religious Doctrine and Women's Sexuality

Abstract

For many women the connection between sexuality and spirituality is frequently experienced in the context of their past or current religious beliefsbeliefs that privilege intercourse and male pleasure while ignoring much of what is rich and important in women's sexual experiencingresulting in feelings of shame, guilt and disconnection from a vital source of their power and pleasure. The focus of this paper is on the differences between religiosity and spirituality, and how women can be assisted to develop more positive and affirming sexual self constructions and nurture a more empowering sense of spirituality in their lives, in the face of sometimes oppressive religious teachings and beliefs. Suggestions are provided for helping women create more positive connections between their spiritual and sexual selves, irrespective of their religious affiliations and beliefs.     

The Acquisition and Function of Religious Beliefs: A Review and Synthesis of Proximate and Ultimate Perspectives

ABSTRACT

Two main scientific approaches have renewed in the last decade the scientific study of religion: the cognitive and the adaptationist. The former is focused on proximate causes, the latter is looking for ultimate causes of religious beliefs and behaviours. Both approaches are useful and promising. However, in both cases, various important aspects and contexts associated with the origin, acquisition, and transmission of religious beliefs have been neglected. The present paper offers an approach that conjoins both models after reviewing several critical issues, to highlight a distinction between cognitive conditions and structures, on one side; and developments or applications, on the other. As a result greater attention needs to be paid to religious functions and their cultural framework to better understand religion and to explain some current processes, like massive secularization in several areas.     

Religion and Spirituality among American Indian,South Asian,Black, Hispanic/Latina,and White Women in the Study on Stress,Spirituality, and Health

Social scientists have increasingly recognized the lack of diversity in survey research on American religion, resulting in a dearth of data on religion and spirituality (R/S) in understudied racial and ethnic groups. At the same time, epidemiological studies have increasingly diversified their racial and ethnic representation, but have collected few R/S measures to date. With a particular focus on American Indian and South Asian women (in addition to Blacks, Hispanic/Latinas, and white women), this study introduces a new effort among religion and epidemiology researchers, the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health. This multicohort study provides some of the first estimates of R/S beliefs and practices among American Indians and U.S. South Asians, and offers new insight into salient beliefs and practices of diverse racial/ethnic and religious communities.     

Spirituality and Sexuality: An Exploration of the Religious Beliefs of Non-Heterosexual Christians in Great Britain

Abstract

This article analyzes the religious beliefs of 565 gay, lesbian and bisexual Christians, focusing on God, Jesus Christ and the Bible. Most respondents saw no conflict between their sexualities and their Christian faith. The examination of these religious beliefs uncovers themes that appear to be influenced by their social circumstances, the core of which being their stigmatized sexualities. Their beliefs of God were consistent with the ‘love and justice’ theme of queer theology. Jesus Christ was perceived as a good role model committed to social justice. Although the divinity of Christ was acknowledged, they did not consider him the exclusive way to salvation. The Bible was considered still relevant to everyday life. It was, however, not regarded as the sole guide for Christian living, and it should be interpreted through the lens of shifting socio-cultural realities and personal experiences. On the whole, the data seem to suggest that the respondents' personal experiences and collective social circumstances have an impact on their religious beliefs.     

Third‐Party Dispute Resolution in India and the United States1

This study investigates the dispute‐resolution approaches of 50 Indian panchayats (a team of 5 male elders), 50 Indian elders, and 50 U.S. informal mediators. A literature review as well as preliminary interviews with Indian students in the United States (n = 90) and with villagers in India (n = 60) established that Indian villagers rely principally on a panchayat or male elder to handle their disputes. Our subsequent study of panchayats and elders in India indicated that they do manage disputes and that their approaches differ in several distinctive ways. Subsequent qualitative and quantitative comparisons of the Indian elders' techniques with those of the U.S. mediators indicated that Indian elders were more assertive in their approaches.     

Dysfunctional cognitions mediate the relationships between religiosity,paranormal beliefs,and symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder

ABSTRACT

Research suggests that religious/paranormal beliefs are related to symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), including scrupulosity (i.e., religious/moral obsessions and compulsions). However, the mechanisms that underlie these relationships are not well understood. This study focused on examining whether dysfunctional beliefs (DBs) mediate the relationships between: i) religiosity and OCD, ii) religiosity and scrupulosity, iii) paranormal beliefs and OCD, as well as iv) paranormal beliefs and scrupulosity. Students (n?=?775) completed a survey measuring religiosity, paranormal beliefs, OCD, scrupulosity, DBs (inflated sense of responsibility and over-estimation of threat [RT], intolerance of uncertainty and perfectionism [PC], and importance of and the need to control thoughts [ICT]), as well as depression and anxiety. Mediation analyses revealed that RT and ICT mediated all four relationships and PC mediated three of the four relationships. This suggests that paranormal and religious beliefs are associated with DBs which in turn may contribute to the severity of OCD.     

Urban American Indian Youth Spirituality and Religion: A Latent Class Analysis

This article explores the interconnected spiritual, religious, and cultural worlds of the majority of American Indian (AI) youth who live in urban areas: their patterns of involvement in religion and Native spirituality and associated well‐being. Latent class analysis of data from 205 AI middle school students identified five distinctive classes using survey measures of religious affiliation, attendance at services, adherence to Christian and traditional spiritual beliefs, Native spirituality, and Native cultural practices. Two classes were Christian groups: one attending Christian churches and following Christian beliefs but uninvolved with Native beliefs, spirituality, or cultural practices; and a nominal Christian group affiliated with but not attending church and unattached to belief systems. Two groups followed Native beliefs and spiritual practices, one affiliated with the Native American Church and another unaffiliated with any church. The fifth, nonreligious group, had no religious affiliation, followed neither Christian nor traditional beliefs, and was uninvolved in Native spirituality and cultural practices. The two groups embracing AI spirituality reported better academic performance, more reservation contact, higher AI enculturation, and stronger bicultural orientations.     

The older American Jewish population: Findings from the Pew study

ABSTRACT

The 2013 Pew Research Center survey of American Jews provided an opportunity to examine trends in identity and identification among older American Jews. By comparing findings from this survey to findings from similar surveys in 1990 and 2000/2001 we were able to examine patterns of continuing integration into the American religious mainstream and away from more traditional religious and ethnic ways of expressing their Jewish identity.     

Honoring Their Way: Counseling American Indian Women

The authors review current literature on issues facing American Indian (AI) women and discuss implications for providing culturally sensitive counseling with these women. A case study of a Diné (Navajo) woman living within mainstream society and holding true to her traditional cultural beliefs illustrates how a culturally responsive approach to counseling AI women is integral for individual counseling with this population. Los autores revisan la literatura actual en asuntos afectando a mujeres Indias Americanas (AI) y discuten las implicaciones para proporcionar el aconsejar sensible culturalmente con estas mujeres. Un caso de una mujer Diné (navajo) que vive dentro de la sociedad convencional y mantiene válida a sus creencias culturales tradicionales que ilustra cómo un enfoque culturalmente receptivo a aconsejar mujeres Indias Americanas es integral para el aconsejo individual con esta población.     

Drawing a line between the religious and the secular: the cases of religious education in Sweden and India

Abstract

Religion as a school subject – Religious Education (RE) – is handled differently in various national contexts. This article discusses two different systems of managing (or avoiding) RE: those used in non-denominational Swedish and Indian schools. The article focuses particularly on what is allowed in the classroom with regards to religion. Both countries are secular, but where is the line drawn between the secular and the religious? Allowing the two contexts to meet reveals the particularities of each. The impact of Protestant Christianity, specifically Lutheranism, is evident in Swedish RE: religion is to be defined through beliefs and words, and religious actions should be excluded from classrooms. The Swedish context highlights ‘knowledge of’ religions, but avoids religious action. In India, there is no explicit RE, but Indian education does include learning from religion as well as ‘doing religion.’ The Indian approach is very inclusive, to the point of emphasising, as teachers put it, a common core of all religions. Both systems of RE offer particular opportunities and face certain difficulties in dealing with the contemporary globalised world.