The Claiming of Christ: Native American Postcolonial Discourses

On a night of the full moon in November 1987, at the beginning of the Spirit Dancing Season, an important historical event took place. At an ancient Indian burial ground, located in Seattle, Washington, Jewell Praying Wolf James, a Lummi Indian, read from a document produced by several local churches in the community. It was a public declaration, today known as the "Bishops' Apology." The document apologized to Indian people for the signatory churches' long standing participation in the destruction of traditional Indian ceremonies and for not coming to the aid of Native Americans when they were victimized by unfair federal policies and practices. The churches pleaded for forgiveness. The Apology was reaffirmed a year later in a ceremony of Natives and non-Natives, Christians and non-Christians. Since its creation the Apology has been translated into other languages, read at tribal gatherings, distributed to Native Brazilians in the Amazon jungle and to the Kwanyama Aboriginal Council in Australia, and supported by a national ecumenical church body. The Bishops' Apology emerged from the Church Council of Greater Seattle. The Council is a broad-based ecumenical organization of Catholics and Protestants, representing twenty denominations and more than 300 congregations. It has sponsored more than thirty task forces, including the Native American Task Force. An ally of Native peoples in the Pacific Northwest since the "fish-ins" in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Council's Task Force is a group of church-related Indians and non-Indians who work to "affirm Native people's historical and contemporary contributions to American society; defend Indian treaty rights and advocate for Native American issues; support Native Americans' efforts to protect traditional religious practices; sensitize non-Natives regarding Native American issues; foster mutual respect between Indians and non-Indians; and stimulate and encourage worthwhile projects of mutual benefit to both Native and non-Native communities" (Church Council). The Council's carefully drafted Bishop's Apology is one of its many accomplishments. Since the Apology the Council has sustained its membership and continues to work successfully on Native issues. My interest in Native Americans and Christianity came from this newly created relationship between churches and Native people. I was intrigued by the fact that the Christian churches which nearly destroyed Native cultures began to support and acknowledge the importance of Native lives and cultures. After the Apology, I began to wonder about the extent of the amicable experiences between Native people and Christianity. Hence, this study became a personal journey for me and an examination of the meeting places of Christianity and Native life, and an evaluation of points of strength rather than of weakness. In Native Christian writings, and through the lens of postcoloniality, Christianity is presented as a means to survival and as a vehicle of adaptation, reflecting considered choices which do not necessarily imply rejection of Native spirituality or "Indianness." Prior to contact Native people had their own cultural and religious systems that sustained their physical and spiritual well-being for centuries. However, with the arrival of European colonizers came the suppression and prohibition of traditional Native religious practices. In an attempt to "civilize" the Indians the colonizers sought to undermine traditional ways of worship. Europeans challenged the authority of religious leaders and banned Native worship, penalizing and/or jailing those who continued their traditional ways (Axtell 227-29). Religious organizations agreed "that instruction in Christianity was fundamental in the education of Indian youth. To fit Indians for citizenship in a Christian Nation, it was imperative that religious training precede or parallel the industrial and literary learning that was intended to prepare pupils of the tribes for full participation in white American Society" (Churches 161). …