The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-01
RELIGION OF THE INDIANS.
General Burt, Who Knows Them Well
Says They Are DeyOut

Correspondence of the Indianapolis Journal.
FORT MYER, Va, Oct. 2S.-There are
doubtless few people in this section of the
country other than those who have made a
study of the subject that for one moment
believe that the Indian is given 10 religion,
yet I can say, probably as a matter of in
teresting information, that not since the be-
ginning Of the world has Christian, Moslem,
Mohammedan or Buddhist been more de-
voted to his religious tenets than has the
red man of the plains-and this does not re-
fer to those who have come under the civil
izing influences of the missionaries sent to
the West by Christian organizations.
The religion of the Indian is mingled and
interviewer with every phase of his life; and
no project of any kind, governmental, social
or individual, is ever undertaken without
first obtaining the sense disposition of the
deities on the subject. One is the good
god" aiding the Indian to the best of his
ability in all his undertakings. whether good
or bad. and without reference TO abstract
right or morality, of which the Indian has
no conception) always and under all circum-
stances his friend and assistant. From him
comes all the pleasurable things of life;
warmth. food. JOY, success alike in the
I
god.'' always his enemy and injuring him
at all times and places, when not restrained
by the good god. From the bad god comes
all suffering, pain and disaster. He brings
the cold. he drives away the game, and
through his power the Indian is tortured
with wounds or writhes in death
Constant conflict, OF which the Indian is
the subject. is going on constantly between
l
no inward sense of right or wrong, and no
idea of any moral accountability, either
present or future, the Indian attributes TO
the direct action of one great power all the
good and to the other great power all the
bad that may happen 10 him. For his de-
voted and unremitting services on behalf OF
the Indian the good god demands nothing in
return-no adulation. no prayers. rot even
thanks. He is the Indians friend. rs the bad
one is his enemy, for some inscrutable rea-
son OF his own, which the Indian does not
undertake to divine.
While the Indian believes in another life
after death the two gods do not extend TO it.
but are restricted entirely 10 the benefits
and injuries in this world. and his status
after death does not in any way depend
either on his own conduct while living. or
on the will OF either OF the two gods.
II must be understood that the Indian can
do no wrong; in other words. he has no
moral sense whatever. Greed. incontinence
| and other traits which we call vices are as
natural to him as to any other animal, and
under no create. restraint than brute in
stinct fear He may be punished cor
porally for a crime against his chief or
tribe. He may have TO pay ponies for stab
bling another Indian or for taking away his
| wife. but all crimes aud peccadilloes bring
| or do not bring their punishment in this
world. Whatever his character, whatever
| the actual deeds done in the flesh, the In
| dian. when dead, goes at once TO the happy
hunting grounds. unless deba-red by acct
dent.
| There are two ways in which the Indian