Native American Religion & Conflict

According to Joseph Campell, a religion was something that accomplished four tasks. It gave a Mystical Function - it made the person following the religion view the universe with awe, and also a Scientific Function - it gave purpose to things while keeping the structure of the universe. It also was to give roles in society, called the Sociological Function - to the men and the women, the elderly and the young, the influential and the common. It lastly gave the Teaching Function. It was to give a person reason to live under immense stress and value their life under any circumstances. Because of the differences in these factors in Native American religion compared to European Christianity, conflict was inevitable as a result of disagreement.
Native American religion made people view their universe with awe - by saying that the earth was something to be respected and marveled at because of all it gave to them. The idea that their ancestors watched over them also gave mystery to the universe. This would make any religious Native American respect the world more, be kinder to their environment and make good use of what resources the earth offered while using every part of them. Native American religion also gave purpose to things in the universe, such as animals; an animal was made to be eaten, skinned and then its remains were all used for something. The universe’s structure was simply the earth, and then the heavens, where you went when you died. Your forefathers would come and visit you when you had visions on earth. This would shape the Native American individual to use things for their purpose, and to be once more in awe of their visions involving spirits from a different wold.
Native American religion also completed Joseph Campbell’s third religious factor – it gave roles in society. Women and men were basically equal in work and societal roles. Elders were respected and the young were taught to respect. Leaders in the community did not dictate, but they were often the hub of activity as the village elder. The common people went about their daily activities. Instead of a male-dominant society, like Christianity, the Native American tribes such as the Sioux were elder-dominant, meaning less discrimination. The elder was to be respected for their years of wisdom, no matter what gender they were born as. The young would learn that they were not influential in the community until they were older. Lastly, the religion of the Native Americans gave a reason to live and become great under any circumstance. The religious role in tribes was to have visions of your elders and tell of them so they could help aid the tribe in the future. To overcome difficulties, they turned upon their fathers that had died before them. This guidance gave them a reason to continue with their visions and it told them how to overcome the new obstacles in their way.
Although Christianity also completes these four functions, the results of each were different, meaning there was conflict. A Christian’s universal awe came from God, his power over the individual and the concepts of Heaven and Hell. The purpose of things was not debated upon – Christians were made to serve God, animals were made to be eaten by man. The Sociological Function was much, much different – instead of the elder being in charge, the elder was seen as being weak and inferior and the woman too. When the whole Christian society was driven by men, they lacked the fair and balanced culture that the Native Americans attained by being fair with their roles in society. Finally, a European Christian’s purpose in life was to convert others to Christianity as missionaries. When you had converted a “poor, ignorant savage” to a law-abiding Christian, you had succeeded. You called upon God to ask for greatness, and he would oblige.
When a Christian attempted to convert the “savage”, it would have caused conflict. As we have seen, the white man took Native American children and put them in military-like schools where they were taught to act and speak as white Christians. As conflict continued to build, as well as tension between the two cultures, violence between the Native Americans and the early European Christians was inevitable. In playwriting, you are taught that the antagonist and the protagonist create conflict simply because they want different things. As a teacher once put it, the conflict goes “from the drawing room to the jungle” and quickly elevates to violence. Both violence and conflict were inevitable in this situation, although they could have been put off if the white man saw that they did not want to be converted.