Customer Reviews

God Is Red: A Native View of Religion, 30th Anniversary Edition

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have read a lot of books, and very few have moved me, inspired me and blown me away like this one. Vine Deloria is one very wise man. If you come to this book with preconceived ideas and stereotyped conceptions about Native Americans (as most of us do) you will no longer have them once you have opened your mind and your heart to what this man has to say. While it is true that he may not be an *expert* on Christianity or the Judeo-Christian ethic (whatever that means), he certainly speaks truth to the perception of Christianity as it made its way into Indian country, and the hypocrisy and irony in the face of what he knows to be true. His awareness of Native spirituality is what is important here. It is important in reading this book to take that in, and balance it against what many of us consider to be "true faith."

"The test of the extent to which a religion has a claim to historical validity, therefore, should at least partially involve its identification of the specific location and lands where the religious event that created the community took place," Deloria states in attempting to ground the concept of spirituality, "...we are left with a religion devoid of any significance in either time or space." This ability to articulate what rings so true for me (and others) is what makes this man the shaman that I believe him to be.

Deloria is well read, and this book is far more than I expected it to be. As for those who cling to the superiority of Christianity, I suggest they did not read the book in its entirety. This phrase will haunt me until the day I die: "The Spanish, in slaughtering the Indians, would have a priest standing by with Holy Water available as they disemboweled pregnant Indian women."

God Bless America.

God is Red, by Vine Deloria, Jr., is an important, thought-provoking book that should be required reading in religous studies courses. However, there are several shortcomings that should be pointed out:

1. He tends to lump Jews and Christians together in discussing the problems of the so-called "fall" story in Genesis, and the concept of "original sin." Judaism does not have a doctrine of original sin. The morning prayers in the Jewish prayer book include the following: "My God, the soul you have given me, she is pure."

2. Many Christians also do not subscribe to the doctrine of "original sin/original guilt," especially as propounded by Augustin of Hippo. Nor is the notion of personal salvation from an inherited state of sin the only Christian theological position. Salvation and redemption are more complex concepts about which there is a broad range of theological definition. Mr. Deloria's opinion that the validiity of the Christian religion depends critically on treating the "fall" as a historical event is a narrow view. It may be the most prominent stream of Western theology--and certainly the one that has in confronted native peoples with claims of superiority and demands of conversion, for which it justly deserves condemnation--but it is by no means the universal Christian theology or spirituality.

3. Mr. Deloria has set up one theological position as a counterpoint to his argument. He should read more broadly in theology--e.g., the Eastern Orthodox churches, whose theology is substantially different from that of most Potestants and Roman Catholics.

4. There are many "dispersed" peoples in the world, who long ago lost any connection to a specific sacred place. That does not necessarily mean that they are spiritually adrift. I have a varied ancestry covering different countries, cultures and religions. I have no spiritual connection to one sacred place. If I can't know the place under my feet as sacred, and realize the holiness of the earth, trees, grasses, rocks, waters, birds, animals, etc. around me, then I would have little connection to creation indeed. And I agree with Mr. Deloria that a religion whose "connection" is solely with history and the time-dimension is one bereft of real spiritual rootedness.

Despite the criticisms mentioned above, this book presents a powerful challenge to some deep flaws in inherited Christian doctrine, and any religion that attempts to base itself on abstract, "universal" concepts divorced from the reality of creation. The "Native view of religion" is perhaps the most viable antidote, and Mr. Deloria presents the rich truths embodied in American Indian tribal religions with clarity and forcefulness.

Well, after years of the Western tradition doing 'comparative' studies of other cultures it finally gets analyzed in the same manner by someone from a different culture. Deloria is a well-known member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe who is also an author, scholar, philosopher and lawyer. Utilizing precisely the same methods practiced by the Christian-based, scientific-minded culture perpetuated in our present Universities he deftly slices open Christianity from his point of view.

Deloria's main thesis is to remind us that "we are a part of nature, not a transcendent species with no responsibility to the natural world." He makes this point in numerous ways, often in a very witty manner. I have no doubt this makes those entrenched in our Western condition very uncomfortable but it is healthy medicine for the insanity of the times. I also have no doubt his views make those with 'authentic Indian names', no doubt given at a three-day retreat, very uncomfortable.

Welcome to reality. The reality of forced sterilization, funded by the churches and government, and the the reality of children who were "rescued" to residential schools and force-fed Western culture. This book aptly exposes the hypocrisy and malaise affecting Christianity at this time.

It is only somewhat scholarly in style - compared to many such books, particularly Said's classic, this is an easy read. Enjoy even if it makes you squirm.

Although Vine Deloria does a fantastic job of showing the wide gap between American Indian spirituality and Christianity and the impossibleness of synchronizing the two without overlooking some incredible differences, this book falls short of my expectations of it.
Halfway through the book Deloria attacks the scientific community and the academic world through one strawman argument after another. Deloria seems to have absolutely no understanding of the scientific method and a profound misunderstanding of scientific theories. His arguments are reminiscent of those
of creationists in that since science does not require absolute certainties but only that which is most probable, he thinks that any theory can suffice. His reliance on crackpot pseudoscientists such as Immanuel Velikovsky, who is hardly the infallible, uncredited and victimized genius as Deloria thinks he is who changed facts to fit his hypothesis such
as
claiming that the Romans believed that Venus was born from Jupiter's head when really it was Minerva who did so as "evidence" that the planet Venus was born as a comet from the body of Jupiter and L. Ron Hubbard clone Zecharia Sitchin's "ancient astronauts" as a more credible theory for the origins of highly evolved archaic civilizations than archeologically backed scholarly studies makes me lose alot of respect for Deloria's ability to articulate a reasonable argument. I think Deloria could have done well to learn that something unproven cannot be substituted as proof of explanation for a phenomenon. Instead of a book about religion from a Native American's point of view, its actually mostly a polemic against science as it really is: a fallible, self correcting, tentative process which is continually evolving through newly acquired information in our wonderfully complex and seemingly infinite universe.
He also misrepresents the Nazi movement of World War II as a revival of Germanic paganism, which although it had a small following, was not endorsed by Adolf Hitler and mostly done behind his back. In fact, Hitler was a devout Catholic who claimed to be working for the Christian deity and the Nazi's had "God with us" stamped on their belt buckles.
But other than these few but integral flaws in Deloria's argument the book makes for an interesting read in that it shows the hypocritical nature of Christianity, the damage it has done to American Indian culture and way of life, the fact that it emphasises boring dogmatic doctrines, vague abstractions, and a code of behavior in which most of the participants don't even follow instead of direct religious experience (if indeed that possibility even exists in Christianity outside of the Christians' whimsical sentimentality) and the fact that Christianity has become, instead of a religious experience shared by a community, a religious institution broken into opposing pieces competing for corporate and capitalist interests.

After a visit with his Aunt Lily while a student at Oxford, C.S. Lewis wrote in his diary, "Her conversation is like an old drawer, full both of rubbish and valuable things, but all thrown together in great disorder." This quote often recurred to me while reading Vine Deloria's book "God is Red", for he shares many valuable insights regarding Native American Spirituality and its differences from Christianity while at the same time overgeneralizing, misinterpreting, and omitting a mound of evidence that goes against his stated positions so he can argue against straw men. In other words, "God is Red" is a true polemic.

Deloria is at his best when describing the various characteristics of Native American spirituality such as the strong connection with the land or the relation of mankind to all living things. In this, he gives the reader an insider's view, which is enlightening. He also correctly points out the many flaws in behavior and inconsistencies in logic demonstrated by many Christians throughout history. Sometimes he does this in a very telling fashion, as when describing the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 where the papal bull divided South America between Spain and Portugal. "Plainly the pope was supervising not the divinely ordered division of the world's lands but national hunting licenses for rape and pillage." At other times, his biting comments are humorous, as when he talked about a popular movie called Billy Jack, with a character having martial arts expertise who "demonstrated his commitment to peace by breaking people's limbs in a spectacular fashion."

The flaws in this book are unfortunately not mere pecadillos. For one, Deloria speaks in overly broad generalities, of "Indian tribal religions" (as though it were a single entity when in fact there is quite a bit of religious variation among the more than 300 tribes), or of behavior of a 'Christians' (when referring to the actions of governments and individuals of western Europe or the U.S. over the years).

This tendency to broadly generalize becomes problematic when he assigns blame for the wretched treatment Indians received at the hands of whites in the centuries following the arrival of Colombus. He commonly takes an anecdote and from this states a principle or generalization that is far too broad to be supported by such isolated events, e.g., an Indian killed in the Korean war not being allowed burial in his own home town in Iowa (before burial in Arlington National Cementery), and then from this states, "One can only conclude that the Christian religion and its promise of the afterlifie is not meant for nonwhites."

Deloria at times paints too much of the "White man he bad, red man he good" portrait, selecting the worst incidents of abuse over the years while ignoring a mountain of charitable actions done by both individual and corporate whites over years. Moreover, he frequently talks of the many positive values of Native American society yet omits the more beastly elements of their societies (e.g., kidnapping and torture of prisoners) and constant wars which went on between Native American tribes long before the white man ever set foot in North America.

In addition to oversimplifying complex issues, there are some serious problems with the subjectivism that Deloria promotes with regard to Native American religions. "Salvation and religious participation in communal ceremonies did not depend on the historical validity of the event but on the ceremonies and powers that were given to the people in the event." Again, "It was not what people believed to be true that was important but what they experienced as true." Such relativistic thinking is problematic because it questions the very nature of truth. If something does not need to be historically valid or believable as a doctrine, then one is hard pressed to argue against any position in the world, including the Christianity that Deloria criticizes throughout the book.

Deloria is insightful when talking about an insider's view of the Indian societies or how an outsider sees Christianity. He is at his worst making dogmatic statements insufficiently supported by the facts or arguing against straw men. "God is Red" is an interesting read, but one that ought to be taken with a large grain of salt.

In a clearly biased manner DeLoria sets down the absolute truths according to the majority of Indians alive today. Their "religion" is NOT a religion, in the Western sense of the word. It is not one governed by time, but flows across all time. It is not centered in a single Saviour, but in ALL of life. This book points a finger at the Western / White man's outrage at finding a People he has not yet been able to fully "convert", at the extent the Newcomers have gone to and continue to go to in order to completely eradicate the Indians' idea of a Creator and Creation. It also exposes the fact of continued disillusionment among the Western invaders, tries to show why and how especially Christian religions have failed their followers. Even the leaders of the Christian faith complain of the failings DeLoria lists. What we actually have here is a book which tries earnestly to explain why Indians can never see eye-to-eye with Western religion, why it is so important for Westerners to recognize these differences, and why every Indian who is an Indian will forever demand religious freedom and access to his "church"... which is all of nature,all Creation, every inch, everywhere. A fine read if you want to know the truth about how Indians think and feel about their right to worship as they see fit.

This is one of my all time favorite books. Vine Deloria Jr. tells it like it is. As a former Christian Minister who returned to his roots to tend to his people's needs he knows exactly what the differences between the two general concepts are all about.

Deloria never fails to amaze with his ability to turn the tables on the colonial intelectuals, deconstructing, analyzing and referencing them with the same cold, 'scientific' approach as they have done to his people for centuries. The only difference is that Deloria does it from a Native perspective. It is no wonder that his white critics are upset by this process. It's also amazing that they never seem to comprehend the same feelings that are held by Natives whom continually confront such cynicism as they are analyzed with equally technical and impersonal jargon.

Deloria analyzes Native religions, western religions, history, prophecy, the whole concept of space and time from western and Indian perspectives. There is no other book on the market ANYWHERE that I have ever found that puts Native philosophy into English this way. If you are not Indian forget everything you think you know about Indians, open this book with an open mind and a thick skin and you will emerge transformed and with a new understanding of society and religion all together.

I was amazed be the timely quality of this book which was written about 30 years ago. I read "Custer died for your sins" long ago and enjoyed the humor and information. This book is much more intellectual and a much tougher read. It requires thought and concentration. It is worth the time and energy. Vine Deloria Jr. shows how very prophetic he was at the time of writing.

God Is Red: A Native View of Religion, is an excellent assessment of western thought and not only how it has deceptions, but also its failure to meet the human condition. Vine Deloria capture the native way of spirituality, not religion in the sense of dogmatic path at all, but an independent path that one walks through one's lifetime.
An intelligent and heartfelt read

This is written from the point of view of an intellectual well versed in Western philosophy and religion but who is also well versed in American Indian Native religion. The chapters detail the stark differences between what he develops as warring cultures as he step by step describes the impact of Greek philosophy on Christian religion and how that molds the sense of individuality viewed as the modern individual in the West today. In contrast to this he describes the nature of community as seen through the eyes of natives and native religions that are land based instead of abstract conceptual systems. I find it interesting because other books such as Charles Taylor's "The Sources of the Self" make much the point he does in describing the nature of the modern individual and what brings it about. We might also see this in other books that deal with the subject. Of importance are several insightful points regarding the difficulties native communities face and how they have reacted to these culture wars. For example, regarding suicide he says, "Many people are trapped between tribal values constituting their unconscious behavioral responses and the values they have been taught in schools and churches, which primarily demand conforming to seemingly foreign ideals. Alcoholism and suicide mark this tragic fact of reservation life. People are not allowed to be Indians and cannot become whites. They have been educated, as the old-timers would say, to think with their heads instead of their hearts." (p 242) On the chapter between Natural and Hybrid Peoples he describes the Native religions as based on a sense of place - the importance of the land where "The soil you see is not ordinary soil - it is the dust of the blood, the flesh, and the bones of our ancestors. We fought and bled and died to keep other Indians from taking it, and we fought and bled and died helping the Whites. You will have to dig down through the surface before you can find nature's earth, as the upper portion is Crow." (p 148 quoting Curley, a Crow Indian Chief). (p. 247) "Education and Religion apparently do not mix."