Native American Beliefs Essay

Native American Beliefs Essay Outline

I. Define religion

A. Cosmology

B. Epistemology

C. Western religious principals

1. Religion is a relationship between worldly things and a supernatural entity

2. Humans are not inherently divine

D. Native religious principals

1. Religion is the relationships between worldly things

2. Deity, when it is found, is found in nature

II. Indigenous worldviews

A. No separation between the natural and the supernatural

B. Permeable boundaries when they are separated

C. Connection between land and sky

III. Sacred and profane

A. Most native religions do not label things as profane

B. The duality is sacred and more sacred

IV. Divine Beings

A. Not all Native American groups recognized divine beings

B. Creator gods

C. Trickster gods

1. Coyote is present in many Native American religious traditions

D. Transformer gods

E. Nature spirits