With so many different tribes settling in North American continent over the past decades, diversity got spread out all around the place giving birth to a number of beliefs and practices varying from tribe to tribe. The trend had been in place for more than thousand years now but the focus of Native American religion has remained to be their land and the supernatural. Although many additions have been done to their religions by the natives themselves but the discussion about omnipresence and invisibility of supernatural has not ended as yet. The people there talk about the birth, puberty and death of livings beings apart from spirits and visions.
Native American religion has a strong belief in spirituality, which they describe by panentheism. They are of the opinion that every human has a special connection with his or her spiritual side that is experienced every day in routine life. According to them, the same relationship happens to be between natural and spiritual worlds. All these notions did not evolve from a particular institution but are highly based on personal experiences. The multiplicity among tribes leads to the emergence of various ideologies and explanations about their specific followings. North America natives think that every visible thing on this earth has a life including rocks and mountains and thus should be respected and given importance.
A long list of religions is being followed in this part of the world like Christianity, Longhouse, Waashat, Dreamer, Indian Shaker, Drum, Earth Lodge, Ghost Dances and Ghost Dance religion, Bole Maru, Dream Dance, Feather and Peyote. According to the Native American religion, an institution is not required to know about God for He is present everywhere and each of His creation speaks for itself. We can know about the creator through a strong relationship between physical and supernatural realms. But what exactly these realms are about has not been discussed by anybody.
Peyote Religion, also referred to as the Peyote Cult, Peyote Road and Peyote Way involves using the Lophophora Williamsii plant. The usage was introduced in this religion by Carrizo, Lipan Apache, Mescalero Apache, Tonkawa and few other tribes. Various movements were started in hope of making this sort of practice illegal but the Native American religionstill lives with many tribes following it with the same amount of enthusiasm. Quannah Parker and Big Moon are two of the major peyotists currently fighting for their ideologies and practices.
Native American Religion
Many religions were formed by these tribes in hope of bringing unity among the people of their tribes and creating an identity for themselves. The people have kept their minds very open to other religions; they even adopt some of the beliefs of other famous religions. It is a common practice to follow Christianity along with another Native American religion. Considering all the basic ideologies and practices followed by these tribes, they Native Americans turn out to be ‘fundamentalists in theology, conservative in their practice and often revivalist and evangelical’.