{"id":8533,"date":"2020-05-25T14:51:35","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T12:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/?post_type=magazine-article&#038;p=8533"},"modified":"2021-05-25T14:42:59","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T12:42:59","slug":"das-kreuz-repraesentiert-zwei-sichtweisen","status":"publish","type":"magazine-article","link":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/de\/magazin\/artikel\/das-kreuz-repraesentiert-zwei-sichtweisen\/","title":{"rendered":"Das Kreuz repr\u00e4sentiert zwei Sichtweisen"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"block block-html\">\n\t<aside class=\"container-fluid\">\n\t\t<div class=\"row\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-xs-12 col-md-2 like-interactions\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t\t<like :textbelow=\"true\"  nonce=\"ebe230e521\" postid= \"8533\" post-title=\"Das Kreuz repr\u00e4sentiert zwei Sichtweisen\" count=\"10\"><\/like>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-xs-12 col-md-8\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"copy\"><p itemprop=\"abstract\" class=\"intro\">Wynema Morris, Mitglied der Omaha und Privatdozentin am Nebraska Indian Community College, \u00fcber das Kreuz auf der Kuppel aus Sicht der Ureinwohner Amerikas<\/p><\/copy><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/aside>\n<\/section>\n\n<section class=\"block block-copy\" >\n    <div class=\"container-fluid\">\n\t\t<div class=\"row \">\n            <div class=\"col-xs-12 col-md-offset-2 col-md-8\">\n                <div class=\"box\">\n                    <div class=\"copy\"><p>&#8222;As Native American, who is aware of the symbology of Christianity, historically and currently, the cross represents two major views. One is held by those Native Americans who continue to follow the traditional beliefs of their ancestors prior to Western contact. This feat was particularly hard won as U.S. federal policy was, and remains so, to completely assimilate American Indians.\u00a0 Since initial contact with western ideas of being civilized, various ways and means have been employed by U.S federal policy, all aimed at assimilation.\u00a0 In the words of a former captain in the union army, Charles Pratt \u201cKill the Indian, save the man\u201d became the framing of federal policy towards American Indians.\u00a0 Of course, this meant total eradication of whole cultural lifeways of social and political organization, economic systems, cultural belief systems and in particular, tribal languages.\u00a0 The assault launched through federal policy was not only brutal but carried long lasting negative impacts resonating today.\u00a0 The Christian cross for them represents brutality, savagery, and complete lack of humanity.\u00a0 Despite being driven underground many such cultural belief systems managed to survive and with more tolerant policy, primarily the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, 1978, are being revived.\u00a0 Sweat lodges, ceremonies, reclaiming traditional languages are definitely \u201cout in the open\u201d.\u00a0 Along with this, one hears various expressions such as \u201cthese are not Christian ways\u201d, \u00a0\u00a0\u201cThese are the ways of our ancestors &#8211; following the Pipe.\u201d, and so forth.\u00a0 A number of Holy Men, traditional doctors, i.e. \u2018medicine men\u2019, explain the humanity expressed in following the ancestral ways of the Pipe: it is the sense of caring for all creation.\u00a0 So while there is no express repudiation of the Christian cross, the underlying message is that it represents how the colonial powers used this \u201cnew religion\u201d to say good words, while behaving quite the opposite.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, due to the dubious success of assimilation, many Native Americans have total belief in the cross and all it represents.\u00a0 Some are adherents of particular Christian religions.\u00a0 As such, possible inclusion of a traditional view is precluded.\u00a0 There is one such adaptation of Christianity and its core beliefs.\u00a0 The Native American Church is Christianity and all it represents expressed, however, on Native American terms.\u00a0 These terms are practices found nowhere in Sunday worship.\u00a0 Some of them are meeting at sundown and praying until sunrise inside a tipi, or other more modern settings such as a community building.\u00a0 It is very communal, often sharing food from a common bowl, etc. \u00a0In addition, these Christians practices include the use of peyote as \u201csacrament\u201d and considered sacred and holy.\u00a0 Included in these all-night Church meetings, are the use of traditional sacred substances of cedar, sage, and tobacco.\u00a0 The fourth, sweet grass is difficult to find and has limited use.\u00a0 Here, one also finds some of the Christian beliefs in charity, praying for community, and other such good works can be found.\u00a0 Those who are \u201cmembers\u201d of the Native American Church, particularly the Road Men and their wives lead exemplary lives never having a bad word or deed expressed towards others.\u00a0 These could be likened to church ministers, priests, etc.\u00a0 For this and other forms of Christian religions the cross is all benevolent and another \u2018message\u2019 from the Creator.<\/p>\n<p>These two views appear to be in opposition to each other.\u00a0 Yet, a closer examination of the Native American Church practitioners seem to converge in usage and reliance upon traditional substances, prayers throughout the night, communal meals, and adherence to walking the \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cred\u201d road.\u00a0 The primary differences lie in the representation of the cross as symbology for both. \u00a0For traditional users of the Pipe, it recalls the brutality of the \u201ccivilizing\u201d process and negating traditional beliefs of cultural lifeways of connectedness, relatedness, inter-dependency, and reciprocity.\u00a0 While these \u201ctraditionals\u201d do not go out of their way to denigrate what the cross represents to them, they dissociate themselves completely from it and the religion it reflects.\u00a0 Native Americans who have wholly embraced the cross, i.e. Christianity, feel successful at being able to \u201clive in two worlds\u201d, as do, ironically, those holding traditional beliefs. \u00a0Neither Native American Church Road Men or traditional Holy Men or Medicine Men speak harshly to anyone or use condemnatory language toward the other.\u00a0 The two views appear to be the current state regarding the symbology of the cross.<\/p>\n<p>While working and collaborating on the much-anticipated exhibit on the Omaha Tribe\u2019s cultural materials, we were somewhat surprised at the controversy surrounding the reconstruction of the Palace.\u00a0 It was equally surprising when we realized that such collaboration is not found in any museum in the United States. \u00a0Rather than allowing for American Indians to provide any voice it is the museums themselves who make these important decisions.\u00a0 This approach leaves resentment, indignation, and ill feelings in the minds of the American Indians whose materials are on permanent display.\u00a0 The fact that the Berlin Museum was doing so became the primary focus and not the controversy.\u00a0 Of course, we understood the points of contention.\u00a0 Yet, if the exhibit was to be under the symbol of the cross, we did not feel compelled to object.\u00a0 Construction was happening with or without our input.\u00a0 As to the dome we have no familiarity with it.\u00a0 While there seems to be a greater ground swell in returning to one\u2019s ancestral spiritual beliefs we could object to the cross.\u00a0 Yet, in doing so, we would not have the unity of the Omaha People, or the pride within the community for the planned exhibit. \u00a0The God of the Christians is the same God for Native Americans.\u00a0 However, the trend toward returning to ancestral and traditional spiritual ways is an indictment on the representation of the cross as a \u201choly\u201d symbol of the Christian belief it represents.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t    <\/div>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wynema Morris, Mitglied der Omaha und Privatdozentin am Nebraska Indian Community College, \u00fcber das Kreuz auf der Kuppel aus Sicht der Ureinwohner Amerikas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":8503,"template":"","magazine-topic":[],"magazine-format":[177],"magazine-author":[],"class_list":["post-8533","magazine-article","type-magazine-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","magazine-format-statement"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article\/8533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/magazine-article"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article\/8533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=8533"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-format?post=8533"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-author?post=8533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}