Land of the Free (ritual, moral, salvation, tradition, America)

[kreeden]

I was surfing , and came across this little bit of histroy that I found interesting .

http://www.iwchildren.org/redholocaust/1665message.htm

Considering that the American Bill Of Rights of 1791 states " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion , or prohibiting the free exercise thereof .... " , it makes a person wonder , doesn't it ? Canada and other countries were no better .

I particularly like the part about no one under the age of 50 being allowed to dance ...
.PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THIS LINK CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT MIGHT OFFEND
Anyway , I thought that http://www.iwchildren.org/plntycps.htm was an interesting site , and wanted to link it here , as it addresses many issues that PW { and others ** has brough up .

[DreamQuickBook]

America has never been "free", because as a nation of "law" lines are always drawn. Religion is no exception to this. So basically, it comes down to what is accepted by the public and what is not. People are afraid of things they don't understand.

[kreeden]

Well , comparativity speaking , the western world is free , for some . But I don't think that it had to do with being afraid so much as not understanding the First Nation's traditions of " giving ", and what one culture viewed as a waste of resourses , both time and material .

But you are correct in that it comes down to what the public will accept Jocose .

BTW , what does LHP stand for ?

[DreamQuickBook]

Originally Posted by kreeden

BTW , what does LHP stand for ?

Left Hand Path - I am discovering that because I neither ascribe to "modern satanism" or "theistic satanism", that refering to myself as a Satanists isn't clear.

Left Hand Path

Left Hand Path in the West

Right-Hand Path religions are usually said to share the following properties:

* Belief in a higher power, such as a deity.
* Obedience to the will of the higher power.
* Esoteric belief in the existence of a supernatural mechanism, such as Karma, divine retribution, or Threefold Law, which causes the moral decisions that an individual makes to be reciprocated upon himself.
* The ultimate goal of having the individual consciousness be absorbed into a greater or cosmic whole.

Left-Hand Path religions are usually said to share the following properties:

* The belief that some people can, by attaining spiritual insight, themselves become akin to gods.
* An exoteric understanding of concepts such as karma, divine retribution, or Threefold Law, resulting in fluid, rather than strict, codes of morality.
* The belief that the individual self is preeminent, and that all decisions should be made with the goal of cultivating the self (though not the ego).
* The belief that each individual is responsible for his own happiness, and that no external force will provide salvation to reward actions which do not advance one's happiness in this life.
* The belief that the forces of the universe can be bent to one's personal will by magickal means, and that power gained in such a manner is an aid to enlightenment.
* An agnostic view of the existence of deities, or a Platonic view of deities as "first-forms." If deity is perceived as having a consciousness, then all relationships with deity are in the form of a partnership, an alliance which does not require subservience. The prideful deity likes prideful partners.

It's a broad definition and not all of it applies.

[kreeden]

Ok , thanks for the explanation .

[Green Gaia]

Native Amercian religion was not looked upon as a "religion" and many efforts were made to Christianize the Indians. They weren't deemed "civilized" so how could their religion possibly be? Ceremonies such as the sundance and the Ghost Dance were forbidden because the government feared that these would cause native groups to grow stronger in conviction to fight the white men. Outlawing the religions of the Native Americans was also used to demoralize them, same with taking Indian children away and sending them to schools to teach them how to be white and serve whites. It's all a very disgusting part of our history than any of this was done.

[kreeden]

Well , I think that Circular 1665 was more concerned about the tradition of " giving ", as I said earlier . No matter , it still comes down to the same thing .

So , what constitutes a religion ? Are only those religions that the government recognizes as such protected under the Bill Of Rights ? If so , can any religion lost it's reconation ? And if so , how ?

[painted wolf]

Thank you Kreeden for posting this... I'm sorry I missed it earlier!
WAO!!

its difficult for people today to conceve of the hardships of eaven the previous generation. We didn't get the 'right' to practice our faith untill 1978.. When congress passed the "freedom of religion act"... the penalty for praying... 30 years in prision!
My people have only had the leagal right to practice our faith since I was already a year old. I'm older than my peoples 'constitutional right'.
Additionally laws were passed to make speaking Native Languages illegal, white run schools (the only schools native children were alowed to attend) punnished, often by beatings, any child who openly used thier own language!!!!
in 1990 the Native American Language Act was passed to help prevent the extinction of hundreds of native languages... most sadly it seems are byond help with only one or two fluent speakers left alive....

WE were only made citizens of the USA in 1924!

As a people we still have a lot of work to do in terms of civil rights... There are still a lot of sterotypes out there to fight... rights to 'earn'.

http://www.ericdigests.org/1997-2/antibias.htm
http://www.hanksville.org/sand/stereotypes/

wa:do

[painted wolf]

heh... just wanted to add that dispite everything the government tried we survived it...
It is a true miracle that our culture still stands and after so long it is growing again.

wa:do

[kreeden]

Originally Posted by painted wolf

My people have only had the leagal right to practice our faith since I was already a year old. I'm older than my peoples 'constitutional right'.
wa:do

That is what blows me away Painted Wolf . I believe that many non-First Nation People tend to think that these things " happened a long time ago ", so they are history ... Well , often that " long time ago " was just yesterday .

And I repeat , Canada was just as bad , in ways . Different , but just as guilty . Potlash was illegal here until a few years ago . And even today , people tend to keep them rather secertive .