Campbell - Devils Tower

Last week we discussed the contradictory issue of Devils Tower in Wyoming, where a prominent Native American tribe is barred from legally closing the mountain from the public for annual ritual practices. Conversely, we compared this to the idea of people trying to climb Mt. Rushmore, and how this would be seen as disrespectful to an important symbol of our nation's 'civil religion.' What's interesting is, during this specific week, we were also learning about civil religion in my Religion and the American Identity class, particularly over whether or not civil religion can be considered a religion at all.

To me, religion is based on the notion of transcendence. Most religions are based on the idea of higher powers, which are either beyond the realm of human existence (i.e the Christian God) or coexist within the human world (i.e. primal religions). However these deities are viewed, religion is centered around such a supreme or higher power. On the other hand, civil religion, especially within the United States, cannot claim the same principle. According to the First Amendment, Americans are guaranteed to practice whichever faith they choose, so long as the practices act in accordance to the laws of the nation (no human sacrifice here people). Thus, the notion of a god, gods, or some higher power would go against those who are agnostic or atheist, because a civil religion would impose such a figure on these people.

Going back to the Devils Tower, I feel that the contradictory sentiments towards how we view Native American cultural practices and American 'civil religion' practices inherently skewed. If we recognize and respect a symbol of our country, and we are legally tied to respecting the slew of religious identities, then why did the courts judge in favor of the hikers? I feel that the answer to this question lies more so in the ethnic identity of the Native Americans, rather than their religious identity alone. Native Americans have constantly been marginalized and discriminated against throughout the history of the United States, beginning with Columbus and still seen in cases like this one. In November 2017, legislation was passed that cut millions of land in the southwestern states, owned and up-kept by various tribes, that served as ritualistic and sacred grounds for them. Clearly, the interest of our nation's remaining natives is hardly considered, even when our Constitution should guarantee it.

How severe is the disparity between Native and civil religion? Is there a disparity at all?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Campbell - Time and Primal Culture

One of the major themes that we've discussed in this class throughout the semester has been comparing and contrasting oral cultures with written cultures. There are many differences, including ritual practices, moral codes, and utilization of spaces. However, another major difference that we only briefly touched upon is the way in which primal and modern cultures differ in their dense of understanding time. In today's world, time is very linear. We consider there to be a beginning and an end, and have even become so technical as to mark the years, months, days, and even hours. We measure our lives in the passing of years and death is seen as a gateway to a new life or an eternal paradise. For primal cultures, however, life is entirely cyclical. When we die, our bodies serve as food for scavenging animals or as nutrients for the soil. Our energies are passed along to other members of the natural environment, so despite our deaths, we never stop contributing to the circle of life...
Read more

Campbell - Ossian Mythology and "Oral Texts"

Abram, David.  The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World . New York: Vintage Books, 1996. I really enjoyed Abram's historical summary of how oral language developed and transitioned into written word. He begins this account with the invention of the Hebrew alphabet, or "aleph-beth," which later served as a model for Greek linguistic advancement. However, as any geography lesson will tell you, the Greek nation was geographically broken and thus the cultural climate was highly sectarian (i.e. nation-states), so the concept of written language took awhile for people to accept. Additionally, the mystification of oral chants and stories could not be directly translated into written word, and many Greeks were rather disenchanted by this loss of oral magic. As Abram explains, "the sung stories, along with the numerous ceremonies to which they were linked, were in a sense the living encyclopedias of the culture - carrying and preserving ...
Read more

Hanscom - Lion's Gate Statue

        When we had class outside at Lion's Gate, we had a good discussion about the statue at the top of the hill. The statue commemorated a man who was responsible for making the space around it a place for the public to visit and enjoy. The statue was a very tall, geometric design of a man taming a horse with a bit in the horse's mouth on top. At the bottom of the sculpture, there are four sculptures of men holding different objects representing things we really value in American culture. One of the figures was holding a painter's palette with brushes to represent art, another figure was holding a compass with some paper to represent math/science, the third figure was holding an anvil to represent the trades that use this object for metalwork, and the fourth figure was holding a book by Homer to represent literature/storytelling. These four things represented the most important aspects of American culture at the time this sculpture was made.     ...
Read more