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| YOUR TOWN: Caroline | Culpeper | King George | Fredericksburg | Orange | Spotsylvania | Stafford | Westmoreland | |
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Christianity 'a good fit' for Virginia tribes
Date published: 6/13/2009
By JOANNE KIMBERLIN The Virginian-Pilot NORFOLK --Tribal life in Virginia generally revolves around a church steeple, with each tribe gathering in its own house of worship, where the congregation is all or nearly all native.In southeastern Virginia, most Indian churches are Baptist, and services are conventional. Other than the occasional mention of "The Great Spirit," there is little evidence of native culture, and no trace of the bitterness once linked to the "white man's" religion. "If you don't look at the men who brought it, but just look at what it is, Christianity is a good fit for our nature," says Ken Adams, chief of the Upper Mattaponi. Indians of old disagreed--not surprising, given the role that organized religion played in their civilization's demise. Explorers and settlers came armed with a church-inspired mission to conquer heathen lands, a doctrine outlined by the pope 40 years before Columbus sailed. Evangelizing was also resented. To most Virginia Indians, spirituality was a personal matter. Each tribe had its own beliefs, accompanied by special places within its territory that its people considered sacred. Global religions--with their reverence for long-ago events and faraway lives--made little sense to the natives. Neither did the insistence that unbelievers convert, a pushiness the Indians regarded as rude. Resistance remained strong--even violent at times--fading as the natives grew weaker and prayers to their own deities went unanswered. In time, the Indians came to lean more and more on missionaries and churches, often the only folks willing to offer help and education. In pews and parochial classrooms, the seed was ultimately planted deep. Up until the Civil War, Indians and whites usually attended the same churches. Siding with the North, however, cost a number of natives their welcome. They started their own churches, which soon became sanctuaries for each tribe's spiritual and social needs. A full house, however, is no longer a sure thing. Indian churches, like many others, are struggling to fill the pews.
Read more stories about Caroline Date published: 6/13/2009
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