God is Red: A Native View of Religion

It is a wonderful book on Native American religion, different from the Jehovah God. Missionaries tried hard to convert and christianize them for salvation and eternal life. It is not their God in Cross defeat the Natives, but their fire arms against bow and arrows. God and the East is Red!

This is one of my all time favorite books. Vine Deloria Jr. tells it like it is. As a former Christian Minister who returned to his roots to tend to his people's needs he knows exactly what the differences between the two general concepts are all about. Deloria never fails to amaze with his ability to turn the tables on the colonial intelectuals, deconstructing, analyzing and referencing them with the same cold, 'scientific' approach as they have done to his people for centuries. The only difference is that Deloria does it from a Native perspective. It is no wonder that his white critics are upset by this process. It's also amazing that they never seem to comprehend the same feelings that are held by Natives whom continually confront such cynicism as they are analyzed with equally technical and impersonal jargon. Deloria analyzes Native religions, western religions, history, prophecy, the whole concept of space and time from western and Indian perspectives. There is no other book on the market ANYWHERE that I have ever found that puts Native philosophy into English this way. If you are not Indian forget everything you think you know about Indians, open this book with an open mind and a thick skin and you will emerge transformed and with a new understanding of society and religion all together.

This book deserves to be in every comparative religion course. It takes a person on the periphery of a religious culture to see what is invisible to its own people. Originally written thirty years ago, Vine Deloria, Jr.'s thought-provoking Native American perspective is equally as valid now. One could perceive his book to be a challenge to Christianity; however, I had a vision (while reading the book) that I was standing beside a keen observer who clearly puts words to the dichotomies and paradoxes of a culture that he lived with but was not a part of--like a leaf that is carried by the river. His philosophical views are a gift that only a Native North American could share. Deloria's ability to describe perplexing contradictions is exceptional. One I found fascinating is that Christianity adopts a historical view versus a spatial (geographical) view; however, when the United States was concerned with the spread of Communism, it attempted to establish geographical constraints to contain a philosophical threat. Something to think about. Like Deloria I, too, am concerned that unless the dominant Christian culture begins to connect to the earth and learn what it has to share with us, at some point there will be nothing left to explain to future generation. As a traveler into the wilderness, I can say from my experiences that the land has much to teach us provided we listen and hear. Anyone in the dominant Christian culture who is unable to set aside their own perspective could find Deloria's view offensive. Yet, if the dominant culture would entertain this perspective, there would be an immense opportunity for greater compatibility, collaboration and cohesiveness. Armchair Interviews says: To read and reflect on any one of the many questions that Deloria poses will give rise to the obvious, "there is much to be learned from Native American religions. And Vine Deloria, Jr. is speaking his truth when he states that God is Red.

Well, after years of the Western tradition doing 'comparative' studies of other cultures it finally gets analyzed in the same manner by someone from a different culture. Deloria is a well-known member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe who is also an author, scholar, philosopher and lawyer. Utilizing precisely the same methods practiced by the Christian-based, scientific-minded culture perpetuated in our present Universities he deftly slices open Christianity from his point of view.Deloria's main thesis is to remind us that "we are a part of nature, not a transcendent species with no responsibility to the natural world." He makes this point in numerous ways, often in a very witty manner. I have no doubt this makes those entrenched in our Western condition very uncomfortable but it is healthy medicine for the insanity of the times. I also have no doubt his views make those with 'authentic Indian names', no doubt given at a three-day retreat, very uncomfortable.Welcome to reality. The reality of forced sterilization, funded by the churches and government, and the the reality of children who were "rescued" to residential schools and force-fed Western culture. This book aptly exposes the hypocrisy and malaise affecting Christianity at this time.It is only somewhat scholarly in style - compared to many such books, particularly Said's classic, this is an easy read. Enjoy even if it makes you squirm.