Title: Discussion Post Number 3 – Religion and Spirituality
Course: REL 201 RTZ > Section: Week 3 - Native American Religions

Discussion Post Number 3

Title:  Religion and Spirituality

Points: 25 points (see Discussion Rubric for details: (Discussion Rubric.docx)

Vine Deloria Jr. is a Sioux Native American author and activist.  Deloria is widely known for his book An Indian Manifesto that brought global attention to issues that Native American face in the United States.

Deloria once said that “[r}eligion is for people who’re afraid of going to hell. Spirituality is for those who’ve already been there.”

From your readings in the module on Native American religions and through the internet websites that you were provided what have you learned about Native American religion that would lead you to believe that Deloria’s statement regarding religion and spirituality in terms of the Inuit and the Native American Church?  Would this statement fit with the teachings of the Inuit and the Native American Church?  Why or why not?  Recall back to the first module’s discussion regarding religion and spirituality do you think that Deloria’s statement is a fitting generalization to the concepts of religion and spirituality? Why or why not?