God Is Red: A Native View of Religion

“As the Civil Rights movement began to be eclipsed by antiwar protests, and Martin Luther King Jr. linked Vietnam with American domestic problems, the public began to turn to other minorities for the reassurance that they were, in spite of themselves, good guys.”

Deloria laments that Indigenous identity in 20th-century America has been essentially commodified. With mainstream society in a state of moral distress, he observes the way in which society treats Indigenous Americans as a balm for white guilt. The people who once lived in the United States are almost rediscovered by the peoples who drove the Indigenous to near-extinction.

“Americans simply refuse to give up their longstanding conceptions of what an Indian is.”

Deloria is an observer of contemporary American culture, as well as an advocate for Indigenous rights. Since mainstream America is so comfortable in its deluded interpretation of “what an Indian is” (27), Deloria’s battle is even more difficult. He cannot simply advocate for the rights of his people; he must redefine his people’s identity in the eyes of mainstream white America.

“Ecological advertisements featured Indians paddling or walking across polluted streams and fields with tears running down their faces.”

One of the many ways in which modern America fetishizes Indigenous identity, Deloria suggests, is by turning Indigenous peoples into images of cultural correction. The crying Indigenous figure, Deloria suggests, has nothing to do with Indigenous peoples or their concerns, but is used as a remedy for the problem of pollution brought about by non-Indigenous peoples. The remedy for such empty tokenism and misappropriation is to embrace The Importance of Preserving Indigenous Knowledge and Culture instead of sidelining or distorting it.

“Modern versions of witchcraft fill the empty hours of the affluent fringe groups who reject Christianity but want to have some hold on religious experience.”

Deloria describes the many superstitions which have crept into modern American existence. These variations of “witchcraft” (51), he suggests, are attempts to fill the spiritual void in American society. Since Christianity is disconnected from its roots in America, it leaves people feeling lost and listless. They invent a variety of ways in which to fill this vacuum, but nothing seems to satisfy because it is not authentically connected to the land.

“We are virtually helpless to understand the symbols, stories, doctrines, and ideals that religions have traditionally espoused if we are content to define religion according to temporal terms of explanation.”

One of the major issues with defining religion according to time, Deloria suggests, is that it is inherently limiting, which speaks to his interest in The Implications of History Viewed as Space and Time. Since time flows only in one direction and cannot be altered, this framing leaves the religion unable to address the problems caused by moving further and further away from important events. This framing is limiting since it creates problems which cannot be resolved.

“How Westerners can believe in evolution and not see the logical consequences of this doctrine in the religious life of people is incomprehensible for many Indians.”

Western society, Deloria suggests, is rife with contradictions. The impressive work done by scientists like Charles Darwin means that people are caught between science and spirituality, stuck in a moment of cognitive dissonance in which they must hold competing and contradictory ideas to be true. Deloria laments that people cannot see the “logical consequences” (81) of their own beliefs, showing how logic and belief are often deliberately kept apart.

“The Christian religion looks toward a spectacular end of the world as a time of judgment and thus an end of history.”

Deloria’s understanding of Christianity shows how the end of the world is baked into religion, invoking The Implications of History Viewed as Space and Time. The return of Jesus Christ creates an unknown endpoint for time itself and the world, which implicitly hinders people from wanting to protect their world, since they believe that it is destined to be left behind.

“No one can say when the creation story of the Navajo happened, but everyone is fairly certain where the emergence took place.”

In comparing and contrasting the Native creation stories with that of Christianity, Deloria reveals a key point. Christianity is obsessed with the passage of time, yet the idea of when is secondary to many Indigenous beliefs. The where of creation is more important, since it binds the people to their native lands. This contrast, Deloria suggests, is why the unmooring of Christianity from its birthplace has caused so many problems.

“Forcing the consideration of creation to be examined as if it were a specific event destroys the possibility of knowing the nature of the world with any certainty.”

Deloria notes that Christians refuse to acknowledge the validity or even existence of competing creation stories, while the Indigenous peoples entertain the stories of other cultures. For Deloria, the Christian approach is counterproductive and limiting, particularly as Christianity struggles to satisfy the modern believer as it once did. This forms part of his critique of Christian Universalism as a Tool of Empire and Erasure.

“Indeed, I suspect that the ability to describe the attributes of God may preclude the possibility of ever experiencing Him, Her, or Them.”

Deloria argues that the specific issues within Christianity, such as the “ability to describe the attributes of God” (142) are inherently limiting in comparison to Indigenous beliefs. Deloria therefore contrasts the ostensible certainty and specificity of Christian conceptions of the divine with the more fluid conceptions of Indigenous religions, continuing his critique of Christian Universalism as a Tool of Empire and Erasure.

“It is at this point that I could well believe the theory of the ancient astronauts as bringers of culture and technology.”

The theory of the ancient astronauts is an example of Deloria’s rhetorical flourishes. He introduces the outlandish concept as a way to deliberately create a point of contrast to discussions of religious creation stories. The theory also speaks to Deloria’s wider point about The Importance of Preserving Indigenous Knowledge and Culture, as he argues that Western policing of what does or does not count as valid knowledge leads to the discounting and sidelining of other bodies of knowledge and belief.

“The White Man will never be alone.”

In 1854, Chief Seattle issued a proclamation which Deloria finds to be particularly insightful. The White Man, Seattle suggested, “will never be alone” (159) because the ghosts of the dead Indigenous will still occupy the land and remind the inhabitants of their guilty past. Seattle was right, Deloria suggests, but the haunting is more symbolic than spiritual.

“Most people who believe themselves to be Christians are thoroughly Greek in their beliefs concerning life after death.”

A common theme throughout God is Red is that many modern American are unfamiliar with the traditions or ideas of Christianity. Many of the beliefs regarding the afterlife, for example, are Greek in nature. This inability to acknowledge the philosophies and ideas of other cultures is, Deloria suggests, what prevents many Christians from approaching Indigenous ideas in good faith.

“That the Amish can make their religion work indicates not so much the validity of their religion but that they have created a specific community that relates land, community, and religion into one integrated whole.”

Deloria’s critique of Christianity is that its modern, American incarnation is spiritually separated from any sense of location or community. In the Amish, he finds an example of a people who have reconstituted Christianity to function in America, although for the Amish this means rejecting and living separate from modern American society.

“For Europe, the Christian church had become the first overt conspiracy.”

Deloria’s historical analysis of Christianity suggests that, as the religion has moved further away from its Near Eastern roots, it has taken on a political more than a spiritual dimension. The collapse of the Roman Empire and the emergence of the Roman Catholic Church as one of the largest social institutions in the world suggests, Deloria believes, that spirituality was becoming less of a concern. He traces this despiritualization across the Atlantic to modern America, arguing for Christian Universalism as a Tool of Empire and Erasure.

“He is never disclaimed as a tribal member.”

One of the many ways in which Deloria elucidates the contrasts between Christian and Indigenous cultures is in the treatment of those who have transgressed against society. For Christians, Deloria suggests, criminal or sinful activity is evidence that the perpetrator was not a true Christian, thus denying their responsibility. In contrast, Deloria suggests that Indigenous people view the perpetrator as a responsibility and as a failure of the community. This approach to transgression emphasizes the community rather than the individual.

“‘One thing even Jesus didn’t do,’ Ike preaches, ‘he didn’t save the world.’”

The mixed messaging of modern Christianity is a particular bugbear for Deloria. People like Reverend Ike selfishly recast the story of Jesus Christ to personally enrich themselves. Regardless of the accuracy of Reverend Ike’s statement, its divergence from traditional Christian messaging shows the extent to which the religion is corrupted and commercialized in the United States.

“The world in which Christianity arose no longer exists in its social and political sense.”

Deloria’s book investigates the many ways in which Christianity has changed to fit modern American culture, but his point of focus is the way in which Christianity has always focused on time rather than place, highlighting The Implications of History Viewed as Space and Time. This focus on time has led to a religion which no longer addresses the spiritual concerns of its followed in a particular place.

“Traditional Indians often performed their ceremonies ‘in honor of’ George Washington or Memorial Day, thus fulfilling their own religious obligations while white bystanders glowed proudly to see a war dance or rain dance done on their behalf.”

Amid the many stories of persecution, Deloria shares stories of how the Indigenous peoples fought for The Importance of Preserving Indigenous Knowledge and Culture. By tricking the white people into believing that the ceremonies were a tribute to American leaders, the Indigenous played on the arrogance and rigidity of the white people while preserving their persecuted traditions.

“It is time to call a halt to the unchallenged assumptions of the Christian conception of history.”

In the closing chapters of God is Red, Deloria moves from a descriptive into a proscriptive mode. Rather than analyzing contemporary American culture, he provides a template for how an alternative might function. He offers an explicit call to action to bring change to the world that he inhabits, inviting his audience to address The Implications of History Viewed as Space and Time.

“Ceremonial and ritual knowledge is possessed by everyone in the Indian community, although only a few people may actually be chosen to perform these acts.”

Another way in which Deloria contrasts Christianity and the Indigenous religions is how Indigenous communities spread the responsibility and education for religious ceremonies among many people. The more egalitarian approach ensures that more people are aware of the role of spirituality in their daily lives. Everyone shares this knowledge, rather than safeguarding it in select individuals.

“The rising number of psychoanalysts coupled with the declining number of professional clergy testifies to the fact that the religious crisis of Western civilization is taking extreme forms of alienation within itself.”

Deloria spends most of the book examining the way in which Christian culture has marginalized Indigenous beliefs. At the end of the book, he notes the way in which Christianity itself is becoming marginalized by more secular alternatives. Psychoanalysis is one of several options which Deloria frames as alternatives to religion for an American public, which feels spiritually hollow due to the separation between belief and place.

“The National Park service allowed the ‘Custer Buffs’ to dictate whose books could and could not be sold there.”

In the Afterword, Suzan Shown Harjo illustrates one of the positive ways in which Deloria’s work influenced society. The National Park service refused to allow Indigenous voices to challenge their whitewashing of history. Thanks to Deloria’s campaign, this was changed and his books provided an alternative viewpoint for visitors to the site. This speaks to The Importance of Preserving Indigenous Knowledge and Culture.