American Religion

By Destia Ayu Jomalda

18111028
Native American Religions and Suicide

There are 4.1 million American Indians and Alaska

Natives in the United States (U. S.
Census Bureau 2002). Suicide is the sixth leading
cause of death among Native Americans
(Andrew and Krouse 1995). The rate of suicide among
the Native American population is
approximately 1.7 times higher than the overall U.S.
suicide rate (Indian Health Service
1998–1999).
Native American adolescent males (15–24 years of age) are the
highest risk group for
suicide among Native Americans, with a suicide rate approximately 2.5
times higher than
male counterparts of the same age in the general U.S. population
(Wissow 2000). Over
24% of Native American youth have attempted suicide one or more
times in their lives
(Chino and Fullerton-Gleason 2006), with more than 16% attempting
suicide in the past
year (Shaughnessy et al. 2004).
Native American Religions and Suicide

Suicide is highly comorbid with substance abuse among Native Americans.

Research
has demonstrated that alcohol was present in 69% of all completed suicides by
Native
Americans (May et al. 2002). Other risk factors for suicide among Native
Americans
include depression, drug and alcohol use, victimization by violence (Alcantara
and Gone
2007; Andrew and Krouse 1995; Chino and Fullerton-Gleason 2006), previous
suicide
attempts (Borowsky et al. 1999; Shaughnessy et al. 2004), friends or family
members
attempting or completing suicide, physical or sexual abuse, somatic symptoms,
health
concerns (Borowsky et al. 1999), family disruption, poor social support network,
loss of
ethnic/native identity, and lack of religious or spiritual identification (Alcantara and
Gone
2007). For younger adult females, interpersonal conflict and partner violence are
also risk
factors (Olson et al. 1999).
 Native American Religions and Suicide

Native Americans, consisting of over 500 federally recognized tribes representing a

diverse range of indigenous languages and cultural customs (U. S. Census Bureau
2002),
also represent a unique set of cultural/spiritual beliefs. While each individual tribe is
governed by specific customs and traditions, this review focuses on general principles
that
research has identified as common across tribal communities.
Native Americans conceptualize time as a cycle rather than as linear, as do European
Americans. This notion applies to human beings as well as to time. Every person cycles
from birth to death. Death, therefore, is conceived of not as an end but as a beginning
of
new life. A new life results from either reincarnation as a human, transmigration into an
animal, or a transcendent life in another world. However, it is important to note that
Native
Americans believe that no one can know with certainty what will happen after death
(Hultkrantz and Hultkrantz 1987). Contrary to European Americans, Native Americans
usually avoid the issue of death and focus more on this life than an after life (Hultkrantz
and Hultkrantz 1987).
Native American Religions and Suicide

Spirituality has been posited as an important protective factor against suicidality for
Native Americans (Alcantara and Gone 2007; Garoutte et al. 2003). Commitment to
cultural spirituality has been shown to decrease the risk of attempted suicide (Garoutte
et al. 2003). Even after controlling for age, gender, level of education, alcohol/substance
abuse, and psychological impairment, Native Americans with a higher cultural/spiritual
orientation had a decreased prevalence of suicide when compared to those with lower
cultural spiritual orientation. Furthermore, having positive relationships with tribal leaders
has consistently been shown to be a protective effect against suicidality among Native
Americans (Alcantara and Gone 2007; Borowsky et al. 1999). Additionally, attention and
caring from one’s family, adults or tribal leaders, parental expectations and positive
feelings toward school have been found to be protective factors against suicidality for
female Native American youth (Pharris et al. 1997). Among male Native American youth,
involvement in traditional activities, school enjoyment, academic performance, and caring
exhibited by family members, adults, and/or tribal leaders were identified as protective
factors against suicide (Pharris et al. 1997).
Native American Religions and Suicide

It is recommended that when assessing for suicide risk in

Native American individuals,
special attention should be paid during the assessment to
the evaluation of the presence of
comorbid alcohol and/or substance abuse. Additionally, it is
important to assess the per-
son’s support network, particularly the quality of
relationships with family members and
tribal leaders, as well as their connection to their cultural
group and/or tribe.
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Native American Beliefs

• For the fundamentalist or radical environmentalist, the point of the movement is

not simply to have government and industry agree on the need for pollution
standards, agreement which led to endless discussions on appropriate pollution
standards. Instead the environmental movement is supposed to be the beginning
of a transformation of the way people live on the Earth, a transtormation in the way
they relate to the Earth and to each other. It is to be a holistic revolution in both
thought and action, in which an understanding of the nonsustainability of Western
industrial civilization leads us to discover, or rediscover, ways of living that respect
and sustain all life on Earth.The present fragmentation of the environmental
movement to include guerillastyle radical activists“ and radical political parties
advocating fundamental ecological and social change, for example, most
prominently in West Germany, is a direct reflection of discontent with the now
mainstreamed reform-based en vironmental movement. As the statements of
these discontented groups make so clear, many people do not believe it is
possible to reform Westem industrial society into an ecologically sustainable
society. Environmental problems are root problems and as such require equally
deep solutions.
Native American Beliefs

• Because environmental problems are root problems, coming out of

our basic concepts concening the natural environment and each
other, many promoters of radical environmental change base their
conceptions upon alternative philosophical tenets, most notably,
deep ecology' and ecofeminism.Deep ecology is an
ecophilosophical alternative about which there has been a great
deal of writing and debate. Deep ecology attempts to examine the
deeper root questions concerning human interactions with the
natural world, rather thani the "shallow" issues such as pollution or
species extermination, which it iden tifies as more the symptoms
than the cause of environmental breakdown. Its advocates have
attempted to posit a new way of relating to the natural world in
which the human is just another species, and the well-being of the
human species is of no greater or lesser importance than the well-
being of every other species, or the collective well-being of the
ecological community. Deep ecology argues that all life on Earth
from humans to ecosystems to soil mi crobes possesses equal
intrinsic value, values which exist independent of human needs
and desires.
Native American Beliefs

• Ecofeminism has also received a great deal of attention lately as an

alternative to mainstream ways of relating to the natural world. This
movement springs from a questioning of modern beliefs concerning the
natural world, but ecofeminism does so from a more relational and
integrative viewpoint-a feminist viewpoint. In particular, ecofeminism
equates the suppression and domination of nature with the domination
of women. and for similar reasons. Each was, and is perceived as
dangerous and in need of control. Ecofeminism encourages more
spiritual approaches to the natural world. in complement to other
approaches, and as such, offers an alternative to the subject-object
dualism that so often has characterized our relationships with the natural
world. Both deep ecologists and ecofeminists call for the development of
a new human consciousness, one of humility, which recognizes the
importance of all life, including the life of the organism Earth.
Native American Beliefs

As radical activists and philosophers begin to articulate and implement their ideas for a truly
ecological world, they find themselves drawn, again and again. to the beliefs and traditions of
North America's Native Americans. t0 Native Americans are often portrayed as model
ecological citizens, holding values and beliefs that industrialized humans have long since
sacrificed in the pursuit of progress and comfort. This interest in Native American
relationships with the natural world has an old history. As Cornell points out, influential
members of the early American conservation movement were deeply impressed by Native i
Americans and their knowledge of and relations with the natural world. 'I Such interest is
shared even by less radical elements in the environmentall movement .
Native American Beliefs
• Native American statements about the integrity and inherent importance of the natural world, such as
those of Luther Standing Bear, stir many Western people, but there seems to be surprisingly lite
understanding of Native Americans' actual relationships with their environment. Even so, this does not
keep elements of the environmental movement, mainstream and radical, recent and historical, from
using Native Americans for their own ends. In this article we attempt to redress this situation by offering
a synthetic, detailed discussion of Native American beliefs and relationships with the natural world as
presented by Native Americans and by anthropologists and historians. As such, we take a broad i
approach to the nature of Native American culture, addressing it as a singulari phenomenon. Although
we are aware of the significant differences among Native American cultures, as we argue in the next
section, there is enough similarity in environmental views to warrant this type of cross-cutting
approach. More dei tailed descriptions of the works used here are available in a recent annotatedi
bibliography. It is our hope that this article will help the environmentali movement develop an empathic
and analytic understanding of traditions that they now use so loosely.
Native American Beliefs
• Although they varied significantly between different cultures, Native Amer-i ican relationships with the natural
world tended to prescrve biological integrity within natural communities, and did so over a significant period of
historicall time. These cultures engaged in relationships of mutual respect, reciprocity, andi caring with an Earth
and fellow beings as alive and seli-conscious as humani beings. Such relationships were rellected and
perpetuated by cutural elements including religious belief and ceremonial ritual. We do not claim that natural
communities remained unchanged by human i activities, for they did change, considerably so, and in some
instances, negative-i ly so. However. the great majority of natural communities remained ecologically functional
while supporting both Native American cultures and a great diversity of different plant and animal species.In
contrast. invading Europeans brought with them cultures that practicedi relationships of subjugation and
domination, even hatred, of European lands. i They made little attempt to live with their natural communities. but
rather alteredi them wholesale. The impoverishment of the ecological communities of sixteenth and
seventeenth-century Europe was so great that, in contrast, cearly settlers of the New World found either a
marvelous paradise or a horrendous wilderness, but certainly something completely outside their
experience.sNative American cultures had adapted their needs to the capacities of naturall communities: the
new inhabitants, freshly out of Europe, adapted natural com-i munities to meet their needs. The differences
between these two approaches havei had profound impacts on the diversity and functioning of natural
communities in North America.
References

• Annie L. Booth & Harvey M. Jacobs. 1990. Native american beliefs

as a foundation for environmental consciousness
• D Lizardi. R . E Gearing. 2009. Religion & suicide : Native american
• Harold Bloom, 1998. The American Religion: The Emergence of the
Post-Christian Nation
Thank you