Free eBook ~Short Inspirational Stories - The Benefits.pdf
First discussion assignment
1. Sandra Cash<br />Mailbox 108<br />The Iroquois spirit beliefs are different to the religious beliefs of European Christians because the Iroquois have more than one god and their gods also seem to have a human body. Both the Iroquois and the Christians have the god or gods communicate in some way to the humans. Also the Iroquois do not seem to think of a heaven or a hell and how to get there, whereas the Christians believe that there is a heaven and a hell. The Christians think of heaven as the place of reward, and hell as a consequence of sin. However, both of these cultures have ancient traditions explaining how the world came to be, and how humans were made.<br />The Indians did not really have a worldview, they instead had a local view unlike the Europeans who had a worldview. They both had religious beliefs. The Indians believed in more spirits and that everything had a spirit. Those spirits reflected aspects of their life and the world around them. Mother Earth was very important to them, so they tried to take care of her. Also, both cultures were engaged in farming, hunting, and fishing. They both also learned new and better techniques to do these things from each other. To each other, however, they were completely different people. The Europeans saw the natives as only half human. Both of these cultures thought that women should take care of children, preparing meals and working in gardens. Also in these cultures they thought that farming, hunting, fighting and clearing land was only for the men. As shown, the European worldview has aspects that are similar and other aspects that are dissimilar to the Indians’ worldview. <br />