Father Brokenleg, associate professor of Native American studies at A ugustana College, is also a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and an Orthodox priest. This paper was presented at the / 985 South Dakota lluinanifies Seminar at Augustana College.
In the historical novel The Way of the Sacred Tree (1983), Edna Hong describes the cultural, military, and identity conflicts of the Santee during the 1860s. In the Lakota Kaduza and the white missionary John Williamson, Hong focuses the dynamics of culture and identity. The interaction of a white Christian and a Lakota occurs during the events we call the Minnesota-Santee War of 1862. In one section, the cultural conflict which a Santee would face, were he to become a Christian, is expressed in the words of his grandfather, Red Beaver:
It is because the Dakota man has to give up everything that makes him a Dakota man, my son! He gives up fighting. He gives up smoking the sacred pipe. He givcs up his nakedness, for the missionaries think it is shameful. He gives up the blanket, for he has to work with his hands. He gives up his long hair. He gives up feasts. He gives up the drums and dancing. If he has more than one wife, he gives them up. He gives up his freedom to do as he pleases on the holy day. To ask a Dakota man to walk the Jesus road is like asking the buffalo to live as a beaver. (Hong 95)
In the cultural and military turmoil of the 1800s the way of life and thought of the Lakota was often questioned in the form of religious conflicts.
Our times are not unlike those times for the Lakota, although the questions continue for Native Americans. Writing in the spring, 1984, issue of Federation Reports, Walter Capps speaks of the way religion reflects social and cultural issues:
Every day brings new evidence that religion is a significant component of contemporary social, cultural and intellectual life on both a national and international scale. Within only the past five years, for example, a political and cultural revolution occurred in Iran, inspired apd nurtured by the strong reascendency of fundamentalist forces within Islamic religion. Not far from there, the strife that persists in the Middle East is fanned by long?standing antagonisms between cultures and religions that have grown up side by side, both in continuity and in contrast to each other. The political and economic upheavals in Latin America and in developing nations throughout the world bring religious forces into sharp and violent opposition, frequently making enemies of adherents of one and the same religion. (44)
But one doesn't have to go so far away to see cultural and political changes embodied in religion. In our region we have seen the interaction of at least two vastly different cultures and religious traditions in the interplay of European Christians and native people. Although the sharp contrast between these two ways of life was manifest in the last century, it would be a mistake to think that there was nothing dramatic about their differences and similarities now. As persons are facing the dilemmas of the twentieth century, they turn to religion to provide some direction and wisdom:
Today more than ever before, people are trying to understand both their own and others' traditions; they are learning to appreciate that each way of life has its own value and particular capacity to tap the creative resources of human consciousness. As people the world over seek to learn about the many ways in which others have related to their immediate and to their cosmic environment, they are turning toward American Indian tribal traditions. They are listening to tribal wisdom that has survived in oral tradition . . . . (DeMallie in Walker xiii)
It follows that Americans would turn to native traditions to study since they are an integral part of American life and identity:
Native American cultures are familiar to most Americans, being widely treated in literature, art and film. Native Americans are inseparable from American identity - its peoples, landscapes, arts, and history, and it is commonly recognized that rituals, ceremonials, and mythological stories are an important part of Native American cultures. (Gill xiii)
For this discussion I have reduced the topic of ethnic diversity on the prairie plains to diversity of religious practice and thought among the Lakota. I understand ethnic to refer to the culture of a particular group or nation. Culture is learned and taught. It is the pattern of life which is shared by members of a group and which functions on four different levels. The first level is thought, and it includes such broad areas as philosophy, theology, values, ethics, and metaphysics. A second level of culture is speech, which includes the language spoken and the form and content which that expression permits. The third level of culture includes all physical actions from ceremonies to nuance of movement. The fourth level of culture is the physical level of culture and includes the arts and technology of that nation. Using this defini tion of culture gives one the opportunity to see the various levels on which one would find religion manifested. There would be a philosophy of religion, a particular language and expression of religion, a ritual and ceremony, and the utensils and objects used in that religion. In all the levels of culture a consistent pattern would be found.
I have used the term pipe to refer to the general category of the historic tribal religion of the Lakota. I mean to include those who follow a medicine man, use the pipe, participate in the sun dance, and express the spiritual sensitivity of the historic arld traditional practice of the Lakota. I use the term cross to refer to a generic Christian, either Catholic or Protestant, who maintains the theology, faith, and outlook of the Christian expression of his or her denomination.
The traditional Plains Lakota way of life is permeated with religious practice and thought:
No important decision was made, no important action was taken, and no important milestone in life was passed without first consulting and seeking the guidance and assistance of the supernatural .... The Lakota understood their world and the universe more generally to be inhabited by a multitude of supernatural beings and forcesbeings and forces which were identified as "wakan"sacred or mysterious. These beings (or spirits) and forces were many, and they were everywhere throughout the universe. They had no beginning, and they had no end. They were eternal. (Hess 17-18)
During the Plains period, Lakota religious life centered on the seven rites described elsewhere by Black Elk (Brown) and others (Walker). Some of these rites, such as the Inipi rite of spiritual strengthening, and the vision quest, are of such antiquity that their origins are not recounted in the mythic memory. But the Lakota have been the recipients of revelations with many of the remaining five rites. The Buffalo Calf Woman, who brought the sacred pipe, is also a revealer of the womanhood, ball-throwing, and soul-keeping rites. Other rites are the result of visions experienced by individual Lakotas, including the rite of the sun dance and the making-a-relative ceremony. The Plains period is characterized by religious life which is the result of spiritual revelation from the wakan.
Viewed in an anthropologic way, the Plains period demonstrates the creativity and vitality of the Lakota. As life on the plains requires adaptability for survival, so the religious life of the Lakota adapted to introduced cultural items. Whether it was the buffalo or the horse, the Lakota made it a part of Lakota life and religion.
By the middle of the 19th century, the nomadic tribes of the Northern Plains, especially the Sioux, had developed a way of life that dominated the plains area. Their life way was linked with the horse and the buffalo, both of which had become dominant religious symbols. Their religious practices were focused upon individual vision experiences, shamanic practices associated with hunting and curing, and the great Sun Dance ceremonial, which had established itself as a tradition rooted in the primordial past. Yet from the perspective of American history, we can see that the presence of the Sioux in the Plains area and the way in which their religion had developed resulted, though indirectly, from the presence of Europeans in America; the horse, by which they had come to such great power, was itself a European introduction. This fact, of course, takes nothing away from the significance of the religions and cultures of the Plains peoples; indeed, it celebrates their enormous capacities to engage in a history of development and radical innovation that permitted them not only to survive, but to achieve heights of cultural and religious development. (Gill 163-64)
This ability to adapt would be called on by the Lakota again when the end of the known way of life seemed near. At the end of the nineteeth century, the Lakota could see that all that had supported the former nomadic life was disappearing. The land restrictions and the loss of the buffalo, the increasing presence of non-Indians, and the advent of the reservation-enforced dependency, all announced an end to the known means of life. The Lakota responded with the adoption of the Ghost Dance with its promise of a new restoration of the complete life we had formerly known. But the promise was not then to be fulfilled. Wounded Knee would end the desperate hop e in religion to restore life as it was known.
Two major dynamics would change the religious makeup of the Lakota: the plan of the Quakers, and the loss of military and political control over Lakota lives. The effect of these two dynamics would bring the Lakota to acceptance of Christianity at a time when there seemed the greatest need for it. But the acceptance of another religion would mean a conversion in culture and social position as well.
In the 1860s various Christian churches were engaged in the evangelization of Indian nations. From time to time competition appeared among the missions. The Quakers' successful work among native people was admired by the federal administration at the time of Grant's peace policy. The Quaker plan to assign specific denominations to Native American nations was theref6re in effect from 1870 to 1890. Some denominations were assigned Indian schools, but the federal government took control of them by 1894. By the 1890s churches were established on all reservations and many Native Americans had become members of them:
By 1930 there were some 150,000 Indians reported to be communicants of various Christian denominations. The Catholics reported 61,456 adherents, the Protestants 80,000. Protestant missions among Indians reported a total of 26 sects and 32,164 Indians involved in these missions. Ordained Indian ministers numbered 86 among Southern Baptists, 36 Methodists, 75 Presbyterian, and 36 Episcopalian. It would appear that at least one-half of the Indians had by this time been reached and that most of these counted themselves communicants of one or another Christian denomination. Many also participated in one or another of the native ceremonies. (Spicer 119)
Note that conversion to Christianity was not necessarily to the total exclusion of participation in traditional rites. The Quaker plan was the formal, federally organized introduction of Christianity into Indian country, and its introduction had cultural implications:
By the time of the Allotment Act, almost every form of Indian religion was banned on the reservations. In the schools the children were punished for speaking their own language. Anglo-Saxon customs were made the norm for Indian people; their own efforts to maintain their own practices were frowned on, and stern measures were taken to discourage them from continuing tribal customs. (Deloria 251-52)
The religious conversion had taken on additional aspects of cultural and social conversion and distinctions were not always clear. In identifying the motive for acculturation, Milton states, "More personally, whites have resented Indianness and have felt insulted that the Sioux did not respond eagerly to white American ways" (134).
The westernization of the Lakota was possible now since the Christian presence was In place. It only remained for the religious core of Lakota life to be drained of power. This power loss was to occur when the military, political, and economic pressure on the Lakota mounted at the end of the nineteenth century. The beginning of reservation life brought about the power loss and caused the Lakota to fill the former religious core of life with the power of Christianity:
[There was] a diversity of religious responses on the part of Oglala leaders at a critical time in Lakota history. The years of warfare, the Ghost Dance, and the Wounded Knee massacre were still fresh and vivid memories. The Lakotas appeared to be defeated. Conversion to Christianity seemed inevitable and the conflict between Lakota religion and Christianity seemed an either?or choice. (DeMallie in Walker xviii)
Time and again, the history of this period demonstrates an absence of a distinction between the religious persuasion of the Lakota and their cultural-political persuasion. The religious loss of power occurs when there is a political loss of power. The change to Western culture is hand-in-hand with a religious change to Christianity:
On reservations, the traditional means of attaining prestige, wealth, and rank vanished. There was no war, no hunting, and no raiding. The traditional tribal economy collapsed, and this collapse forced radical changes in diet, clothing styles, and housing. The people had no choice but to accept rations and annuities from the U.S. government, which supported them in this way while attempting to turn the people into farmers like the settlers. Because of the climate, land conditions, and temperament of the people, this effort failed miserably. The native peoples were forced to undergo political reorganization in order to have a means of meeting white demands, and this conflicted with the traditional political organization, which itself could no longer function. (Gill 165-66)
The creation of reservations usually resulted in the establishment of a mission. In some cases the mission was charged with operating schools, hospitals and farms:
As the reservations became more permanent, the churches devoted themselves whole-heartedly to converting the peopie. Religious controversies increased, and rnissionaries soon became one of the most vocal forces in demanding that tribal political activity be suppressed, since it was apparent to them that the religious and political forms of tribal life cannot be separated. Soon plans were underfoot to ban tribal religious ceremonies. The ignorance of the Indian agents assisted the missionaries in their endeavors, since they interpreted any Indian ceremonial as a "war dance." (Deloria, God Is Red 251)
The effect of westernization in its many forms is stated quite clearly by Ella Deloria:
It was as though, after being sucked without warning into a remorseless whirlpool and helplessly lashed and bruised by the wreckage pounding around them, the people had at last been thrown far off to one side and were sitting there, naked and forspent, dully watching their broken life being borne along, and lacking both the strength and the will to retrieve any of it. And what good was it now anyway, in pieces? The sun dance - without its sacrificial core; festive war dances - without fresh war deeds to celebrate; the Hunka rite of blessing little children - without the tender Ring of Relatives to give it meaning - who would want such empty leavings? No, it was better just to get along somehow without. But it left them lonely, with an ache in the heart and an emptiness of soul. And then the church came and filled that emptiness to overflowing. (64)
While not minimizing the effects of the political and military loss to the Lakota, Deloria speaks of the repowering of Lakota life by Christianity in positive terms.
In a much more poignant way, Walker recorded the feeling of personal loss of one Little Wound:
These are the secrets of Hunkayapi. You must not talk of them with anyone except a Hunka or Ate. My friend, I have told you the secrets of the Hunkayapi. I fear that I have done wrong. But the spirits of the old times do not come to me anymore. Another spirit has come, the Great Spirit of the white man. I do not know him. I do not know how to call him to help me. I have done him no harm, and he should do me no harm. The old life is gone, and I cannot be a young man again. (198)
The major cultural diversity the Lakota experienced was not freely chosen by them. It came upon them as the result of history and political loss. The presence of a substitute culture and religion which reestablished Lakota power and purpose is one which continues to cause readjustment today:
As the Plains tribes entered the 20th century, they were forced to adjust to a very complex situation. Prevented from following their old way of life, they found it impossible simply to import a new tradition. Three main paths were entered by various groups, and these paths were often combined. One path was to hold to those practices that have threads of continuity with the old tradition and try to revive them as much as possible. Along this path, the Sun Dance and other ceremonial activities were eventually revived. Another path was to encourage pan-Indian identity as much as possible and to develop traditions that were "Indian" in character. Numerous political organizations and ceremonial practices like the powwow arose as a result. Another path was the attempt to drop tribal and "Indian" identity as much as possible and to assimilate completely into white culture. One step in this direction is the acceptance of Christianity and the acquisition of employment apart from the native reservations and communities. (Gill 167)
Not all would agree that off?reservation employment and the adoption of Christianity are simply means of acculturation. Gill may oversimplify the dynamics of culture and place, but he does demonstrate the conflict and diversity which westernization brings to the Lakota. Westernization does not affect only culture, nor only political status. Westernization affects the Lakota in all of these areas, and it is difficult to see any one concept in isolation from the other concept.
In the 1970s several events occurred which support the growing, conscious nationalism of the Lakola. In the 1960s in America one could see the sense of self-identity increasing among ethnic minorities. This self-identity has now spread to other groups. All around the globe there has been an increase in nationalism. In France the Basques have asserted their identity and rights. Among the native Hawaiians we have seen a resurgence of native culture and a restoration of their historic religion and deities. Among the Ukranians who were formerly Orthodox, there are groups which have discarded Orthodoxy and have returned to former deities and religious practices of the Ukraine. The resurgence of conservative Protestantism in the American white population may also be a resurgence of nationalism. Among the Lakota and other native nations, Indian activist groups organized in the sixties and seventies, confronted, sensitized, and organized. They also asserted the restoration of traditional native values and rights. They almost always insisted on the renewal of traditional religious practices:
It is important to see how religion and world views are often deeply involved in the national idea; the advent of nationalism represents a new backdrop against which religious attitudes and world views are thrown. (Smart 49)
The importance of religion in native cultures is acknowledged by those familiar with Native American life. Perhaps because of this understanding, the U.S. Congress passed, in 1978, the Native American Religious Freedom Act (P.L. 95-341):
[This act is designed] to protect and preserve for American Indians their inherent right of freedom to believe, express, and exercise the traditional religions ... including but not limited to access to sites, use and possession of sacred objects, and the freedom to worship through ceremonials and traditional rites. (Gill xiii-xiv)
The act also calls for an examination of the federal policy currently in practice to determine if any changes must be made to conform to the spirit of this act (Deloria and Lytle). The act was necessary since traditional Native American religious practices have not been given the same First Amendment protections as those enjoyed by Judeo-Christian practices. Native people have experienced some challenge to the possession of materials, such as feathers and peyote; some ceremonies such as the sun dance were prohibited by the policy of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1883 (Gill). The interaction of the passage of the Native American Religious Freedom Act and the rise of Native American nationalism in the 1970s has created a powerful force which has brought the contemporary Lakota community to four major religious positions.
It could be expected that the Lakota would develop a variety of responses to the religious and cultural history experienced. Native Americans, though characterized by a substantial communal orientation, have never had a uniform philosophy or practice. Some diversity in the religious area, or any other area, is not surprising. Moreover, the encounter with western culture and with other religious practices has not been a uniform experience for the Lakota. The contemporary organization of Lakota religious practice is neither final nor absolute. There may yet develop additional religious responses by the Lakota. Perhaps some forms will combine in the future. It is the case, however, that the question of religious practice is the most pressing personal question among native people today. In question is not only where one prays, but the implication of religion for political, cultural and social life as well. The four practices, as I see it, include: (1) those who want Traditional religion alone, (2) those who are Christian exclusively, (3) those who combine Pipe and Cross because they see no essential difference, and (4) those who combine practices for the sake of peace and unity.
There are those who believe Lakotas should practice only the Traditional historic religion. Adherents of this position may be non-Indian, but it is more likely that they will be Lakota themselves. The Traditionalists generally support Lakota language, identity, and culture but may not exemplify a uniform expertise in these areas. The Traditionalists may be from the reservation or urban centers. They usually have been somewhat embittered by their experiences with Christianity, as Giago argues:
The original missionary approach was that we are heathens, and our souls must be saved. This was the priority; education was secondary or incidental .... But the single most dreadful change that tore at the very core of all Indian children was the separation and isolation from our parents, grandparents, and family . . . . The system was wrong, and the system has changed, but too late for too many . . . . That so many of us have survived is a tribute to the enduring nature of our people, and this has sustained us mightily. (vii-viii)
These words are from the recollection of Tim Giago about his parochial boarding school experience. In a section titled "The Mission," Giago reflects on the result of his exposure to a church education and on the missionaries who brought it:
Perhaps they didn't save our souls, But did our souls need saving . . . Flickering names, forgotten memories Of a time not so long ago.
When I pass a Catholic church Sometimes I remember them, Not always with fondness, I fear. But I never enter the church. (6)
A clear expression of the Traditional?only type of response is published in a statement of general purpose of the Oyate Wanji Program (One People). The program organizers at the South Dakota State Penitentiary state their understanding of religion and culture:
Spiritual disturbance occurs from an absence of spirituality. This is the reason why American Indians are suffering today. Our beliefs in our sacred ceremonies are looked upon by the ignorant white peoples as pagan and improper worship of the Creator. The American Indians were introduced and sometimes imposed upon to convert into the Judaeo Christian ethics and the Gospel. We the American Indians understand that the problem is not the Gospel, but the way it is presented to the American Indians. It seems to us that the white people can take a beautiful book of Life and change all the meanings to fit their own culture and values to make a beautiful wanekia (savior) into a blue?eyed, blond Jesus with a white man's name and culture, trying to save the whole world into a white culture . . . . We . . . believe that our sacred ceremonies like vision quest are very important in our eyes . . . with the help of Tunkasila (grandfather) and our spiritual way of Life we can better ourselves and make a better tomorrow. To those who are wandering in confusion between two cultures and values, selfdiscovery is very important to overcome identity?crises, eultural shock, alienation, absence of spirituality, and spiritual disturbance, to lead positive and constructive lives . . . . We the Oyate Wanji Program with hopes and dreams mingled with sincerity and honesty are making a sacred journey to restore the broken hoop in our lives. (Brings Plenty 1-3)
One has to appreciate this group's hope and vision for a future cohesive life. They maintain that this whole life will occur with the observance of a religiously traditional life.
A second group of Lakota believe that the best relijious option is found in adherence to Christian life. Speaking in broad terms, this group tends to be middle-aged and is more likely to be Protestant. Among the Lakota this would imply that most Lakota in this category would be Episcopalian, Presbyterian, or Congregationalist. When missionaries first arrived, there was only a slow growth of membership in Christian churches. With time, growth in church membership increased geometrically. "A whole new generation has grown up, educated in mission and government schools and living according to the bureaucrats' dictates; these young Indians rigorously rejected old religious activities as a continuation of paganism" (Deloria, God Is Red 252). Vine Deloria, Jr., contends that it was this generation of mission-school-educated Lakota who not only held that the old religion was pagan but that there were Indian values and practices which had to be given up to be civilized (Deloria, Speaking of Indians). Vine Deloria's aunt, writing forty years earlier, says about the Christian lifestyle of Lakotas during World War II:
Through trouble and tears, pleasure and laughter, the church has stood by the people and it must be said that in their devotion they have stood by it too. It has meaning for them; it functions even in their social life. Never is there a feast or an hour of games or even a political meeting but a church service precedes it. That is habit?, it has been from the beginning. Only the other day (this is 1944), 1 heard of a woman who came late to work at a mission in western South Dakota and explained the reason. "I was so sleepy. Lawrence was going off to war on the early train. So we got up at three in the morning and ate breakfast. Then his father had prayers, and then we started for town." I know that father. He is an ordinary layman, and he never made any pretensions as a religious leader among his people. Yet, as a matter of course, he reads prayers before he sends his boy off to war. (Ella Deloria 68)
Christianity came to be woven into the lives of most Lakotas. Christian life is colored by the Lakota tendency to practice religious ceremonies at all occasions, and it reflects the character of the Christian denomination of the practitioner.
The Christian Lakota understands the world through Christian theology and may see traditional Lakota life through Christian theology. Gene Rolland is a member of the Body of Christ Church at Pine Ridge and spoke about Traditionalists today and past Lakota practices in this way:
As Moses was up there talking to God, the people were playing around. They were making gods of gold. The great wrath of God came upon them. When the flood came, God's wrath came upon the people of this world. He will destroy the world by fire since they were worship ping idols. The idols today that people are worshipping, the Sun Dancers are worshipping the sun. People are idolatrous, the witchcraft . . . . There is a spiritual adulterer, serving other Gods, serving the Peace Pipe, just like they did when Moses was up on Mount Sinai, they are worshipping that. And it is an Abomination unto God, that we are serving other gods. There is only one God who created heaven and earth, which is the one God Almighty. He is the only One. (Steinmetz, "Pipe, Bible" 138-39)
The Christian Lakota is dedicated to a life as a Christian but may or may not see the value of practicing Traditional Lakota social customs. In general, the Lakota Christian outlook toward non?Indian life and people is one of openness. The Christianonly Lakota wishes to participate in Christianity but not in Traditional Lakota religion.
The remaining two categories are ways in which Lakotas and others combine practices from Traditional Lakota religion and from Christianity. The first of these combinations I term the Culturalists. By this term I mean that they see that there is only one God, one Creator. This one God is worshipped in different ways because of cultural differences. Advocates of this position hold that there are several ways or paths to one God. The Lakota and Christian paths are separate only because they originated among different peoples. Culturalists would not actually speak the words attributed to them, but by their actions and assumptions the conclusion is clear.
The Culturalist position is similar to the current ecumenical position of many Christian churches. My experience has been that most of the Culturalists are, or have been, influenced by the Catholic Church. Indeed the practices of many Catholic clergy and laity seem to be modeled on the Catholic philosophy of ecumenism. Ecumenism uses the approach to variant practices as a difference in rites. That is, the distinctive traditions are only ceremonial and not essential. In church settings, Rome speaks of western rite and eastern rite and so on. The differences which exist are due to history and culture. The Culturalist, too, maintains that the Cross and Pipe differences are due to culture and history.
Father Steinmetz ("Pipe, Bible") would perhaps liken the Culturalist category to his Ecumenist One distinction among the Oglala. He understands that the Ecumenist One sees Christianity and Lakota Traditional religion as alternatives for particular set tings. I mean the Culturalist position to include blends of Traditional religion and Christianity but to differ from Steinmetz. The Culturalist can combine Cross and Pipe at one and the same time. History and culture are the only differences between them since there is only one God worshipped. Father Steinmetz also defines an Ecumenist Two position as an Oglala who sees the Pipe as a Christian object and the Bible as becoming Lakota. My category of Culturalist allows for either the position one or two of Steinmetz to be included in either the Culturalist heading or the next category we will consider. An example of a Culturalist is found in the conversation of Ben Black Elk with Father Steinmetz:
During most of my life I was in doubt about the relation between the Pipe and Christ. When I believed in the Pipe, was I betraying myself as a Christian? What was the meaning in my life of interpreting my father's life to John Neihardt and Joseph Brown? But now I see that the Pipe and Christ are really one, the doubts of conscience of many years are ended and I have a deep spiritual peace. (Steinmetz, Meditations 142)
Ben Black Elk, the "fifth face" of Mount Rushmore, speaks of his fundamental conviction that the Pipe and the Cross are really the same, that there is ultimate unity beyond the differences which are perceived. Another example of a Culturalist is the Reverend Mitchell Whiterabbit, who says, "I like to think of Indian tribal religions as other roads leading us to God the Ultimate Being, the Creator of all good things, the Sustainer of us all" (Coffman 21).
The fourth Lakota response to religious differences is also a response which permits the adherent to combine the way of the Pipe and the way of the Cross. The response of the Diplomat is a more traditionally Lakota response. It ignores any real discus sion of what it is that separates the two religious practices. The Diplomat may believe that there is some ultimate unity but is more likely to simply begin from the difference between Pipe and Cross. The conclusion which is stressed is that there must be a unity for the sake of peace. Steinmetz, while seeming to be a Culturalist, speaks of results of combining Pipe and Cross. Mutual respect and deep involvement are the benefits for the participants from both religions:
John Iron Rope, a Catholic medicine man, gave his ap?proval when I prayed with the Sacred Pipe at the funeral of Rex Long Visitor. This was the beginning of many ftiendships. Frank Fools Crow, the leader of the tribal Sun Dance for many years, was delighted that a Catholic priest prayed with the Sacred Pipe . . . . Pete Catches, Sr., formally a Catholic catechist, was my spiritual director of my Vision Quest. (Meditations 7)
Mass was celebrated in 1969 on the Sun Dance grounds following the piercing ceremony after the flags in the four directions had been removed. Edgar Red Cloud, the leader of the Sun Dance singers sang a Sun Dance song, holding the Sacred Pipe during the distributidn of Holy Communion. Frank Fools Crow who performed the piercing a short time before received Holy Communion with Edgar Red Cloud and George Plenty Wolf. (Meditations 138)
Clearly one of the major consequences of working together in spite of fundamental differences is the unity and goodwill which the Diplomats seek. One does not need to seek for differences since they are just beneath the surface. It is difficult for Native Americans to keep alternate value systems in balance:
A great many Indians reflect the same religious problem as do the young whites who struggled through the last decade of social disorder. They are somehow forced to hold in tension beliefs that are not easily reconciled. They have learned that some things are true because they have experienced them, that others are true because everyone seems to agree that they are true, and some things they feel are insoluble and cannot be solved by any stretch of the imagination. (Deloria, God Is Red 259)
The goal of seeking peace and goodwill is the overriding concern of those who wish to combine Pipe and Cross. A medicine man, Richard Moves Camp, speaks of the interaction and mutuality of the Cross and Pipe having divine origin:
After the Buffalo Calf Woman brought the Pipe, a white man came dressed in a buffalo robe speaking Lakota and blessed the Pipe. This was Christ who came in the spirit before the white men brought Him. I believe that this was Christ coming in the Spirit to the Indian people at the same time He was born among the white man. This vision is the reason why I respect all the Christian Churches. (Steinmetz, Meditations 143)
These four responses to the religious and cultural questions raised by the Pipe aud Cross display the remarkable diversity of religious expression among the Lakota. The four positions are not combined and should not be. The Christian-only and the Traditional-only groups defy combining, and the motivation for the Culturalists and Diplomats who combine is varied. The diversity of religious expression influences other aspects of life: values, social relationships, and political preferences. The religious practices of the Lakota are clearly examples of ethnic diversity, diversity in culture and pattern of life.
One of the mottos of the United States is e pluribus unum: out of many, one. The choice of this motto is apt since the emphasis in our country has been to unify the diverse people who make up the American citizenry. It has many benefitschiefly, a reduction in conflict among diverse ways of life. This is only one kind of social experiment, however.
Canada, with its new constitution, has announced a different direction with its policy of support for cultural diversity on all levels. The great risk in advancing the uniqueness of the many that make up Canada is that the differences will become conflicts, and that the conflicts will become unmanageable. Canada has already experienced conflict over language and subsequent political division. The contemporary Lakota response to religious difference is the decision to permit diversity. The Lakota are familiar with the similarities between the Pipe and Cross, but also with the contrasts between them. The Lakota historical experience has shown the influence which religion has on other aspects of culture. The Lakota experience may be only a forecast of conditions which citizens of this country and continent will face in times to come. It is already the case that most of us have encountered people different from ourselves more often than was common in 'times past. It seems clear that the future of religious life will occur within the global community (Smart).
The question the Lakota have faced is the choice of requiring a uniformity for the sake of peace, or permitting diversity at the risk of conflict. In relating to Western culture in America, native people have clearly been directed by its governmental, educational, and religious institutions to conform. Now the entire country, and even the globe, faces the same question of uniformity for the sake of peace, or diversity at the risk of conflict. This question has been answered among the Lakota with diversity at the risk of conflict. It is not yet clear how the United States will respond to the Lakota in the future.
While I have understood the philosophical question raised by the Lakota experience with religious diversity, I have not communicated the ways this question appears in daily life for Lakotas. A Lakota faces the question of uniformity or diversity with everyone he meets. Every personal interaction with family, friends, and strangers occurs with this issue near the surface. Whether the exchange is with non-Indians or other Lakotas, Pipe and Cross and their cultural implications are near. The Lakota response may forecast the religious and ethnic future we face. Ninian Smart, author of Worldviews. Cross Cultural Exploration of Human Beliefs, makes this prediction:
. . . the great religious traditions will more and more ask themselves what the meaning of their past is in view of the present unification of the globe. There may still be dreams in some religions of becoming, so to say, the church of the whole globe .... But it seems more plausi ble that religions will function more as denominations and sometimes as sects. They will be denominations in the sense that they will live together with a certain mutual recognition, but perhaps feeling that it has the right slant on life, but not altogether excluding the visions and values of the other traditions. Each will strive to bear witness to its own true self, and to spread such light as it possesses, but without the real hope of becoming the exclusive faith of all the world. Because such a tolerant attitude is in some degree threatening to the authority and certainty of the past, the backlashes in each faith will take the form of global sectarianism. The conservative and traditionalist response to pluralism is to reaffirm the exclusive rightness of one's tradition and one's revelation. (167?68)