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Similarities Between African And Native American God

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Belief in a Supreme High God, who created the world and then withdrew from active participation in it, is common in polytheistic religions around the world. Beyond all minor gods, goddesses, spirits and ancestors, there exists one High God, who created and in some sense still governs the universe. Most believe that this God is too distant and has limited contact with daily operation of human life. Native Americans and Africans have similar concepts of the high god. African and Native American religions recognize the presence of one supreme deity as well as the existence of God in multiple aspects.
Both Africans and Native Americans believe that the high god is responsible for bringing the universe or the world into existence and after creating …show more content…

For example, the Yoruba tribe of West Africa is that Olorun (High God) assigned creation to his eldest son, Obatala, who failed to complete the task so he passed it on to his younger son, Odudua, but he failed too. Olorun oversaw creation himself by assigning smaller tasks to various orisha, lesser deities. Olorun then retired to the heavens and has little contact with people, though he may be appealed to at time of great crisis.
Some Native American’s have a different view of the Great Spirit. For example, the Dakota tribes consider the high god Wakan Tanka, a Sioux name. They offer reverence to this spirit, which is displayed when the people honor the four directions, the Sun, Mother Earth, and their fellow man because these are Wakan Tanka's creation (Wakan, n.d.). They also do not attempt to describe this Great Power that created all because they say that no one can describe such a vast mystery (Wakan, n.d.). According to Dakota tribe, Wakan Tanka felt lonely so he created this world.
Thus, it can be concluded that the African and Native American idea of the high god is quite similar with few differences in different tribes. But the main concept of both is similar because both were immensely influenced by Christianity. Christianity, being a monotheist religion, when influenced both these religions it brought in the concept of the high

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Polytheism is when people religiously believe in more than one god. The two civilizations believed that they had gods for everything, such as gods of sunlight, gods of food, and gods of rain. China believed that their gods were their ancestors, and Mesopotamia believed that their gods were central forces. Adding to their religious beliefs, the two civilizations also believed in an afterlife. China and Mesopotamia both believed that how they lived their current life would affect their future afterlife.

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The Europeans also looked down on the Africans and Native Americans religious beliefs. The Africans and Native Americans both believed that objects and nature held sacred

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Being able to create the world means God has a lot of power. God also just said what he wanted to happened and it happened. “And God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light ” ( Genesis, pg. 65 ) In Popol Vuh they also had an all powerful gods archetype.

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Each culture establishes their own story of creation, as well as their own portrayal of who is “the supreme creator”.

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Citizens of both cultures could personally depict that these were almighty gods solely on their use of

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This allows for diverse religious practices and beliefs that are specifically catered to individual followers’ spiritual needs. It is up to an individual to choose the deities to worship, having specific devotional practices, rituals, and ceremonies dedicated to them. The polytheistic nature of this religion promotes a multifaceted nature of the divine; believing that different deities can promote guidance, protection, and blessing in a follower’s life. The belief in multiple gods and goddesses shows a principal concept of Hinduism, interconnectedness. This is acknowledging that all beings, and elements are interconnected and work with a greater cosmic order.

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Thousands of years ago, our ancestors would look up at the stars glowing in the night sky wondering what lies beyond our small, self-contained little world and to this day “Few people realise the immensity of vacancy in which the dust of the material universe swims” (Wells n.p.). Many people did not understand the world during that time period so they tried to make an understanding of the world through religion. During this time period, religion shows resemblance to early cosmology as “Both dialectical dualism and eschatological dualism have a basically cosmological function - explanation of the structure of the universe” (Dualism n.p.). Many civilizations all across the world worshiped gods that came from the sky or stars. What if these gods were actually

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