Why do people say this is a christian nation when the Native American (Indians) were Pagan?

Question

I hate to burst your white supremacist world but the native american tribes were here first and they were not christian to begin with. I am mostly native american blood and i sure as hell am not christian.

Answer 1

When the Europeans came to America it was not a nation. Yes, Indians were living here but it was not a nation.

By the time Christopher Columbus arrived he did not find blissful natives living in perfect harmony with one another and communing with nature.
What he found was a land sparsely inhabited by nomadic hunting tribes. Many were constantly on the verge of starvation. They had not yet invented the wheel and had no written language. It was tribe against tribe. The Indians lived a violent and brutal life. The Arawak Indians attacked and enslaved the Siboney. The Caribs feasted (literally) on people of both tribes. The Caribs castrated the Arawak boys they captured. They found the boys to taste better if they were castrated. Girl captives were mainly used to produce babies. The Caribs regarded babies as a delicious meal. Imagine that! The Indians were doing all these things to each other BEFORE the Europeans arrived.
Yes, the Europeans did some nasty things to the Indians. But, the Indians were not strangers to violence. The Indians didn't learn about violence from the Europeans. Indians were being nasty to other Indians. The Indians also did nasty things to the Europeans. And Europeans did nasty things to other Europeans. Do you see the pattern here? Our world history is full of similar stories. The nation with the most advanced weapons always win. The American Indians were far behind civilization. It was only a matter of time before some civilized nation with an organized system of government was going to overtake the American Indians.

You need to read up on world history to learn that the American Indians were not the only people ever overtaken.

The colonists that settled here were mostly religious people. The founding fathers of this nation were religious men. www.moralconcerns.org/past/America.htm
Currently the majority of the population of The United States claim a religion.
From the CIA World Fact Book; Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Mormon 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 1%, other 10%, none 10% (2002 est.)
A Christian Nation may refer to the people who formed this nation. Or it may also refer to the fact that the majority of Americans are Christian. The American Indians did not form The United States into a nation. Nun of the Founding Fathers were American Indians.

KEVIN_K
Why should the government give money to current living American Indians? Because their ancestors were overtaken by someone else's ancestors?
You better get out your wallet then and dive into your family history. I hope you are not English because they have a bad history of going around conquering other countries. And I can bet you they were not polite about it. Maybe you better get a part time job. 'Cause you most likely got a whole lot a money to be passing out to people, who your ancestors hundreds of years ago, conquered in a not so polite fashion. The government does not have any money of its own. It gets money from the taxpayers. Stop offering up my money to pay someone who may have had an ancestor that got conquered. WE ALL HAVE ANCESTORS WHO GOT CONQUERED AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER. Brianna isn't even 100% American Indian. So, one of her other ancestors may have conquered one of her Indian ancestors. Now what?
Also you seem to forget one fact. The colonies were British. They were British Colonies for 300 years before they declared their independence from Britton.
There were French Colonists in the area that is now Quebec Canada. They were not always nice to the Indians. There were Spanish colonists in what is now Florida. They were not always so nice to the Indians.
Explain to me why United States Citizens should pay someone now because they may have had an ancestor that was treated badly by maybe the British or the French or even the Spanish hundreds of years ago!?
Will giving Brianna money now make her dead ancestors feel better?

Answer 2

Not just the native americans, but the whole calling this country a christian country sends out a bad message to the rest of the world. Yes I do think many of these white supremacists are going too far, which is why that is still so much prejudice in this country. People of other cultures and religions are having a hard time because they are told that they dont belong here.
It is truly a sad thing for this country.

I actually dont mind the Pagan religions, I mean the native americans were quite peaceful back then, and respected the newcomers.

By the way if u are a native american, have you gotten any reparations from the govt yet? I think u should try at least because that is actually money u deserve to have. The govt wont volunteer to give u free money, but they will withhold it from you if u dont ask for it.

Just a suggestion.

Answer 3

Firstly today's Americans DID not butcher any native Americans - there forefathers may well have NOT done so either. America has a habit of changing its history based on the ideas of the religious idiots. America had BLACK COWBOYS. TRUE Americans butchered Indians - FALSE. At the time the pioneers were crossing the country was the BRITISH & DUTCH who were butchering American natives. And the spanish were busy in the south killing south Americans. And one of the first things done after they kicked the British out was free the slaves. Then give you the constitution. 1539 Napituca Massacre After defeating resisting Timucuan warriors, Hernando de Soto had 200 executed, in the first large-scale massacre by Europeans on what became American soil. Powhatan (Pamunkey) killed 347 English men, women and children throughout the Virginia colony, almost one-third of the English population of the Jamestown colony, in an effort to push the English out of Virginia. Then lots of things happen the british keep killing and what then transpires is all out war with the Indians. Known as the Indian wars. So stop saying the Americans butchered Indians they DID NOT the british did, and the first real Americans were left to fight a WAR they NEVER started - which is completely different to being butchers!

Answer 4

This is not a Christian nation. This nation was founded on FREEDOM of religion Big difference. You just can't convince the Christian Right of this fact. They want to take over the world, And yes the Indians were here and what a wonderful relationship they had with Mother Earth. You must be proud of your Indian Heritage. I apologize to you and your ancestors for the tragedy that the early Americans perpetrated upon your ancestors.

Indianadude Where do you get your facts 93% my foot. It's more in the vicinity of 50-55% and I.m being generous

Answer 5

A majority of people in this country are Christian whether you like it or not. People realize that Native Americans weren't Christian. Thats why Puritans and other holy rolling groups originally thought you guys were agents of the antichrist. But majority rules. And if you had to classify this country by religion, it would be Christian hands down. Not a whole lot of pagans these days, are there?

Answer 6

Your definition of "nation" is incorrect. It is not the physical land that is being referenced here, but the society that predominantly inhabits the land that forms a nation. The foundation of the society of the people currently living in this land (the current American nation) came from Christian roots. Whether it's a strength or a weakness, it's just a fact of history. A very small point in the history of a land that has seen the rise and fall of many proud nations, from peoples of many origins, including yours.

Though correct historically, I cringe at the reference "Christian Nation". I think it limits our thinking as a nation, and hampers our ability to accept alternate sources of morals and ethics, including native american. Way too many nations (including the US) get pre-dispositioned by their own histories to be open to an enlightened future.

Answer 7

Maybe you should stop calling it our white supremicist bubble. Being 90% white, I take offense at that. I'm sure a lot of other otherwise sympathetic people do, too. Not all whites are white supremicists.
It's called a Christian nation because Christians came over, took control, and started running the show. It has since become the most widespread religion in the country. Even if a lot of us don't believe we should be subjected to Christian domination in how we live. (Blue laws, everything closed with nothing to do but twiddle our thumbs on Sundays, etc.).
Did I mention being preached to and hounded by Jehova's Witnesses?

Answer 8

Eh, I really wouldn't label Native Americans as "Pagan". I think they were more spiritual than dogmatic, I'm not positive though. You might want to talk to an Elder about that.

Though, I'll share with you something: The colonists who came over here, most of them were Freemasons thats wanted out from under the Catholic rule. Freemasons have very, very strong Pagan ideas. So essentially, this country was founded under Paganism.

Answer 9

Stop beating the war drums. You are not the only Native American out there. My great-grandmother was born on the rez. She was a staunch Christian. So are most of the members of my family. I am a Christion because I can recognize the Truth whan I read it or hear it spoken.Grow up.

Answer 10

It is referred to as a Christian nation because the colonists who came here were Christian and they massacred most of the Native Americans and became the dominant race. Therefore America is percieved as Christian.