Celebrating Native American Heritage and Culture.

"How many Native American professional basketball players can you name?" The question came to me from a Native American pastor friend. Not being a basketball fan, I confessed I knew of none. "That's right," my friend said. "Do you know why?"

His question was an interesting one. Some of the best high school basketball players in the state of Montana are Native Americans, which has been the case for years. Yet, none of these high school players has ever moved into professional basketball. For that matter, none has ever progressed to the starting ranks of a top college program in the NCAA. My friend explained that high-profile individualism is rare in Native American culture because of a strong emphasis on community. In tribal life, community is so highly valued that individual achievements tend to be downplayed. Outstanding Native American high school basketball players typically have chosen to return to the reservation rather than attend college and further develop their athletic abilities. Compounding the problem, few college coaches express interest in Native American athletes.

Cultural and sociological differences have long defined Native and European American relations. Early European settlers in the New World viewed "Indians" as barbaric, while Natives mistrusted the capitalistic underpinnings of Western civilization. Roger Williams, the first Baptist in colonial America and far ahead of his time in terms of human rights issues, insisted that Europeans accept the land claims of Native Americans and treat them like neighbors. He believed that forcing Native Americans to convert to Christianity was inhuman. In the antebellum era, Baptists North and South devoted much effort to persuade Native Americans to convert to Christianity and adopt Western culture. Not until the twentieth century did many European Americans express concern about the rights of Native Americans. Only gradually did some Christians come to respect Native American spirituality.

Against this historical backdrop, not surprisingly, some cultural tensions remain. While numerous Baptist congregations now exist on Native American reservations, some Anglos still fear Native American spirituality. Some Anglo Baptists, for example, question the legitimacy of the Native American "pow-wow," a community event in which singing, dancing, and socializing collectively honor Native American culture, including spirituality. Indeed, the word "pow-wow" is derived from the Narragansett word for "spiritual leader." Williams might well be saddened that some Baptists today remain fearful of traditional Native American beliefs. The Narragansetts, in fact, were the northeastern tribe whom Williams befriended nearly four centuries ago.

Finally, while Anglo Baptists even today tend to focus on "mission" work among Native American communities, the relationship between cultures should not be confined to a one-way street. If the Narragansetts had not given Williams protection, shelter, and food following his banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the winter of 1635-36, he would likely have died in the New England wilderness before having the opportunity to establish the Baptist faith in America. Today, the Native American emphasis on the primacy of community speaks to a modern Baptist faith that recognizes the limits of an individualism founded upon excessive materialism and unfettered capitalism and embraces a missional paradigm that honors religious diversity among cultures. Sharing an intertwined history, perhaps now more than ever, we can learn from one another and find common ground on matters of spirituality and faith.

Bruce T. Gourley

Interim Director

The Center for Baptist Studies

Mercer University, Macon, Georgia