jrossi@jato.jpl.nasa.gov (Joe Rossi) (02/05/90)
>"...As peyotism became intertwined with Christianity the religious beliefs >among the Indians were modified to allow that God has put some of his powers >into the peyote plant and that Jesus Christ had given the plant to the >Indians in a time of need. Members of the Native American Church, which >was formed in 1918 to fight anti-peyote legislation, ususally eat twelve >to fifteen dried mescal buttons in a communal circle formed in a traditional >tepee early on a Saturday night. The rest of the night and into Sunday >morning is spent in prayer, ritual singing, and introspective contemplation. >The church preaches brotherly love, care for the family, self-reliance, and >abstinence from alcohol. Since it holds the belief that the peyote is the >mediator between church members and God, the church has no use for ministers >or priests." The moderator wrote: >[I'm not sure quite what sort of comment you are interested in. As >far as I can tell, the Native American Church doesn't claim to be a >Christian church in the usual sense, whatever Christian influences >there may be in it. Thus it's not clear to me that it's really within >the scope of this group to discuss. --clh] While this book at this time is my only source ( when I get a chance I'll perhaps do a little research ) it did give me the impression that this church considered itself "Christian." Also, a statement such as "Christian church in the usual sense" is a tricky one. Are Kingdom Halls and Mormon churches not churchs in the usual sense? Anyway here's a quote from the preceding paragraph which I neglected to include in my first posting: "Today the 250,000-member Native American Church, which is predominantly an Indian church, still uses peyote as an important part of its rites, even though the church is definitely Christian." As for comments, two areas that I thought could be addressed are the similarties between this and the Eucharist, and also the lack of ministers and priests. Below is a comment I made to someone who emailed me: You know what they say: the Lord works in mysterious ways. Many medicinal plants and herbs have healing qualities. Whose to say the Lord didn't create some substances to be used for spiritual healing? I agree the idea of a plant acting as mediator may sound strange, but I found the idea of a clergyless church very interesting since I believe that often times the role of a minister or priest is seductive in itself, and as such, priests may be more interested in the ego rush of "being teacher" than in serving God in the fullest. A plant, however, cannot be interested in any ego rushes. -- -jrossi@jato.jpl.nasa.gov -ames!elroy!jato!jrossi R * U * 1 * 2 * ? U * 2 * R * 1 ! **********************STANDARD DISCLAIMER******************************