On Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha

I recall being about seven or eight years old and asking my parish priest, "If God only created two people, Adam and Eve, and then stopped, where did all the rest of the people come from?" The great questions of God and faith often come from the simplest minds, those less complicated by passion, dogma, or exposure. This is what I was reminded of while reading this selection.

The speaker brilliantly summarizes the invasion by the Europeans, focusing equally on the native kindess of the numerous tribes and the burgeoning foreign imposition of settlers in need of land and resources. The real brilliance of the presentaion arises in the childlike inquisition of Christianity. Questions and statements which cannot be answered make for tantalizing response, and I can only imagine the bitterness that must have brewed in the minds of the missionaries while listening to the Chief speak. I know that Father Balker (appropriate name for a man who couldn't answer my queries either!) must have been just as frustrated by my own observations, some of which run parallel with Sagoyewatha's:

"...your religion is written in a book. If it was meant for us as well as for you, why hasn't the Great Spirit given it to us?"

"If there is only one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why don't you all agree, since you can all read the book?"

"How can we know what to believe, when we have been lied to so often by the white people?"

I especially appreciate the inclusion of the greatest philosophical question ever posed, "You say that you are right and that we are lost. How do you know this is true?"

The poison that teems from organized religion is easily recognizable to children and the uninitiated (though being confounded by adults), maybe because it's members often behave like spoiled toddlers themselves. From Mitchell's introduction, the details of the events surrounding this rebuttal speech and the response of the missionaries it was intended for, were deplorable. Not liking what was heard, the Christian emmisary refused to shake hands and share a not-so-uncommon faith with Chief Sagoyewatha, thus condeming the indiginous tribesman and his clan to eternal damnation.

In effect: I'm taking my toys and going home.