God and the Great Spirit

            When Christopher Columbus sailed in 1492 he connected two worlds so vastly different that they might as well have been from far ends of the universe. Native Americans, as they came to be known, were a people very much integrated with the land they lived on and saw themselves as a part of it. The European settlers that came decades after Columbus were quite different. Though they were not conquerors, they were bred in societies that instilled the beginnings of imperialist values. In their eyes, land was to be conquered and made into an appropriate settlement that could eventually be called home. While many factors would play into the relationship between the Native Americans and the White European Settlers, their views on God would arguably be paramount to their animosity, as it is through one's relationship with a God or many gods that every other relationship on this earth is made. While the religions of both of these societies taught that almighty forces ruled the fates of their lives they did not believe these forces did so in similar ways. The Native Americans and early European settlers had different opinions on how closely related Spirit was to the earthly plane and this major difference echoes in their different rituals, beliefs, and practices. Ultimately, it was this disagreement that led to the destruction of countless Native American tribes and promoted the proliferation of European settlers in the takeover of America.
             In order to commune with the spiritual plane, both the Native Americans and the early European settlers used ritual. The difference lies in what the ritual was for. While the ships of European settlers brought many religious sects including Quakers, the majority could be classified as Christian. Christians follow certain rituals throughout the year to remind themselves of the great cosmological battle they are in-between " that of Good and Evil. They celebrate Jesus Christ and his sacrifice to absolve man of original sin with the Eucharist, and believe to further join themselves to him and therefore to the Father, God.