Religious Diversity.

There were more than three hundred Native American tribes in the United States in the nineteenth century, and each had a distinct culture with its own religious beliefs and practices. Because of this diversity it is difficult to provide a single accurate description of Native American religion. Such an effort is further complicated by the fact that spiritual beliefs permeated the social and cultural life of most Indian tribes so deeply that they were often inseparable from community life as a whole. Ceremonies that might have seemed specifically religious to whites were often for Indians simply an extension of daily life. But one thing all tribes shared in common was that at some point they faced an encounter with white Christians.

White Attitudes.

Among whites there were two common religiously based attitudes toward Native Americans. One was expressed in the notion of Manifest...