Native Spiritualism vs. Evangelical Christianity in Southeast Alaska

The Religious Clashes in Native American Groups

In Southeast Alaska many Native American groups have begun to face in the past thirty years the issues of contrasting culture that many Plains and Eastern Natives dealt with in the late 1800s and early 1900s. One of the central issues is the clash between traditional Native spiritualism and the influx of Evangelical and Pentecostal churches. In Kirk Dumbrowski's book Against Culture: Development, Politics, and Religion in Indian Alaska (2001) he asserts, "both church members and their critics continue to view native culture and Pentecostal religion as hopelessly at odds" (p. 6). Dumbrowski (2001) writes that there are twenty to twenty-five Evangelical and Pentecostal churches in the villages and even larger towns of this area. This large presence that has grown in the past thirty to forty years has created conflicts religiously, culturally, socially, and even politically. In Native Alaskan communities, society works as a force over political and economic problems, as well as problems with the clash between traditional views and the encroaching modern views of American society. Religion as a whole is a complex issue and sociologists have had much to say on this topic. Though varying opinions dominate the field, including directly contrasting ideas, each religious issue is so complex numerous sociologists have come to correct conclusions that can all be applied to one religious group and or ideology. In this paper I will explore the success and function of the Pentecostal churches in Southeast Alaska as reinforcing the ideas of Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Robertson Smith, and Milton Yinger.�