90.) "The worst thing a people can do is to fool around with their religious belief. This can make people sick, it can kill people." (5 min. read)

 This is an old saying, from around the world.

It is true.

This is what is happening now to indigenous people's "religious belief". This major push for change, is "fooling around with indigenous peoples religious belief". 

And indigenous people are now in fact getting sick and are dying from this "fooling around with their religious belief". 

And the people pushing this change don't seem to know or care how negatively it is affecting the indigenous people. Because changing the indigenous people is the only thing they care about. It's the popular thing to do. They don't care what happens to the indigenous people after they force this change. They never do.

Everyone is appalled by what the heinous and hateful Residential Schools did to the indigenous children. There are now people pushing the indigenous people to change, just as the residential schools changed the indigenous children and people. And now, these same people, feel that this next major push for change, is necessary for indigenous people. They don't care how it will harm or negatively affects the indigenous people and their children. Interesting that some people always feel they know what is best for the unassimilated indigenous people and their children. And these people always believe the best thing for indigenous people is "change".

The people who conducted the Residential School genocide, went after the indigenous children because they know once you change the children, they will likely have that change for life. They don't bother with the old people because they know it would be difficult to change them and they figure they are going to simply die off. This is an old, standard thought pattern, by groups who forcefully assimilate indigenous people.

It's been said many times- the people who do the most harm to unassimilated indigenous people, are the ones who really believe what they are doing is good for the indigenous people. No matter how egregious or hateful it is done.

If indigenous people do not change, the people trying to change the indigenous people then hate the indigenous people for not changing.

"Hate Is Hate."

Indigenous people do not try to change anyone. Yet there are always people who are trying to change the indigenous people. 

Indigenous people respect a person's life choices, such as "religious belief". The people trying to change the indigenous people now, are not respecting the indigenous peoples life choices or "religious belief". This is a double standard.

Some longhouse teachings are: 

* "no change", 

* "we are not supposed to judge one another" 

* "you the individual have choices to make"

* "the Creator gave each of us a mind, and we are expected to be very stingy of it."

This constant pressure to assimilate will never go away.

Some people always seem to believe they know what is best for indigenous people.

Since European contact, there has always been a constant, unrelenting push, to change the indigenous people. All of the major problems that indigenous people face in the Americas today, are the result of this constant unrelenting push to assimilate all indigenous people, into the current mindset of the european empires.

I have put the word "religious belief" in quotation marks, because there is no way in the english language to explain indigenous peoples "religion or beliefs". It is much broader than any english terms. The words simply do not exist in the english language to fully explain it. Some indigenous people have explained it as it not being "spirituality or religion". They explain it as "a way of life".

As it has been related in previous articles, there's probably no two languages on earth that could be more different than the english language and indigenous languages. Indigenous thought and language cannot be translated into english thought and language.

Perhaps that's why the people who want to change the indigenous people, don't understand. They can only understand themselves. And change is the only thing they know.

Will the Amish be the next one's to be forced to change?

When indigenous people change, they are no longer considered indigenous people. 

The U.S. and Canadian governments know this. And when indigenous people stop being indigenous people, they become U.S. and Canadian citizens. And in fact, these governments have stated this and have tried to change indigenous people into U.S. and Canadian citizens, by saying: when indigenous people change, they are no longer indigenous people. They say the indigenous people "have assimilated with the ruling power". And so they lose all indigenous rights, treaty land rights/land claims.