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Nick Koscinski

Mrs. Bouch

Honors English 11

10 October 2017

The Catholic Church and Other Religions

What possible relationship could the Catholic church have with Native American and

Puritan beliefs? One may think that different religionds and people like the Catholics and

Native Americans have no relationship at all. However, different religions have unique

relationships with one another because of their particular beliefs of God.

The Truth of God comes from both the Gospel and the Church (The Second Vatican

Council, Lumen Gentium). The Truth of God comes from the Gospel because it prepares the

hearts of those who hear the Good News (The Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium).

The Truth of God is like the topsoil or foundation for a strong faith and relationship with God

(The Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium). Catholics receive the fullness of the Truth

while other religions still receive the Truth, but only a ray of it (Pope Paul VI, Nostra

Aetate).

Catholics should see people of other religions as people of God just as they are.

Sometimes Catholics see themselves as better than people of other religions because they

receive the fullness of the Truth of God, while other religions do not. However, sinners in

other religions are just like Catholics. They have strayed away from God, or their ultimate

belief, and given into the temptation of sin and evil. At times, Catholics may believe that they

will go straight to Heaven because they are Catholic, while non-Catholics will not receive

Heaven automatically. However, this is wrong because not all formal members of the
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Catholic Church will receive heaven and many non-members of the Church will reach

heaven (Mirus, What Should Our Attitude toward Other Religions Be, Anyway?).

God has revealed Himself to us in many was through the origin myths. First, God was

with Moses so that he could write the origin myths as God wanted them. God directly

revealed Himself to us through the origin myths because the first words in Genesis I are, “In

the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This is God telling us directly that He

was the one who created everything. One major similarity between the Genesis origin myth

and the Native American origin myth is how God created life. In Genesis, God blew life into

Adam and Eve. In the Native American myth, the wind transformed the ears of corn into man

and woman. In both creation stories, the wind blew life into the first man and first woman.

Puritans believed that God revealed Himself to them in small ways. They believed that

God directed all things by His will (na, The Puritan Beliefs). Therefore, if God directed all

things then He was always with them in spirit. This is one of the ways that He revealed

Himself to them. The Puritans also believed in predestination, which is the belief that God

already chose who was worthy for salvation (na, The Puritan Beliefs). So, God revealed

Himself to them after death when they were standing at either gates of Heaven or of Hell. In

short, the Puritans did not believe that God showed Himself to them through godly thunder

and lightning, but small ways that you really had to look for to find Him.

Someone who is not educated on the topic may think that the Catholic Church is very

unlike older different religions. However, all different types of religions have similarities and

are connected in some way. Whether it is their beliefs about God, how the world was created,

or just on how to treat others in different religions. Every religion has some relationship that

ties people together.

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Works Cited

A description and brief history of the Native American religion. Indians.org, Indians.org, 2017,

http://indians.org/articles/native-american-religion.html.

Deblanco, Andrew. Puritanism. History.com, A&E Television Networks, LLC, 2017

Mirus, Jeffrey. “What Should Our Attitude toward Other Religions Be, Anyway?” Catholic

Culture.org. Trinity Communications.

www.catholicculture.org/commentary/articles.cfm?id=577.

Orrin. “Seeking Native American Spirituality: Read This First!” Native Languages of the

Americas Website, www.native-languages.org/religion.htm.

“The Puritan Beliefs.” The Puritan Beliefs,

www3.gettysburg.edu/~tshannon/hist106web/site15/bobs/puritanbeliefpage11.htm.

Pope Paul VI. Nostra Aetate, The Vatican, 28 Oct. 1965,

www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-

ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html.

The Second Vatican Council. Lumen Gentium, The Vatican, 21 Nov. 1964,

www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-

ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html.