4.2 Indigenous Religions

Version 1.2 June 2017                                   (Previous Version)

This Chapter covers what are generally characterised as indigenous religions, which are typically polytheistic or pantheistic and practiced in a restricted area, by one or more tribes (like Australian Aboriginal religions) or by one country (such as Japan’s Shinto).  Historically they are not seen as “universal� religions, open to anyone.  However, Yoruba has crossed from Africa to the Americas, Shamanism (with many variations) is widespread, and it seems many so called indigenous religions may now welcome “outsiders� if they undertake the appropriate learning and initiation. 

On the other hand, as discussed in Chapter (4.3, on east Eurasian religions), some Hindus are pantheists, and to many people Hinduism looks like polytheism.  Chapter (4.3, on west Eurasian religions) covers Judaism, which many would see as open only to Jews, and Zoroastrianism which has two dominant supernatural beings.  So here we categorise some religions as “indigenous� as a way to facilitate discussion and to allow us to make certain general points, not because they are uniquely different from the world’s major traditional religions – which all originated in Eurasia.

Note that in Part 1 (Philosophy) we rejected dualism (1.2 Metaphysics), theism (1.3 Theology) and life after death (1.4 Minds).  So when discussing particular religions in the next few Chapters it is with the understanding that there are no gods, no spirits, no ghosts or other ancestral beings, no reincarnation, no heaven and no hell.  The general debate on these issues is confined to Part 1.  We only address arguments in favour of the supernatural if the religion being discussed has a unique view on the issue.

We propose to look at indigenous religions under the following headings:

As stated in the chapter overview, this is the current summary of our conclusions in this area:

  more                                                              Statement 22