Jonathan Smith Relating Religion Analysis

In Jonathan Smith’s Relating Religion, he talks about the Europeans coming to America and changing their way of life. The indigenous people being conquered and having to adapt the way of life of the conquerors. An example of this was shown by the annexation of the Philippines after the Philippine American War. The Philippine people had not been independent for some time and the Americans had been not let that happen either. The way Smith explains the Europeans taking over the Native Americans is similar to the Americans taking over the Philippines. Even though America was annexing the Philippines for more land and power, the American annexation drastically changed the Filipinos culture.

The Americans and Filipinos had a cultural confrontation
We had brought them our pop culture, sports, foods, and many other “American” ideas. Once these ideas established the Philippines had lost some of their roots. Losing their native dialects and such is just one of the many culture specific values that had diminished. This is why the Philippines is very similar to the United States and it had not taken long for them to change, only a few decades. The Philippines can now look at this culture change as beneficial and detrimental. Its beneficial for them as they are under a much stronger power compared to what they once were but at the loss of the own cultural background. However, the one they had always seeked was independence which they have now obtained. The United States had given the Philippine Islands full independence on July 4th, 1948. But in the nearly 50 years since the Philippine-American War there were some rebellions such as the Pulahan or Pulajanes (a small religious and strict Philippine culture group), and Moro Rebellion. In both instances, American and the majority of the Philippines forces had extinguished them in their entirety. Overall, most of the Filipinos cooperated after seeing the way the Americans were trying to help them and accept them as
America is a great security for them and have advanced them up to the standards of the rest of the world through the annexation. The Philippine islands have finally gotten what they have wanted for centuries, independence. The Filipinos have lost some roots, but now have the choice to act as they feel and to try and reconnect if they would desire. America brought to them many wonderful factors such as free public education, a sense of freedom in religion, especially for those non Roman Catholic, and a connection with a powerful country to protect them if need be. Smith’s theory applies fairly well for the situation even with such differences in the time of the events. In the end, the Philippines finally got what they wanted over the years, their full