Guyana already has an officially recognised Amerindian church - the 'Alleluia' - which was founded in the late 1800's by a Makushi prophet called Pishiwon (who incidentally received his vision while visiting the Eagle Clan Arawaks and Akawaios on the upper Demerara River); but 28 year-old Corrie believes that an accurate understanding of his ancestors ancient worship is not well reflected in the Alleluia religion.

In Corrie's own words:
"Basically, we never held an evangelising mentality, anyone joining our tribe would learn our way to worship the Great Holy Spirit (God) - but it was less ritualistic and more individual in nature generally. The acceptance of Jesus Christ as the only perfect human being and the adherence of his teachings does not diminish our traditional religious practices, no-one else in the Bible is of any consequence to us as Animist Christians so we concentrate on the master alone.
 
I see far too many evangelists from foreign countries using fear and the opinions of peripheral biblical figures to lure our people into what are essentially European based religious systems of worship, systems that preach a divisive 'we who are saved versus those who are sinners' attitude that is completely alien to our united communal mentalities.
 
For us 'being' is a spiritual proposition, 'gaining' is a material act. Traditionally we Amerindians have always endeavoured to be the best people we could be, part of that spiritual process was and is to share wealth; to discard material possessions in order not to gain more than you need. Material gain is an indicator to us of false status - while it is 'proof that the system works' to Europeans; clearly there are two completely oppossing views at issue here.
 
When I use the term European I am referring to a mindset, a worldview that is a product of the industrial development of European culture. People are not genetically encoded to hold this outlook; they are acculturated to hold it."

Some of the beliefs of the Animist Christians are:

All living things have both spiritual and physical properties - but only Human beings have a soul which was created by the Great Holy Spirit (God) and which returns to him once the physical body has expired, physical existence is a 'school for the soul', tobacco is a holy plant and abusing it (i.e recreational smoking or combining it with any other substance) will bring ill-health to the transgressor, the full moon is a signal for ritualistic communal prayer, 4 and 9 are holy numbers, circles and triangles are holy shapes, women are physically inferior, mentally equal & spiritually superior to men, man-made foods are destructive to the human body, animals can become messengers from the Great Holy Spirit to mankind, dreams are what the soul experiences while the physical body is at rest, selective re-incarnation is possible for great human beings, generosity, bravery, loyalty and compassion are the four cardinal vitues.

There is no earthly head of the Animist Christian faith, all members are equal in the sight of the Great Holy Spirit, no-one is excluded - but the cardinal virtues must be adhered to by all members.

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