ABSTRACT
The numerous stories and ceremonies centered on spirits, or 'manitous', that the French observed among Natives strongly resembled the kind of religiosity that other Europeans had reported in the New Word, namely idolatry. Insisting that the French mistook the absence of visual forms of worship for the absence of religion sets the stage for some historians to assert that the French 'later' came to realize their mistake and increasingly came to appreciate the unwritten codes of a complex religious system. Recognizing religion among the so-called idolaters enabled Christian observers to interpret a kernel of their 'truth' in others, which verified the universality of but instead by systems of belief and practice that were integrated into their everyday lives as the one true religion. Thus, the early Christian observers were insensitive to Native America religions, which entailed beliefs and practices that were not dictated by discrete, authoritative bodies of polity or scripture but instead by systems of belief and practice that were integrated into their everyday lives.
