Johnny Moses, a Nootka Indian from the remote Pacific shores of British Columbia tells a story about an English missionary priest who came to his tribe in the 1800s. It took the priest years to learn the language, Moses said. "And when he did, he began to preach. The people were sorry," said Johnny Moses, "they taught him our language.

"He spoke in an English dialect. He told our people about hell. No one knew what hell was.

"They asked the priest where hell was, and he told them it was the place where bad people went.

"Well, our elders told the priest that our ancestors had never given us directions to hell, so none of us had ever been there.

"Then the priest told us that he would baptize us and that we would have to go to confession once a week and eat fish on Friday.

"There was a v…