Aboriginal Religion
One of my kids is writing a research essay on Aboriginal religion.
“When the first missionaries came to Australia, they believed that the Aborigines had no religion. This false belief took a long time to disappear and is still believed by small pockets of the population, despite the deep and rich religious tradition of our original Australians… Why did it take so long to recognise Australian religion?”
The first missionaries came in the early nineteenth century, decades after convicts and settlers arrived in Australia. They inherited an already established view that the Aborigines were sub human or mere curiosities. Why didn’t the missionaries recognise the existing religion? We’ve been talking about the nature of Aboriginal ritual, myth and sacred place. And thinking about the focus of English missionaries on systematic theology, sacred buildings, English civilisation. “Christianise and Civilise” was the catch-cry of colonialism in reference to new countries. Add to that the lack of a developed phenomenology of religion.
The essay is struggling. But it better be done soon!
2 Responses to “Aboriginal Religion”
By Stephen G on Aug 28, 2005 | Reply
Reminiscent of Christina’s posting a while back : see http://wherearewegoin.blogspot.com/2005/07/non-western-theology.html
By Matt Stone on Aug 31, 2005 | Reply
This parallels the contemporary failure amongst evangelicals to recognise interest in ghosts, yoga and reiki courses as “religion” worthy of study.
I believe it comes down to the distinction between formal religion and folk religion. As folk religion focuses on “getting the job done” issues and often lacks a sophisticated theology, creeds, etc, it is hard for people who see such things as essential to religions to recognise something so different as related.