Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T00:41:36.657Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
This chapter is part of a book that is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core

5 - Spirituality

from Part III - Australia

Anne Pattel-Gray
Affiliation:
Aboriginal and Islander Commission of the National Council of Churches
Dwight N. Hopkins
Affiliation:
University of Chicago Divinity School
Get access

Summary

In the beginning, God created the world. In the center was a small island rich in food, vegetation, minerals and life. To the rest of the world, the creatures there seemed very unusual, because the humans who inhabited this world were black. They were a very spiritual people. They had Dreaming stories, telling of their deep spirituality, and one of their stories speaks of a great white spirit that came and walked this land at the beginning of time. (In this case, white does not refer to the color of the skin, but to the spirit world because in our culture white signifies death.) This great white spirit then handed down to our ancestors the laws which we were to follow. This spirit is believed to be God, and our laws are similar to the biblical ones. We were to share everything equally; we were to love our sisters and brothers; we were not to steal; we were to care for the land, and to respect every living thing. So, in general, these people were a very loving, caring and sharing people.

For over 60,000 years, these people lived in peace and harmony with the land, maintaining the God-given integrity of the land. Unlike Europeans who migrated from one continent to another, the Aboriginal people never moved from the land that they were born to. The Aboriginals never believed that they owned the land, but rather that the land owned them.

Then one day, in 1788, came the invasion of white people. At first Aboriginals were welcoming.

Type
Chapter
Information
Another World is Possible
Spiritualities and Religions of Global Darker Peoples
, pp. 64 - 74
Publisher: Acumen Publishing
Print publication year: 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×