Originally posted by Jennibeans
sorry if i repeat anything thats already been said im just reading off my notes
By the beginning of the 21st century there had been several generations of Christian missionary activity among Aboriginal people. Although the Christian missionaries thought they were doing the right thing and tried to convert the "heathen" Aboriginals to Christianity what happened was that they forbade practice of Aboriginal culture. Over time Aboriginal culture began to show bits of Christian culture
Examples:
* scriptures translated into Indigenous languages & used by Aboriginal clergy
* Aboriginal people had begun to study theology
* Aboriginal theologians used symbols & rituals from their own indigenous culture to express their Christian theology (they call this contexualised theology & it is seen to be 1 of the most significant Australian contributions to Christian theology)
* traditional smoking ceremonies are now often used during Christian services. Aboriginal Catholic eslie Heiss performed 1 such ceremony in front of Pope John Paul II & 220000 other people
* Aboriginal people combine belief in Christian God of Heaven with the Aboriginal concept of the earth mother.
* Many churches now accept this blending of beliefs unlike the early missionaries who discouraged it
Hope I helped
You could also throw in here egs of the olympic opening ceremony (the welcome to country thingy), anything that is "big" usually has a traditional acknowledgement of traditional owners (eg the Focus on Learning conference held by the P/matta CEO last year had one of these ceremonies to open the conference), basically any 'big' religious event (usually Catholic) will have an Aboriginal element (which you could argue is tokenistic.....)
You can also mention Rainbow Spirit Theology here as well (Aboriginal version of theology)
Could also argue any of the 'modern' missions (as oppposed to a reserve) are a blending of the two religious beliefs/spiritualities......
Also, if you want to get technical, be aware that the dot point is asking about Aboriginal people, not 'white' people (not that it really matters..
and yes, there is a big link between
the effect of missions and missionary activity on Aboriginal belief systems from the original contact period through to more recent times and this point (essentially the same point from two different perspectives if you think about it)
sorry that this is longwinded..... but I hope it helps
