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Tuesday 8 May 2007

Contradictions.

Don't you just love the way people, everyone, is part of a contradiction?

Whether you admit it or not, it's true. We're all part of the great big contradiction called 'life'. See, this is how I came to this idea, researching some Catholic dogma. Actually, I was researching Aboriginal belief systems, native Australians, not aboriginals that means indigenous.

Sidetracked....

Anyways, I came to this site, ad2000, a catholic site, as I found out after reading a couple of paragraphs. Take this one for a spin;

Indeed, 74% of Aborigines (who make up about 1.5% at most of Australia's population) now list Christianity as their religion. They recognise that their ancestral religion is incapable of reshaping Australian civilisation, and any appeal to its apparently simple virtues and beliefs, against Christianity, can only result in the falsification of its strengths and the continuing denigration of Christianity.

Um, what the hell happend to equality and tolerance hmm? 'falsification of its strengths', 'denigration of Christianity'? Yeah...that's -real- tolerant. Or this one;

Aboriginal religion and Christianity are fundamentally incompatible. The former is essentially tribal and animistic. It shares with other primal religions a belief in ever-present spirits which use natural objects as instruments to bring about good or evil. The spirit world is at work in human beings and nature alike. Particular geographical features, plants and animals are thought to have special powers to help or harm the tribe. Rituals are designed to express adoration or achieve propitiation of such mysterious and dangerous entities.

Right, tell me, anyone, how is that NOT degrading to the Aboriginal culture? But wait, it gets better!

The Christian doctrine of creation also clashes with the myths of the Dreaming in the archetypal figure "Adam", who, because he represents humanity as a whole, relativises the importance of the tribal ancestors, and every form of social exclusivism, in two ways. First, members of a particular tribe also belong to a universal clan which transcends their localised traditions. Second, the "sins" which disrupt tribal harmony are also acts in which they participate with all people in the brokenness of humanity and the universal refusal to obey the Creator.

The Christian doctrine of creation thus undermines the 'beginnings' myths of primal religion: it insists that God transcends the gods and ancestral spirits, both by a miraculous act of creative love and by the universal scope of His power; it places members of tribal groups in the company of all other people in the matter of sharing responsibility before God for the brokenness of humanity.


I think I'll just leave it there shall I? Does any more need to be said about why, and how, I dislike the whole idea of a religion? The Catholic one especially. No offence if any of you out there are good 'Godfearing' bible-bashers, but quite frankly, after reading that load of tripe, I don't have a whole lot of tolerance.

Here's the site, if you want to read it for yourselves.

http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/1995/mar1995p10_848.html

1 comment:

Sarah said...

These things anger and hurt me. I can't turn my back on God, but I'd certainly like to turn my back on religion.