Most people from different cultures worldwide believe in a superior being more potent than themselves, which controls their lives. Before the onset of Christianity, most communities believed in the protection of God, spirits, and ancestors who protected them from harm and provided them with their needs. As Christianity spread, missionaries preached the notion of one God who should be worshipped by people of all nations (McDonald, 2010, p. 51). Christianity emphasized directing human spirits to heaven and condemning the spirits of the dead to hell, contrary to the indigenous communities’ practices, such as the Aborigines, who believed that spirits protected them from harm and took care of their interests.
Aborigines place their ancestral spirits in high regard. They believe these spirits are essential in monitoring human activities, looking after the country, and maintaining order and protocol (McDonald,2010, p. 52). Further, they are depicted as quite possessive and exclusive to only the community members in that they understand the labor of their villagers, and they reward them by ensuring the continued productivity of their land. Moreover, they do not auger well with lousy behavior, non-locals, or foreign presence, which provoke them to violence through storms or floods to expel the intruders and wrong-doers (McDonald, 2010, p. 52). These characteristics place them under the definition of spirit beings. Spirit beings are supernatural beings possessing different powers that they use to bring good or cause harm to the living. These Aboriginal spirits fit into this definition for the following reasons. Firstly, from them, the community members derive their well-being and power because their support is vital in guaranteeing the villagers’s success. Besides, failure to treat them respectfully provokes violence, which brings about calamities, pandemics, misfortunes, sickness, and death.
A characteristic associated with spirit beings is that they are protective of their local areas. McDonald (2010, p. 52) speaks of ancestral beings exclusive to the locals, even to the point of jealousy, whereby they react violently to strange presences and undermine people who do not belong to the community. For instance, the presence of intruders evokes volatility of dreaming sites, floods, and storms to expel them. In addition to that, McDonald (2010, p. 60) narrates how a middle-aged woman, Linda, told them that they could not wash themselves from the well as two women drowned there years ago, and they prohibited strangers from using that water. This narration exemplifies a functionalist approach because spirits are the country’s guardians by threatening travelers or strangers.
With the onset of colonization and the spread of Christianity, the generation born in this period looked for ways to connect their native spirituality to the universal Christianity concept. This process is called the indigenization of Christianity. From McDonald’s article, one could explain the indigenization of Christianity as the process of blending Christianity with local indigenous practices to make it native to a specific cultural setting. For example, Cyril Mackenzie, a healer, tries to link his native beliefs to the universal Christianity mainstream concerning the source of his healing power. He states that God gave him the healing power possessed in the blood of Jesus. He also states that he saw the aboriginal spirits in a well, and he had to go back and save them. This explanation shows Cyril’s attempts to put the Christian context of the healing power from Jesus’ blood in a native setting by bringing about the aspect of saving aboriginal spirits stuck in a well, too. He is, therefore, depicted as a healer who can access Christian as well as indigenous power to solve problems and bring about a positive impact on the world and the Aboriginal people in Australia (McDonald, 2010, p. 57).
The indigenization of Christianity took place because of the missionaries’ teachings during colonial times. Even in its attempts to re-ignite native cultures, the indigenization of Christianity still endeavors to homogenize the indigenousness concept (McDonald, 2010, p. 56). For instance, the Aborigines believed the Rainbow snake spirit was a fierce protection force. However, under the indigenization of Christianity, the Rainbow snake spirit was changed into one creator spirit, which, according to the rainbow spirit elders, was alive in Jesus Christ. As a result, the rainbow snake spirit lost its definitive and particularistic identity of fierce protectors, as earlier perceived by the indigenous Aborigine community. This assertion shows that native spirituality will always be inferior to Christianity. Further, the mere fact that indigenization of Christianity takes place, native spirituality is seen as having imperfections that Christianity comes in to cure through this process. It depicts Christianity as the supreme religion, which makes universalizing local traditions necessary without considering native practices and beliefs.
The effect of the Christian teachings by missionaries during the colonial times was to convert some of the local natives from native spirituality to Christianity. Sadie James, for example, is still hoping that her relatives will become Christians since she is not ready to consign them to hell. Despite this hope, it is clear that she is still finding ways to reconcile Christianity to indigenous traditions because she posits that in the last days, everyone will go to heaven, even the non-Christians, because Jesus loves all sinners. This assertion shows how torn she is living in 2 religious worlds, and she subsequently finds a way to reconcile them through the love of Jesus (McDonald, 2010, pp.62-64)
McDonald also speaks of universal stories and particular stories in this article. Universal stories posit that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. For instance, God is the creator of the universe. Particular stories refer to those specific to a particular culture or group. Elders often subvert universal stories to particular stories. McDonald (2010, p. 64) illustrates this subversion by a story of how a pastor told his followers that Satan was causing diseases so that he could destroy the church. The woman’s father, whose baby was sick, subverts this reasoning by telling her that her baby was sick because young eaglehawks were being taught how to fly, the pups were coming out, and the wind blew dust around. This statement shows the elder undermining the pastor’s reasoning, most likely because of the conflict between Christianity and native religion. This subversion is only practical in areas such as East Kimberly, where even the young people still treasure their relationship with the dead people. Otherwise, it may not be as effective because young people are not aware of the fact that their deceased family members are potential sources of their power (McDonald, 2010, pp. 63-64).
In conclusion, there will always be dissenting views between followers of Christianity and native spirituality in East Kimberly. This assertion is primarily due to the universalization of the particularities of indigenous religion by Christianity. This universalization also makes indigenous practices that are not in alignment with Christianity be deemed as bad, especially those regarding the dead people’s spirits. Nevertheless, the indigenization of Christianity attempts to align Christian beliefs with indigenous practices to reduce this friction. It is, therefore, crucial for all people, even the young, to know their native cultures and beliefs well to enable them to discern their importance and use to the community.
REFERENCES
McDonald, H., (2010). Universalising the particular? God and Indigenous Spirit beings in East Kimberly. The Australian Journal of Anthropology (21)https://10.1111/j.1757-6547.2010.00067.x
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