Harris, C 1996, 'Guidelines for so-called western civilisations and western

Christianity', in A Pattel Gray (ed.), Aboriginal spirituality: past, present,

future, Harper Collins Religious, East Melbourne, Victoria, pp. 66-78.
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Guidelines for So-called Western
Civilization and Western Christianity
Charles Harris
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Spirituality
God Was Already Here
Aboriginal Spirituality, in the past, as I perceive it, was quite a
umque thing on which a nation and a race of people, who eXIsted
for thousands and thousands of years, was founded. There was a
spIritual foundation for the race and for the Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander nations. The foundation, I believe, was a God-given
gift to tbe AboriglOal and Torres Strait Islander People of this
land. The splrituality rhat emerged through Western Christianity
is not a spirituality at all but was human-made, human-organized
and something that came entirely from the mind of the human.
I sincerely believe tbat Aboriginal and Torres Strait [slander

~boyi,i~~1 Spirituality IS something that came not from the mind of

humanity but from the mind of God; sometbing that held the
community, the nation and the race together, although tbere were

sri yitu~ I it)' very many tribes witb a great diversity of languages and dialects.
Yet, there was a common oneness, a unity, an10ng the whole of
the nation. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People were
not only united wltb one another, but they were united wltb the
l'b.st Creator God and the environment, with the land and nature. This
unity was disrupted fronl 1788 onward and it is now almost non-
I'Y~S~"t
existent 111 tbe Aborigmal community. We see people being
flltur~ divided on every level and it is the church and the government
that have used pollcies of divide-and-rule, divide-and-conquer.
They are the ones to blame.
Edited by Although the division IS still here, tbere are some very basic
Anne Pattel-Gray
things that the entire Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander race
 GUIDELINES FOR 'WESTERN' CIVILIZATION AND CHRISTIANITY 67
believe in and are united on-the issue of land rights, and the
parallel issues of self-determination and self-management. Right
across the land Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People are
wantmg these things and there is a united front m the struggle for
them. I would say to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
People, 'Let not anythmg come and divide us On these Issues that
we hold and treasure so much. Our Ancestors have passed them
down to us, telling us that this is our land, that we are the owners
of the land. The culture and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander history is something that we will never ever forger. Be
united in that'. So I would call for maintaining that unity and
solidarity across the board.
The fact that God was here in this land long before 1788 proves
the fallacy of the missionaries who came out and told the
Aboriginal People that they were bringing God to us. God was
already here and with the people. The Aboriginal Law is almost
identical to the Mosaic law God was here interacting with the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People and they tnteracted
with the Creator God, thereby receiving the law, values and
customs which have great Biblical significance, for mstance the
system of caring and sharing. This economy of caring and sharing
was spiritual in content and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
People lived by it dally. Their eXIStence depended upon this
system of caring and sharing. The anthropologists of today have
been bailled (and still are bailled) by the fact that Aboriginal
People, who were (and are) hunter-gatherers, were able to survive
for such long periods of time in flood, fire and famme in this land.
Yet the fact is that Aboriginal People have survived-not only
up until 1788, bur also over the 200 years of holocaust since 1788.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People will continue to
SUrV1ve. They will outlive the European race. There 1S sophisti-
cated genocide taking place in the European race through drugs,
alcohol, nicotine, deaths in custody and sicknesses. These and
other diseases of the White man have also become very prev;:dent
In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cOlnmunities. The reason
68 ABORIGINAL SPIRITUALITY
for this is that Aborigmal and Torres Strait Islander People have
been hoodwinked .into thinking that Western civilization and
Western Christianity have the answers to Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander problems. They do not have the answers,
The dilemma that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
face--which is one of total extinction-can be dealt with only by
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People themselves. We are
the ones who need to take stock of ourselves and ask,' Hey, is this
helpmg our communities, or is it devastating them?' Questions
like these need to be asked.
One thmg that has not been developed in the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander communities is an analyzing body which
continually asks the question, 'Why?' Now, if you asked that
question in Queensland you would be branded a communist. I
remember seeing a poster m one of the Uniting Aboriginal and
Island'er ChrIstian Congress offices In Western Australia which
said, 'When I gave to the poor I was called a good Christian.
When I asked why are they poor [ was called a communist'.' But
I think we do need to develop an analyzing body through which
we can analyze all that is happening around us and everything that
has happened In the past. We need to see if we can decide what
directions we could take, as a race and as a nation, into the future
so that our generation, and generations to come, not only will be
able to survive but also will have a greater position in this country
than we have now.
So, Aborigmal and Torres Strait Islander SpirItuality of the past
waS something that was God-given. It sustained the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander race over those nnny thousands of years.
It kept rhe Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations intact.
Contact
When the White invaSion took place all this was eroded and
undermined, and today it is still bemg undermmed and eroded.
As we look at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander SpirItuality in
the present, we see that past values are no longer being adhered

GUIDELINES FOR 'WESTERN' CIVILIZATION AND CHRISTIANITY 69
to by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. We have
mimicked the 'Western Christian' lifestyle and the 'Western
culture' much to the detriment and destruction of our own race
and nation. We cannot be what we are not in this land, now called
'Australia', When we are aware of racism, prejudice and
discrimination on the part of every level of non-Aboriginal
Australia, we cannot, at any time, or at any place, or in any case,
or in any instance, be like the Europeans, We cannot be White
when we are really Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander at heart.
Some people have reached the top rung of the assimilation
ladder in this country Yet, even though rhey have gained rhat
height in Australian society, rhe government and [he church have
used them until they were no longer needed and rhen have
wrung them out like dirty cloths and thrown them on the
ground, The spirits of many of our people-and I won't mention
any names, but there are two people that I have ltl mind-have
been broken and crushed by the cruel and vicious system
operating in this land, This system does not want to give the
underdog a go, it does not want to give the weak a chance or the
poor an opportumty.
So, at the moment, Abonginal and Torres Strait Islander
Spirituality is still there, but it has been eroded from both sides,
Although this erosion is happening-and has happened-the
AbOrIginal and Torres Strait Islander Spirituality is something that
will never ever be desrroyed. It is rhere for all time. Anything of the
spintual world is eternal, but the temporal will come to an end.
Western Civilization and
Christian ity
My personal interpretation of so-called 'Western civilization' is
that It values 'sutvlval of the fittest', 'mIght is right', 'White is
nght'. The world today has a dog-eat-dog value system, When I
see people's inhumanity towards other people I am forced into
asking myself, 'Is thIS the ammality of people commg out of them,
70 ABORIGINAL SPfRITUALlTY
at are we really human?'When made aware c1"iy of the thrust and
drive of humanity towards prosperity and power, and the attempt
to get there at any cost, I find myself echoing the words of
somebody in the past who once said, 'Someone, please stop the
world; I want to get of['.
In the rat tace of this technological age we see that many
things invented by people ate detrimental to the human tace; for
instance, the use of the Pacific as a dumping ground for nuclear
waste and an area for nuclear testing, thus ensuring the slow
genocide of the Indigenous nations of that tegion, When we see
so-called 'development' taking place around us-where highways
ate being built, air bases ate being established, nuclear bases are
being constructed, and people are being disregarded-it is quite
dear that the world's priorities are out of order; priorities which
make things more important than people,
I sincerely believe that the world is on the road of no return;
where the world and all humanity will self-destrucL The United
States ofAmerica, which is the leading power in the world, has as
irs motro, 'In God We Trust'. But the USA does not trust in God
at an. It trusts in its Trident Submarines, its nuclear powers, and its
Stealth Bombers.
We all know that Western Christianity played a major role in
developing the so-called' civihzed world'. But I would hke to
state here that 'Western Chnstianity', through Western theology
and through the church, has never presented to the Indigenous
na[ic)fis of the world the true God of the Bible, or the true Christ
of the New Testament. They have not presented a God of libera-
[ion, or the Chnst who makes people fearless, determined
and strong. A God ,-vho sits Silent in the face of gross injustice,
of murder, rape, theft and hes-which have been told and
still are being told-IS, to me, defimtely not the true God of
the BIble,
The presentation of a gentle Jesus, meek and mild, is defInitely
not the New Testament Jesus. A Christ who has made many
lndigc:nous church leaders spineless, weak and supportive of
 GUIDELINES FOR 'WESTERN' CIVILIZATION AND CHRISTIANITY 71
the status quo-this is definitely not the Christ of the New
Testament. The New Testament Christ strongly condemned the
status quo of his day and would do the same today. Christ referred
to the status quo as bemg:
like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look
beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and
of all kinds of frlth. So you also on the outside look righteous
to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness
... You snakes, you brood of vipers! (Matthew 23:27-8,33).
'VIper' and 'hypocnte' were the words used by Christ to descrIbe
and condemn the status quo. If the New Testament Christ were
here today, he would use the same condemning words to describe
the contemporary status quo.
In Australia, Western Christial1lty has produced Indigenous
church leaders who are not only supportive of the status quo, but
who also want to sit on the sidelmes and benefit from those who
struggle for Aborigmal and Torres Strait Islander rIghts m this
land. It has produced not only hypocrites, but also parasites-
people who live off those who lay their lives on the lme by
struggling very, very hard for basic human rIghts m this land.
The Western theology that is presented in this land is 'kinder-
garten' classroom theology, whereas the Indigenous nations of the
world are producing a theology that is outside of the classrooms;
that IS, it's out where the struggle is taking place against the
Pharaohs of today. That IS where God really is, out with the
people. The Creator God 15 definitely neither in the church's
insritutlOns, nor in the church's buildings. The Creator God 'does
not dwell in houses made With human hands' (Acts 7:48). The
Creator God is out where the people struggle for dignity, freedom
and liberatlOn.The Creator God IS out there struggling with them
as God W3S WIth the ISr3elites when they were in bondage in
Egypt. God was WIth them m their slavery. God heard them when
they cried out in their pain, misery and anguish. God was with
them as they were led by Moses out of Egypt, across the Red Sea
72 ABORIGINAL SPIRITUALITY
into the wilderness. The Creator God led them on into the
promised land.
Yes, God is not in our churches; God is out where the rejected
ones and the sinners are, out with the people for whom God sent
his son to die. For Christ said, 'I have come to call not the
righteous but sinners to repentance' (Luke 5:32). Jesus also said,
'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who
are sick' (Luke 5:31). No, it was not the well who needed a
physician, it was the sick people.
In Australia, Western theology has presented a divisive doctrine
to the Indigenous People of this land-a doctrine which states
that those who are so-called 'Christians' should not associate with
people who are 'non-Christian'. Now this is not the pattern of
Chnst. Chnst mingled and associated with people who were
outSIde the religious and church structures of the time. He
associated with sinners, publicans, tax collectors, harlots; the
people who were frowned upon and who were classed as
the 'scum' of the society of that day. These were the sorts of
people for whom Christ ultimately died. Christ did not at any
time conform to the religious system of that time or generation.
He saw the need for radical change within the religious and
church structures of that day. And, in his attempt to change the
system, he was nailed to a cross.
The divisive religious doctrme that has been proclaimed to the
Indigenous People of this land has the same connotations as the
government policy of divide and rule; dIvide and conquer. It is
subtly dividing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nation
whose population is only two and a half percent of Australia's
population. For this reason the IndIgenous People of thIS land
cannot afford to let this happen to them. In this country the
church is a tool of division not only through its divisive doctrine,
which has been and still is being promoted and preached, but also
through ItS denommationalism.
The God of Western Christianity in this country is a God of
materialism, money, nlonurnent and inhumanity. These are the
 GUIDELINES FOR 'WESTER-N' CtVlL[ZATlON AND CHRISTIANITY 73
idols worshIpped by Western Christianity in this land. But the
Bible explicitly states that 'You cannot serve God and wealth'
(Matthew 6:24). It is certain that Western Christianity serves
mammOn in this land rather than the true God of the Bible.
On behalf of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nation I
would call the church and the government of thIS land to
repentance. Both the church and the government of this country
are involved in what I would term one of the major national
crimes and scandals ever committed in the world: the crime of
covering up the truth about the 200-plus years of holocaust
against the Indigenous People of this land, and the scandal of
keeping secret the real facts and the truth of this history.
This cnme and scandal has resulted in about ninety-nine
percent of non-Aboriginal Australia bemg totally ignorant of this
cultural genocide; of Aboriginal dispossession, the murder and
rape of Aboriginal People and the predicament which the
Indigenous Peoples of this land face every day. It has also resulted
in ninety-nine percent of the world's population being totally
oblivious to the truth about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander sItuation in this country.
To the church and so-called 'Western Chnstianity' in this land,
God would say to you, as God said to the children of Israel in
Isaiah 1:15-17:
When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not l,sten;
your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek Justice.
74 ABORIGINAL SPIRITUALITY
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nation of this country
would say to you, 'Desert yonr idolatry and your pagamsm and
return to the true and living God, the God who was 10 this land
long before 1788, the Aboriginal Creator God who is the eternal
God and the God of the matriarchs and patriarchs of old. Return
to the Creator, the God of the Dreamtime, and the Creator will
right the wrong in yonr lives. God will recrilY the past.'
But there is a price that must be paid.When Zacchaeus repented
he said,'ifl have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four
times as much' (Luke 19:8). The Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islandet People may not want four times what has been taken from
them, but they do want recognition of land ownership, economic
Justice and basic human nghts to be exercised. They want se1f-
determination and self-management; the managing of their own
alEurs and the settmg of their own agendas which, on a daily basis,
affect their own hves and the lives of their children.
Western civihzation needs to look to the IndIgenous Peoples
and nations of the world because its survival depends very much
upon them. They have to face the fact that Indigenous People, in
Indigenous countries, are in touch \vith the Creator God, with
the environment and with nature. Indigenous People are greatly
concerned about the desecration of the enVIronment, the
destruction of rainforests, and the pollution of waterways, airways
and the land. Indigenous People can gIve direction to the Western
world as far as these problems and issues are concerned.
On behalf of the Abonginal and Torres Strait Islander nations
of Australia I would call upon Western Civilization to be honest,
open and above-bDard in all its dealmgs with other nations,
especially the Indigenous nations of the world. I would ask It not
to oppress, mampulate, or make rules and policies for the
Indigenous nations; policies which Western civilizatIOn itself
cannot keep or abide by.
 GUIDELINES FOR 'WESTERN' CIVILIZATION AND CHRISTIANITY 75
Western Christianity, through the Australian churches, has
built structures, rules and regulations, by-laws and laws,
committees and suchlike, which have proved to be walls cutting
it off from the outside world and locking it into its own struc-
tures. These Christians have not only locked themselves in, they
have locked out the people who have wanted to get in to find the
truth. There are lots of people out there in the non-Aboriginal
community looking and searching for the truth, but the churches
have built great buildings and walls around themselves for
security. This false security has brushed off onto many Aboriginal
and Islander church leaders. They have become self-secure to the
extent that they are not concerned about the people in their own
community who struggle or cry for help. The cries are a search
for God. In our cries for land rights, we are calling for justice to
be done and for equality. God is a God of justice and a God of
equality-everyone is equal in the sight of God. So when we call
out for equality we are really calling out for the God of equality.
When we call for sovereignty, we are calling for self-
determination and self-management by Aboriginals, not by non-
Aboriginals. When God first made humanity, God made it free to
choose and free to decide. So when we call for sovereignty we are
calling for this God-given principle of freedom which was given
in the very beginning, at the creation of humanity. It is a principle
that is not only for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Peoples but for all people and all races of the world. It appears that
the Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islander People are the last
people on the face of God's earth to experience, under Western
Christianity, this divine principle and this divine right given to all
humanity.
Aboriginal and Islander church leaders who have been indoc-
trinated with this 'Western theology' and 'Western Christianity'
need to take a good look at themselves and question whether
they have a Pharisaical attitude towards others. In the patable of
the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14) the tax
collector kneels with his face down, not daring to look up as he
76 ABORIGiNAL SPIRITUALITY
ptays, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner" Meanwhile the Pharisee
looks down upon the fellow and prays, 'God, I thank you that I
am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like
thIs tax collector'. This is very hypocritical in the eyes of God.
My concern for Aboriginal and Islander church leaders is that
we do not become like that; that we do not stand off and thank
God that we are not like the people out there struggling for land
rights. They might be seen to go about their struggle in an
unorthodox way, but they are still able to achieve many things.
The Aboriginal and Torres Srrait Islander services that are
available in the country-for example health, housmg, legal, pre-
school, and educational services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander People--are there because of people who struggled and
fought hard and strong for them. The government (out of
conscience really) has glven these services, and the funding of these
serVICes, to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in order to
save lnternatlonal embarrassment. So, as Christians. we need to be
out there where the 'sinners' are and where the struggle is going on.
We need to be involved in the struggle, and not lock ourselves mto
our little parishes, our structures, rules and regulations. laws and by-
laws, but to be out there where the agony, the pain and
the hurt ls-for us to be out there where God is.
Radical Aboriginal Churc,h Leaders
There are a few Aborigmal female and male leaders emergIng m
thiS land-and they know who they are--who wlll become the
radical church leaders of the future. These Indigenous church
leaders are people whose Biblical principles and goals are not
based on the so-called church structures, but rather are beiug
solIdly founded on New Testament Chnstlamty, AbOrIgInal
culture and Abongmal Spmtuahty. These AbongInal church
leaders must spearhead the struggle In this land for AbOrIginal and
Torres Strait Islander nghts and Justice. They must be at the
forefront of the struggle and must fight for basic human rIghts m
th,s land.
 GUIDELINES FOR 'WESTERN' CIVILIZATION AND CHRISTIANITY 77 7B ABORIGINAL SPIRETUALITY

The message that I would give to these Aboriginal church and strong in our communities--so that our children and our
ieaders comes from I CorinthIans 1:18-25. children's children can walk tall in any situation; where once again
pride can rake over; where people will be proud of the colour that
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are
we are, and proud to be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of
People. These New Aboriginal leaders will be the people who
God. For it is written,
wl!! introduce the Aborigmal and Islander community to the
'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, New Testament Christ.
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.'
Notes
Where IS the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom
Edlwr's note: This refers to a statement by BrazilIan Roman
of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did Catholic Cardinal Paulo Evarista Arns.
not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the
foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For
Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we
proclaim Chrlst crucitled, J stumbling block to Jews and
foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the Cd-lied, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of
God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and
God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

The radical Aboriginal church movement has a goal that is

threefold in this country: first, a goal of bringing the Australian
church away from its paganism and Its idolatry and back to the
true and lIving God of the Dreamrime; second, leading rhe
government of this nation back to SOIne form of sanity on issues
such as the enVIronment, pollution and land, which Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander People are familIar WIth and have been
familiar with all theIT lives down through generatIons. I am sure
that rhe radical Aboriginal church leaders can make a
contribution to the Australian government, church and socIety on
these issues. The struggle cannot get any worse, but the struggle
will have to improve, and I see the radical Abongltlal church
leaders playing a major role here.
Third, I also see the radIcal Aborigmal Christian leaders as
guiding the Aboriginal commumty back to a piace where their
culture is revived, where Aboriginal Spirituali ty is once again firm