Aboriginals of Australia and their Religion

Aboriginals of Australia and their Religion
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Introduction

During the promotion of the country globally, it has been common and significant to actually hear the Australians stressing the racism aspect that was suffered by the Aboriginals in the past. It has been stated by Lonely Planet Guide that in the colonization period, the communities of the Aboriginals were actually forced to a retreat into a given drier interior (Marten, 2002). Further, some literatures have indicated that the Aboriginals were annihilated systematically and subsequently became extinct as a result of the famous Black line of genocides. Moreover, in the past up to the year 1967, the Aboriginals in Australia were actually not allowed to votes during elections. The Aboriginals are reported to have suffered gross violation of human rights during the colonization period. However, the suffering should be taken positively in order to ensure that the Aborigines in the contemporary society do not undergo the same treatment as it was in the past during colonization (Marten, 2002). This paper will simply be focused on comparing and explaining stories that have been read in the context of the religious believes of the Aboriginals. However, the paper will focus on three aspects of the stories such as what issues of human life do these stories deal with, how do they account for the origin of the issue as well as what are the roles of men and women in the stories.

Aboriginals of Australia and their Religion
            The current literatures that have indicated that the Aborigines and the colonist were actually at war with each other is a clear reflection of the actually continuing divide that actually existed between the various sections of the Australian society. As it is with various conflicts, the colonization period produced heroes such as Kevin Rudd who have continuously been celebrated due to the fact that they portrayed themselves as the champions of the Aborigines who were being victimized by the colonists. However, some scholars have argued that the harsh treatments that have been portrayed in the contemporary literatures about the treatments of the Aboriginals in the past are actually a myth and that none of theses happened. Nonetheless, despite the increased debate on the atrocities committed during the colonization period, the most significant aspect is moving forward and forgetting the past (Read, 1981) while looking at some of the traditional aspects of the lives of the Aboriginals. One of the literatures that was titled The Sacred in Nature: Indigenous Peoples and Religion was simply focused on the understanding the historical significance of the indigenous people like the Aboriginals.

The indigenous people were seen as very primitive and there was a school of thought that the religion they practiced was in the past. They were also stereotyped on their physical appearances that include the clothes they wore during the religious functions. A critical look at the religious believes of the indigenous people shows that they had some funny religious believes that always made them be considered backward and none civilized. For instance, the Sioux are reported to have believed that there were four souls where three die with an individual and the fourth one remaining in the midst of the people in a type of bundle that contains hair that is wrapped in the animal skin. The religion of the indigenous people finds and consequently expresses the sacred in different aspects of the human life and nature. The earth, the celestial sky, the sacred trees and rocks, the seasons, the life passages from the birth and death, the community or tribe are all a live with the spirit and meaning.

The two stories deals with the issu.............