Arctic Lutheran meeting urges indigenous people’s rights
-28/09/06
A group of indigen
Arctic Lutheran meeting urges indigenous people’s rights
-28/09/06
A group of indigenous people from all over the world has urged the Lutheran World Federation to establish a programme to help uplift the lives of those often not accepted in ëmainstreamí societies ñ writes Peter Kenny for Ecumenical News International.
The question of land rights was strongly debated at a consultation on “An Indigenous Communion” that ended on 24 September in Karasjok, the capital of the Sami people, in northern Norway. Delegates left the northern Finmark territory in the Arctic Circle which was blanketed in snow, many of them to return to deserts or jungles.
“We call for the elaboration of an indigenous theology, involving ideological change, and changing the way of looking at traditional Christian beliefs (contextualization), incorporating ethical values from indigenous perspectives and including indigenous women’s perspectives in the formulation of indigenous theologies,” part of the message said.
The 27 participants called on the Lutheran World Federation to establish an advisory group in 2007, with a staff member based at its headquarters in Geneva and for the group to meet once a year.
“We have learned a huge amount by meeting other indigenous people from everywhere in the world,” Samco Chose, an elder in the Lutheran Church in Namibia, who belongs to the San community at Gobabis near the Botswana border, told ENI.
Chose added: “The Lutheran church is the biggest denomination in our country. We know now how to ask the Church to work for the acceptance of the San people into Namibian society. Many of us suffer inhuman treatment in our country.”
Ruben Chacon from the Costa Rican Lutheran Church said he was satisfied with the final resolution, but that “much more work will still have to be done”.
Chacon said: “It’s good to continue the work of the LWF for indigenous people.” He noted that a Latin American group at the conference managed to get into the declaration their key points relating to stressing the importance of the critical link between land rights and human rights.
The Rev Tore Johnsen, a pastor for the Sami people, whose church hosted the conference, said: “It will move the process forward as we articulated our expectations from the LWF in the message.”
Participants arrived from 20 different places throughout the world, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Sweden and the United States.
Three themes were chosen as the most important to be dealt with in the future: human rights and land rights; promoting networking among indigenous peoples; theological and ethical study and indigenous spirituality.
With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.
[Also on Ekklesia: Making indigenous poverty history in Australia; Australian churches seek justice for Aboriginal peoples; Churches leader expresses dismay at Aboriginal situation; Australian Catholics seek support for Aboriginal people; Australian Christians focus on reconciliation between white and black; British MP shocked at mining destruction in the Philippines; Concern expressed for Assyrian Christians in Iraq]
Arctic Lutheran meeting urges indigenous people’s rights
-28/09/06
A group of indigenous people from all over the world has urged the Lutheran World Federation to establish a programme to help uplift the lives of those often not accepted in ëmainstreamí societies ñ writes Peter Kenny for Ecumenical News International.
The question of land rights was strongly debated at a consultation on “An Indigenous Communion” that ended on 24 September in Karasjok, the capital of the Sami people, in northern Norway. Delegates left the northern Finmark territory in the Arctic Circle which was blanketed in snow, many of them to return to deserts or jungles.
“We call for the elaboration of an indigenous theology, involving ideological change, and changing the way of looking at traditional Christian beliefs (contextualization), incorporating ethical values from indigenous perspectives and including indigenous women’s perspectives in the formulation of indigenous theologies,” part of the message said.
The 27 participants called on the Lutheran World Federation to establish an advisory group in 2007, with a staff member based at its headquarters in Geneva and for the group to meet once a year.
“We have learned a huge amount by meeting other indigenous people from everywhere in the world,” Samco Chose, an elder in the Lutheran Church in Namibia, who belongs to the San community at Gobabis near the Botswana border, told ENI.
Chose added: “The Lutheran church is the biggest denomination in our country. We know now how to ask the Church to work for the acceptance of the San people into Namibian society. Many of us suffer inhuman treatment in our country.”
Ruben Chacon from the Costa Rican Lutheran Church said he was satisfied with the final resolution, but that “much more work will still have to be done”.
Chacon said: “It’s good to continue the work of the LWF for indigenous people.” He noted that a Latin American group at the conference managed to get into the declaration their key points relating to stressing the importance of the critical link between land rights and human rights.
The Rev Tore Johnsen, a pastor for the Sami people, whose church hosted the conference, said: “It will move the process forward as we articulated our expectations from the LWF in the message.”
Participants arrived from 20 different places throughout the world, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Sweden and the United States.
Three themes were chosen as the most important to be dealt with in the future: human rights and land rights; promoting networking among indigenous peoples; theological and ethical study and indigenous spirituality.
With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.
[Also on Ekklesia: Making indigenous poverty history in Australia; Australian churches seek justice for Aboriginal peoples; Churches leader expresses dismay at Aboriginal situation; Australian Catholics seek support for Aboriginal people; Australian Christians focus on reconciliation between white and black; British MP shocked at mining destruction in the Philippines; Concern expressed for Assyrian Christians in Iraq]