Posts Tagged ‘indigenous spirituality’

Raw materials, or sacred beings? Lithium extraction puts two worldviews into tension

Thursday, May 4th, 2023
lithium

Located in the heart of South America, Bolivia contains the largest lithium deposits in the world – an enviable position, in many countries’ eyes, as the market for electric vehicles takes off. Though EVs emit fewer greenhouse gases than fuel-powered vehicles, their batteries require more minerals – especially lithium, which is also used to make Read more

Indigenous peoples, spirituality and Catholicism

Monday, May 2nd, 2022
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“For a long time, I have been interested in how the faith of indigenous peoples is expressed,” says Father François Paradis (75), an Oblate of Mary Immaculate (OMI) missionary in Canada. Paradis studied the traditional beliefs of the First Nations peoples for a long time before he began adding some of their elements – like Read more

Elder to elder: Indigenous woman to Pope

Thursday, October 17th, 2019

Anitalia Pijachi, (pictured) an indigenous woman from the Amazonian town of Leticia, Colombia, came to the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon bringing a message from the elders of her people to Pope Francis, an elder of the Catholic Church. The first Europeans to arrive in the Amazon were “invaders,” she said. “They never asked Read more

Indigenous spirituality and the need for faith

Tuesday, September 18th, 2012

I recently travelled to Darwin and was surrounded by the living and remnant artefacts of the indigenous faiths by which the first Australians ordered their lives. It was another example, if ever I needed one, of the power of spirituality and its necessity for many, or indeed most, communities. The doyens of New Atheism taunt Read more