That belief, however, had been the core of Christian proselytizing to Aboriginals since the time of the Jesuits 250 years before, and as evidenced by the fact that the majority of Aboriginals today profess the Christian faith, it was clearly a sincere reflection of the times. [...] We also learn of the unusually high incidence of blindness amongst ancient Aboriginals, “arising from the smoke of the lodges, uncleanness, the habitual use of paint, and hereditary diseases.” We learn of the many Christian missionaries who learned the native languages and invented script for them, so that they could be preserved, and so that the words of the Bible could be taught more effectively. [...] Jenness wrote: …the nature worship of the Indians was too vague, too eclectic, to withstand the assault of a highly 4 The spider weaves the curtains in the palace of the Caesars,The owl calls the watches in Afrasiab’s tower. [...] In essence, the Plains Indians underwent a cultural catastrophe that encompassed every aspect of their lives-not just the material and political, but the social, the economic, the spiritual, the cultural, the psychological; each of these was either shattered or reduced to the redundant, the retrograde or, in the eyes of many outsiders, the comic. [...] The education of his own family and the Indians, the directing of his people towards a life of industry and self-support, and the supply of religious influences, employed the last days of the noble chief of the Mohawks.
- Pages
- 7
- Published in
- Canada
