Vandalism for Jesus: Pentecostal Christians are burning Australia’s sacred Aboriginal objects because they believe that “traditional Aboriginal culture is a type of devil worship.”

ABC News Australia reports:

An investigation by Background Briefing has uncovered dramatic scenes in the Kimberley region, where Aboriginal followers of a Tongan-born preacher have set fire to artefacts considered sacred by many local elders, and dismantled and burned a spiritual law ground.

According to the report, the vandalism of sacred objects is being conducted by the followers of Pastor Ana Makahununiu, a young Pentecostal preacher who claims that “traditional Aboriginal culture is a type of devil worship.”

The Daily Mail notes:

Ana Makahununiu arrived in Wangkatjungkam, 100km south-east of Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia’s Kimberley, in 2015. The community is a settlement of 180 predominately Wangkatjungka-speaking people with strong links to their desert culture. But after the arrival of the young preacher, dozens were ‘born again’ and baptised as Christians.

ABC News Australia explains:

A year after Ms Makahununiu arrived, her followers built a bonfire to destroy ‘satanic’ objects they thought were cursing their community, and filmed the process… A grainy video of the bonfire shows people cheering as objects are thrown into the flames and black smoke billows into the air. “For many years we have been deceived by Satan and his demonic beings,” an unidentified man narrates as the fire burns. “Now we throw away all the things that have been keeping us in bondage and slavery.”

As for Pastor Makahununiu, her followers call her “a prophetess,” and she claims that she never instructed her followers to vandalize and burn the sacred Aboriginal objects, but she is pleased that they are doing it.

Calling traditional Aboriginal culture “demonic,” the preacher said:

When they talk, and share the type of spirit they’re using, I can say is very demonic. I’ve been seeing that is all connected to witchcraft — that is not from God, that’s all from the devil.

Commenting on those Christians committing the senseless vandalism, aboriginal leader and Australian Senator Pat Dodson said:

They are a type of virus that has really got no credibility… It’s about the lowest act you could perform in trying to indicate to a fellow human being that you have total disdain for anything they represent.

Indeed, the acts of senseless vandalism in the name of Christianity are despicable, but not surprising. There is a long and well established pattern of conservative Christians demonizing and eradicating native cultures around the world. This is just the latest example of Christians behaving badly.

Bottom line: Pentecostal Christians are burning Australia’s sacred Aboriginal objects because they believe that “traditional Aboriginal culture is a type of devil worship.”