ENI – A group of indigenous people from all over the world has urged the Lutheran World Federation to establish a program to help uplift the lives of a group of people often not accepted in mainstream societies.
The question of land rights was strongly debated at the consultation called An Indigenous Communion in 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 indigenous perspectives and including indigenous women's perspectives,” part of the message said.
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.
