Influence of Religion

From early Australian Aborigines to European settlement, the country has been impacted greatly by religion. Christianity especially has played a major part in the areas of law, education, public morality, medical care and social welfare. Buddhism, a smaller populated religion in Australia, has had an influence on society also.
Before the arrival of white Europeans there were probably around 650 000 Australian Aboriginal people living within 600 groups, each with its own religion. The Europeans saw and treated Aboriginal people as animals because the Europeans didn’t understand their diverse and complex way of life. The Aboriginal belief system is often misunderstood by ethnocentric western societies due to the vast differences it has with European cultures.
It would be impossible to simplistically define the Aboriginal belief system because of the various varieties of the belief that exist. However, the religion can be interpreted through several aspects. These include their...