To all non-Indigenous Australians - 'Get out!'

Peter Adams is no fool. As Principal of Ridley College, he stands in the position once held by the theological colossus Leon Morris. So what do we make of this latest statement calling on all non-indigenous Australians to take the radical step of leaving the country or paying whatever compensation the original inhabitants deem appropriate?

In a public lecture last week (covered in part by The Age), Dr Adams said every single one of us who have come to this country since 1788, have done so without permission and should leave immediately or ask the indigenous population to come up with a compensation figure.

I'm inclined to think Dr Adams is trying to be provocative. Perhaps things have gone a bit quiet and he wants to stir the population to think about ethical issues again, especially in the Church where we are supposed to be at the forefront of repentance and restitution for wrongdoing.

Speaking of which, Dr Adams says our Churches have prospered 'from the proceeds of crime'. Ouch. That one was a low blow.

But does the gospel require such radical repentance? Perhaps it does, but this one sound incredibly difficult to achieve. All 21 million of us, packing up and heading off shore (to where exactly we're not told) never to return.

Or perhaps a nation-wide collection after a tribal council of elders decides what 200 years of occupation has cost them. What if they say we owe $1 million each? Or one gazillion?

As dumb as Adams sounds in all of this, he does have a point. I grew up knowing the history of British colonialisation of Australia, but never really thinking about it from the Aborigines' point of view.

We know for a fact Captain Cook saw the natives, so why did mother England decide the place was needing European settlement? I suspect the English (and probably the majority of the world's other 'white' nations) had a very simplistic view of black people groups. They were not 'civilised' and therefore could not be treated as equals. That is, their occupance of Australia was irrelevant.

It does sound a bit arrogant to simply arrive with a boat load of people, jump ashore and stay forever, but telling everyone to get out after there is another 21 million of them? I don't think even the Aborigines today want that.

Most indigenous people I know are quite happy with life in modern day Australia, even if they would like some serious changes. Turning back the clock is not an option, but perhaps there is more we can do for our original inhabitants. The question is, have we thought about it?

I'd also like to turn the tables on Dr Adams and suggest his view of history doesn't go back far enough. The Bible teaches we, along with the Aborigines, are descendants of Adam and Eve and then Noah and his family. So who really owns Australia?

Surely anyone who ever moved to any country at any time is related to the rest of the world's population. We're a family. Isn't that what is meant by the words,

Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. (Gen 3:20)?

That's us; all the living. Whoever we are, we have Adam and Eve as our ancestors. If we didn't we would not have inherited original sin. But as it stands, we are all in the same boat.

And that's where I hope Dr Adams will take his argument; back to the gospel. If it remains simply an ethical issue, it will serve only limited purpose. All Australians, of any ethnic background, are in desperate need of a saviour.

The self-righteous attitude of white Europeans over black populations was a disgrace, but all people are cursed by original sin so instead of leaving the country we need to remain and proclaim salvation in Christ to all people.

And if we do that, perhaps we will have given our fellow Australians a gift far greater than any compensation they could come up with.