Decolonial Perspectives on Dominant Constructions of “Religion”

Institutional Christianity has played a significant role in the colonization of these lands now called Australia, where the outcome of colonization is the eradication and obscurity of the diversity of Indigenous and non-White cultures, spiritualities, and languages that pre-existed the nation’s 1970s multicultural policies. Since colonization, Australian religions have predominantly been understood through Eurocentric Judeo-Christian perspectives. This chapter focuses on two main case studies. It takes a decolonial perspective in unpacking normative assumptions embedded in popular notions of religion in contemporary Australia. It first considers the twinning of conceptualizations of religion and race through media constructions of religion and its religious “other.” It then examines the extent to which dominant notions of religion has impact on religious communities through constructions of race, gender and sexuality. It concludes that public and private contestations about notions of religions act as resistance to these dominant constructions and narratives about religions in Australia, and act as a call for a broader, deeper recognition of the diversity of Australian religions and spirituality.