Cargo Cult?

Cargo Cult is a term used to describe a style of small religious groupings which appeared in Papua NewGuinea through the last 100 years.

From the point of view of the government, Papua NewGuinea had no social security system at all – there were no pensions or income support arrangements of any kind, but Papua NewGuinea, like many tribal cultures had the world's best social security system. It was based on the notion of mutual responsibility, whereby all members of a village community were responsible to help maintain the welfare and security of all other members. In Pidgin English this tribal community (which usually spanned several villages) is described by the term ‘wontok’ (from ‘one talk’ – literally users of a common language; there are about 800 different languages in PNG). Thus a man's wontoks are his extended family, and that extended family has much greater social importance to him than his biological parents or his siblings who may be barely distinguished from the wider group.

In these village communities there was little sense of personal or individual ownership. Land was not owned – it was merely occupied and it could not be measured or traded. In the last years of the Australian colonial administration there were considerable problems when the Government provided housing for indigenous public servants in the main towns. The indigenous tenants were unable or unwilling to deny their wontoks a share of the living space with the result that the cottages may have been occupied by as many as 10 families in breach of the public health regulations and their lease agreements.

Similarly, when a villager decided to purchase a vehicle for $500 and a wontok made a contribution of $5 toward the cost they became equal co-owners. In the native society there was little sense of personal or individual ownership of valuables, many things were held in common by the community as a whole and were available for use by those who had need of them.

The natives saw white men arriving in their ships; the ships also brought supplies of tools, axes, fabrics and a great variety of other valuable goods. These goods were simply cargo to the white explorers and so in Pidgin the word ‘cargo’ came to mean the whole spectrum of white men's goods which were seen as valuable.

Because most property was not personally owned, the sense in which the Europeans defended their goods and properties was entirely alien to the indingenes and could not be understood. It simply could not be explained (because their language did not contain the necessary words) why the europeans did not share their goods as they should. Clearly the Europeans were not 'civilised' people.

There was considerable misunderstanding of the whites, who appeared antisocial in their reluctance to share their goods. It was widely believed that the white men had some source of cargo in much the same way as some had fish and others had coconuts or sweet potato. Cargo was something which the white men simply collected from somewhere. In this atmosphere it was easy to engender the belief that a powerful person should take the white men in hand and open access to the source of the cargo for the benefit of the whole community.

A witch-doctor (headman or other opinion leader) could quite easily gather a group of followers who believe that if they do as they are told by this powerful man they will be able to share with him when he leads their community to the source of the cargo and opens the door for all users.

In many cases these leaders were able to so convince their followers that a serious public mischief was created and the European imposed government of the country was potentially put at risk. At best the villagers were likely to be misled, persuaded to leave their gardens and means of support in pursuit of a vain hope of future gain, at worst there was serious threat of great civil unrest.

It is regrettable that the contemporary church appears to have many of the same characteristics as the cult leaders. The church would have us believe that if we think and do as they tell us then we will inherit pie-in-the-sky (eternal life – whatever that means), and that they, and only they, have the key to this infinitely desirable goal. To the extent that they divert our attention from the truth for so much as a moment they promote a cargo cult.

The eschatalogical focus of the contemporary church enables the priests to proclaim ‘facts’ and ‘truth’ entirely safe from the possibility of ever being tested against experience or the real world. It is an ideal cargo cult, so long as the date of the apocalypse is not nominated, as it offers an easily saleable lure with no obligation ever to actually have to deliver. This lure is essentially materialist – the traditional images used to describe heaven are of wealth, comfort and security – the same objectives that motivate the selfish and the greedy. What other images of heaven would ever be attractive enough to hold the followers?

I believe that the message of the Bible is continuous and uniform through the Old and the New Testaments, and that it is not a materialist nor an end-focussed message. The Bible focus is clearly on living our lives now in a right relationship with God and creation, so neatly summarised by Micah: "And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Heaven may be an indefinite continuation of our lives in our existing bodies (as the Apostles Creed explicitly states) but if it is you can count me out. For many people such a destiny would be indifferent from hell. It seems much more likely that heaven is merely the 'cargo' that keeps the religious cults alive. The sooner dematerialised the better.

For myself freedom from guilt, fear and denial leaves me free to enjoy the earth and to honour God in the way I live my life as I believe our Creator intended. I do not hope for that ... I have it.

Peace

Original: September ‘99
Edited: January 2004
This page is part of “Living in the Light”
found at: http://www.tassie.net.au/~phoban/

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