If "let us not be led into temptation" wasn't bad enough for you, try this one on for size: "Our 'Father-Mother Creator god,' who art on Earth, hallowed be thy names . . ."
Thankfully, nobody has gone this far in rewriting Scripture, yet. But it is not an unfair representation of the ideas expressed in the instrumentum laboris, or working document, for the upcoming synod on the Amazon. The synod is intended to address the many urgent issues — social, religious, environmental, and otherwise — facing the Amazon region in South America, and the working document provides the tentative responses to be considered during the meeting this fall. Though no official version is currently available in English, I will make use of excerpts that I have translated from the original Spanish.
Much of the document is thoroughly conservative. For instance: "In short, the defense of life implies the defense of the territory, its resources or natural assets, but also of the life and culture of the peoples, the strengthening of their organizations, the full enforceability of their rights, and the possibility to be heard." There is some wisdom in the document's recognition of the value of organic culture and tradition, and of the intimate relation of a people to their land.
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