Samoa: A Christian nation is born?

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Africa | 01 August 2017

As The Diplomat reported on 16 June 2017, Samoa has altered its Constitution in order to change from being a secular to a Christian nation. Article 1 now reads: "Samoa is a Christian nation founded on God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit". ‚ Thomas Muller, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, explains: "While at first glance, this looks like good news, it does need some qualification. Whereas the old constitution just referred to God and Christian principles in the preamble - much resembling other Pacific Nations" constitutions - it now contains a specific reference to the Christian understanding of the triune God. The motives for this change are twofold: i) There is a fear of Islam understanding "˜God" in an Islamic way. This is surprising seeing that the latest census of 2001 showed that there are only 48 Muslims living in the country. ii) The government does not want to be forced into following modern ideological movements embracing homosexual rights and same sex marriage. Whether this change of wording in the Constitution really can prevent international pressure seems doubtful." ‚ Thomas Muller adds: "The main problem with the whole process is that one Christian denomination is dominating the interpretation of the new constitutional clauses, sidelining the less-established Christian churches. In the terminology used by Open Doors" World Watch List this situation is described as Denominational protectionism."