A law and Religion conference was held in Samoa at the beginning of May.
The main purpose of the conference was to look for ways to ensure the establishment of robust relationships that would promote religious freedom and tolerance and mutual respect for different churches and faiths, including, a sensitivity to and respect for, local practices.
In his keynote address titled “Religion, Law and the Samoan Indigenous Reference,” His Highness the Head of State Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Ta’isi Efi said: “Religion and law in the Samoan indigenous context amounts to a search for tofa sa’ili, for tua’oi and lagimalie.”
He said “Tofa sa’ili is the search for wisdom; a search for God – (tofa is wisdom; sa’ili means ‘to search for’).
Tua’oi means boundary. Lagimalie, in this case, it literally refers to the harmony or remembrance. These three concepts frame my address.”
Tuiatua said, “The quest for freedom of religion presumes not only the right to worship one’s God freely, but also the responsibility to practice that worship in a way that respects and upholds the virtues of harmony, balance and justice.”
The conference was the first of its kind in Samoa and was attended by representatives from Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Australia, the United States of America and New Zealand.
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