Christian Samoa - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz Catholic News New Zealand Tue, 12 Nov 2013 08:47:31 +0000 en-NZ hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://cathnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-cathnewsfavicon-32x32.jpg Christian Samoa - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz 32 32 70145804 Professor says Samoa is not a Christian State https://cathnews.co.nz/2013/11/15/professor-says-samoa-christian-state/ Thu, 14 Nov 2013 18:30:39 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=52053

A Samoan academic who is a Professor of Law at Otago University, New Zealand, Professor Rex Tauati Ahdar says Samoa is not and cannot be a Christian nation when people here do a "patchy" job of practicing what they preach. In a paper published this year titled "Samoa and the Christian State Ideal," Professor Ahdar explored the Read more

Professor says Samoa is not a Christian State... Read more]]> A Samoan academic who is a Professor of Law at Otago University, New Zealand, Professor Rex Tauati Ahdar says Samoa is not and cannot be a Christian nation when people here do a "patchy" job of practicing what they preach.

In a paper published this year titled "Samoa and the Christian State Ideal," Professor Ahdar explored the notion of a Christian state in the context of Samoa.

Ahadar says Samoa is not in a Christian state in a legal (de jure), constitutional sense.

"It is, however, possible to argue that, yes, in practice, it is a de facto Christian state insofar as the substance of much of Samoan law reflects Christian teaching,"he says

"Is Samoa a Christian nation? In terms of self-identification, yes, most definitely."

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Professor says Samoa is not a Christian State]]> 52053 Word fell on fertile ground in Samoa https://cathnews.co.nz/2013/08/13/word-fell-on-fertile-ground-in-samoa/ Mon, 12 Aug 2013 19:10:59 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=48387

Those early Christian missionaries certainly did an impressive job in Samoa. Christianity remains the backbone and strength of the Samoan culture - every village has at least one church and sometimes up to four, with about 10 denominations represented across the islands. Samoa's motto says: "Samoa is founded on God" and the locals' strong religious Read more

Word fell on fertile ground in Samoa... Read more]]> Those early Christian missionaries certainly did an impressive job in Samoa. Christianity remains the backbone and strength of the Samoan culture - every village has at least one church and sometimes up to four, with about 10 denominations represented across the islands.

Samoa's motto says: "Samoa is founded on God" and the locals' strong religious beliefs are etched everywhere in day-to-day life.

Christianity was informally introduced to the islands by travellers in the late 1700s. When Methodist missionary Peter Turner arrived there in 1828 he discovered there were already Methodists on the islands.

Methodists had established a mission in Tonga and the religion had spread to Samoa.

John Williams of the London Missionary Society arrived at Sapapalii on his ship Messenger of Peace in 1830 with eight teachers. Hymn and prayer books were then printed in Samoan and in 1848 the first Samoan version of the New Testament was published. This was followed by the Old Testament in Samoan seven years later.

In 1848 two French Catholic priests established followers in the village of Sale'aula and this has been followed by many other denominations.

And the missionary work continues - young Mormons regularly cross the islands on their bikes - fully rigged out in their usual sartorial splendour.

Church attendance is very high - some estimate up to 95 per cent of the Samoan people are regular churchgoers. Sundays on the islands are special, with the locals seen walking to and from their churches - often wearing white to represent purity and clutching their Bible.

I slipped into one of these services at a church in Fagali'i-Tai, about 5km east of Apia. There didn't seem to be any strict timetable of worship and people seemed to be arriving at all different times, but I got lots of big Samoan smiles of welcome.

Another Kiwi tourist who was drawn into a church service by the beautiful singing was treated to a sermon translated into English - the pastor did it especially for her. Continue reading

Sources

Robyn Yousef is an Auckland writer.

 

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