"As a Christian country, our day of worship is on Sunday," Tuilaepa Soiamoa Grey told the Samoa Observer.

"I have nothing against the government's decision to make Samoa a Christian state. I fully support it.

"But what I find contradictory and hypocritical, is when the government changes the constitution, yet allows foreigners to disrespect our day of worship by continuing to do hard labour on Sundays."

Tuilaepa lives next to a construction site at Vaitele. The workers are Chinese and they have been working on the Pesega Fou School on Sundays in the past months, without any consideration for others, according to Tuilaepa.

"It's really disturbing that I cannot have a peaceful Sunday when these Asians are doing hard labour work," she said.

"What is the robustness of the Samoa Constitution when it comes to these Asians who are conducting heavy labour work on Sundays?

"What's more annoying is that their actions are a clear indication they have no respect for the laws of the land.

"Samoans take the day off, they attend church and if you don't go to church, you still cannot do such heavy work on Sundays.

"Why is it that we are a Christian country, yet there are people who work hard labour on Sundays? These Asians clearly have no respect for our traditions?

"Each and every Samoan knows that we don't do any hard labour work; what makes them any different? They are visitors to our country, whether they are citizens or not, they should respect our traditions."

Tuilaepa reiterated that these Asians should respect Samoa's tradition and culture.

Source

• Samoa Observer

The bill, which had its second reading last week, was widely supported by Parliament.

The 2016 Explanatory Memorandum attached to Constitutional Amendment Bill (No. 2) says the government wants to amend the Constitution to declare the dominance of Christianity in Samoa.

Leasiolagi Malama Meleisea said unclean if amendment will continue to guarantee religious freedom.

He is the Director of Samoan Studies at the National University of Samoa.

"They are framing their concern about Islamism and so on in a very emotional way," Leasiolagi said.

"So the leaders of the main Christian denominations are more or less saying that we want to protect our turf but in order for us to air these concerns we are going to frame it in the context of what is happening in the world."

As it stands, the Constitution's only reference to Christianity is in the preamble.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielega said that means it is not part of the Constitution.

"This does not stand in Court as it is not included in the body of the Constitution."

Tuilaepa said with the amendment, reference to Christianity will be included in body of the Constitution.

"The phrase "Samoa is founded on God" will be taken out.

Instead "Samoa is a Christian nation founded of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." will be inserted into the Constitution

Source

• radionz.co.nz
• sobserver.ws
• Image: samoaobsever.ws

This after the office of the prime minster has been advised that Islamic extremists could cause future instability.

Muslims accounted for 0.03 percent of the population at the 2001 census.

At present there is a small muslim population in Samoa that gathers at a mosque.

In 1986, the Samoan Muslims established the Western Samoa Muslim League.

A blog posted in 2001 said president was Mohammed Daniel Stanley a.k.a. Mohammed Bin Yahya a.k.a. Laulu Dan Stanley.

He was at that time 64 years old and a well known accountant and auditor who operates his own accounting firm.

Stanley had one room of his house at Vaiusu Village, which is located next to Apia, as an Islamic Centre and a mosque.

The Islamic activities involved general teaching of Islam and nightly Qur'anic lessons and the Friday prayers.

The constitution protects the right to practice any religion but doesn't rule out the establishment of an official state religion.

Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said the country's constitution may be changed to recognise Christian principles and teachings, not just in the preamble.

Presently, the Christian references are only in the preamble and are not part of Samoa's law.

Tuila'epa says the proposed amendments will also look into religious practices.

The prime minister revealed the constitutional move at the 50th anniversary celebrations for the National Council of Churches.

He said Samoa is a Christianity-based country and that goes together with Samoan cultures and traditions.

Academics not in agreement

Professor Iati Iati from the University of Otago said the pervasiveness of Christianity in Samoa was one of the reasons for the country's stability, and the faith is fully integrated into the political and cultural structures.

But he said Samoa would be treading down a dangerous path to ban other faiths.

"I think the writers of the Samoa constitution were wise beyond their years and I don't think the government should be meddling with the constitution. I think it's pretty good as it is."

Dr John Shaver from the University of Otago says calls in Samoa to ban Islam stem from a lack of personal experience and ignorance fuelled by media stereotypes.

He said that in places where minority groups were that small, it was easy for ignorance to spread.

"The problem is a lack of information and when your personal experiences don't often lead you to interactions with peaceful muslims then you rely on the media."

"And we know that positive examplars of minority groups in the media are capable of reducing prejudice."

Professor Rex Ahdar from the University of Otago said the Christian churches in Samoa were simply looking to "protect their turf".

"And they harbour genuine fears, and let's face it, they're not totally without some foundation, fears about the growth of Islam which they've seen in other countries around the world including in the west," he said.

"Now you might say well that's just fair competition, shouldn't they have to compete in the religious marketplace like anyone else, but again like good monopolists, sorry to use all this economic analysis, they're protecting their market share."

Samoa Council of Churches calls for total ban on Islam

The Secretary General of the Samoa Council of Churches, Reverend Ma'auga Motu, said he would go a step further and ban the religion of Islam.

He said even though most Samoans are Christian, Islam poses a future threat to the country.

"We are not going too far, no," Reverend Motu said.

"We are still wanting our own people to be prevented from this kind of influence, even though there are so many people who are good people but still there are some dangerous people among them who might come and threaten our peace."

The Pacific Conference of Churches calls for dialogue

The General Secretary of the PCC, the region's grouping of Christian denominations, Reverend Francois Pihaatae, argued that the focus needs to be on dialogue.

"To create first that space where everybody can come in and discuss and dialogue," he said.

"But they have the right to do the decision but before that we have to first look at what our faith, as Christians, is telling us."
Source

• radionz.co.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: www.youtube.com