When Faith Meets Politics in the Pacific

Across the Pacific Islands, Christianity is far more than a Sunday tradition. In countries like Samoa and Fiji, religion shapes who leads the country, what laws get passed, and how people see their national identity. Now, some leaders are pushing faith even further into government — and not everyone agrees that is a good idea.

In Samoa, about 98 percent of people identify as Christian. Churches are everywhere — you can count around 90 of them along just 30 kilometers of road from the airport to the capital, Apia. On Sundays, streets go quiet, families dress up in their finest clothes, and almost the whole country goes to worship.

Samoa's new Prime Minister, Laaulialemalietoa Paulataivao Fosi Schmidt, has made his Christian faith a big part of his leadership. At his swearing-in ceremony, he wore a prayer shawl and a cross necklace. Since taking office, he has made weekly fasting and prayer required for government workers. He has also proposed banning non-Christian religions, saying it would help stop religious extremism.

Not everyone in Samoa follows Christianity. Imam Husam Aldin Stanley leads a small Muslim community on the edge of the capital. He says Muslims have lived peacefully in Samoa for more than 30 years, but he worries that the prime minister's proposals could change that balance.

Dr. Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson is a professor of Pacific Island Studies at Portland State University in the United States. She says that when missionaries first arrived in Samoa in the 1800s, they connected their message to an old Samoan prophecy about light coming to Samoa. This helped local chiefs accept Christianity, and over time faith became woven tightly into Samoan culture. Today, she says, there is no clear separation between church and state under the current prime minister.

In Fiji, Christianity also arrived in the early 1800s, brought by British missionaries during the colonial period. Fiji's constitution protects freedom of religion and sets up a secular democracy, meaning the government is not supposed to be run by religious rules. But religion still has a very strong influence on politics there.

Kristel Whippy is a human rights advocate and the founder of Tracking Democracy Fiji. She says every Fijian leader she can think of has claimed some connection to Christianity. She is concerned that some people feel they should follow what their pastor says about politics, instead of thinking for themselves.

Reverend James Bhagwan is the Secretary General of the Pacific Conference of Churches. He lived through Fiji's coups and political unrest in the 1980s and 2000s. He says the most dangerous kind of power is when political leaders use religious language to claim that God approves of what they are doing, because it makes anyone who disagrees feel like they are disobeying God.

Despite these dangers, Reverend Bhagwan says the church still has an important role to play in Pacific life. He believes the church should speak up when human dignity is at stake — on issues like climate change, democracy, and the rights of minorities. He says the church's job is to guide and support communities, not to take over governments.