Religion in Papua New Guinea

Religion in Papua New Guinea is predominantly Christian with traditional animist and ancestor worship still found in some places. The courts and government in both theory and practice uphold a constitutional right to freedom of speech, thought, and belief. A large majority of Papua New Guineans identify themselves as members of a Christian church (96% in the 2000 census), however many combine their Christian faith with traditional indigenous beliefs and practices.^[1]

The 2010 Report on International Religious Freedom by the United Nations Refugee Agency^[2] states that religious participations in the country are relatively peaceful and no reports of conflict are being reported. Public schools host a religious subject once per week and representatives of Christian churches teach the lessons, and the students attend the class operated by the church of their parents' choice. Children whose parents do not wish them to attend the classes are excused. Members of non-Christian religious groups are not numerous, and they use family and group gatherings before and after school for religious lessons.

Christianity

The 2000 census percentages were as follows:

• Roman Catholic Church (27.0%)
• Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea (19.5%)
• United Church (11.5%)
• Seventh-day Adventist Church (10.0%)
• Pentecostal (8.6%)
• Evangelical Alliance (5.2%)
• Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea (3.2%)
• Baptist (0.5%)
• Salvation Army (0.2%)
• Other Christian (10%
• Jehovah's Witnesses (0.4%)
• Church of Christ (0.4%)^[3]

In 2010, emerging Christian denominations include the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Members Church of God International.

The Papua New Guinea Council of Churches members are:

• Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea
• Gutnius Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod)
• Union Baptist
• Roman Catholic Church
• Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea
• United Church in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
• Salvation Army

There are also a number of parachurch organizations:

• The Summer Institute of Linguistics is a missionary institution drawing its support from conservative evangelical Protestant churches in the United States and to a lesser extent Australia; it translates the Bible into local languages and conducts extensive linguistic research.
• Young Women's Christian Association

Other religions

Minority religions include Bahá'í (perhaps 40,000), while Islam in Papua New Guinea counts approximately 1,000 to 2,000 followers,^[4] mostly of immigrant origin.

Traditional religions

Traditional religions are often animist and many have elements of ancestor worship.

See also

• Roman Catholicism in Papua New Guinea

References

External links

• Islamic Society of Papua New Guinea
• Anglican history in Papua New Guinea - primary texts
• Jebens, Holger (2005). Pathways to heaven: contesting mainline and fundamentalist Christianity in Papua New Guinea. New York, NY: Berghahn Books. pp. 284. ISBN 1-84545-005-1. http://books.google.ca/books?id=byCPIt79B3sC.  Jebens reports on his comparative anthropolical study of two forms of Christianity, i.e. Roman Catholics and Seventh-day Adventists, in the PNG village of Pairundu.