Moscow, February 9, 2017
Photo: Stuartshepherd.co.uk
The tiny island of Samoa, 2680 miles east of Australia in the Pacific Ocean, is looking to officially declare itself a Christian nation. Although the cover and preamble of the nation’s constitution already reference Christianity, the government wants to reference the faith in the body itself, reports CBN News.
“The phrase ‘Samoa is founded on God’ will no longer be used. Instead, under the Constitution, it will be, ‘Samoa is a Christian nation founded on God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,’” said Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi. “Every time we say that Samoa is founded on God because it is in within our Constitution, God must've had a good laugh and thought that we have been fooling him,” he said. “And it has been more than 50 years that we have been fooling God, because this is not in the body of our Constitution.”
The proposed amendment has found widespread support in the Samoan parliament.
Some are concerned that such a measure will lead to unequal rights for citizens of other religions, though politicians assure it is intended to do no such thing. According to the prime minister, the goal of the proposed amendment is to prevent religious wars that have erupted in other nations, especially in the Middle East and Africa, but not to block non-Christians from entering the nation.
Politicians also hope that enshrining Christianity in the constitution will help to defend the country against the destabilizing force of liberal pressure from other countries.
“If we make laws and bills, we need to make decisions that will reflect that we are a Christian country,” said one parliamentarian. “So if other countries push us to make laws such as to allow same sex marriage, then we have to say no because that will not show that we are a Christian country. That will never happen in Samoa.”
