In a move aimed at avoiding religious unrest, Samoa Officially became a Christian State.
Earlier this month, the Samoan Parliament passed a bill amending the constitution to transform the country from a secular to a Christian state. The objective of the amendment was “to insert in the Constitution that Samoa is a Christian nation to declare the dominance of Christianity in Samoa.” Of the Parliament’s 49 representatives, 43 voted in favor of the bill.
Samoa already had a reference to Christianity in the preamble to its Constitution, which declared that the Samoan government should conduct itself “within the limits prescribed by God’s commandments,” and that Samoan society is “based on Christian principles.” This kind of wording is common in the preambles of constitutions among Pacific Island states. However, a preamble to a constitution is generally seen as a broad symbolic national statement, one of historical or cultural significance, rather than a legislative tool. What Samoa has done is shift references to Christianity into the body of the constitution, giving the text far more potential to be used in legal processes.
Previously Article 1 of the Samoan Constitution had declared that “Samoa is founded on God,” a broad religious conception that could be applied to all religious groups. But with this change Article 1 will now read “Samoa is a Christian nation founded on God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,” a specifically Christian conception of God, with no room for interpretation by other religious groups, or by the government and judiciary.