Religion in Papua New Guinea is dominated by various branches of Christianity, with traditional animism and ancestor worship often occurring less openly as another layer underneath or more openly side by side with Christianity. The Catholic Church has a plurality of the population. The courts, government, and general society uphold a constitutional right to freedom of speech, thought, and beliefs. A secular state, there is no state religion in the country, although the government openly partners with several Christian groups to provide services, and churches participate in local government bodies.
A large majority of Papua New Guineans identify themselves as members of a Christian church (96% in the decennial 2000 census); however, many combine their Christian faith with traditional indigenous practices, known as religious syncretism. [3]
Other religions represented in the country include the Baháʼí Faith, Hinduism and Islam. [3]
Christian denominations in Papua New Guinea |
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The 2000 census percentages were as follows: [4] [5]
Roman Catholic Church | 27.0% |
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea | 19.5% |
United Church in Papua New Guinea | 11.5% |
Seventh-day Adventist Church | 10.0% |
Pentecostal | 8.6% |
Evangelical Alliance (PNG) | 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% |
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.
Several Christian professional educational institutions have been opened in the country, such as Christian Leaders' Training College, Divine Word University, Pacific Adventist University and Sonoma Adventist College.
Traditional ethnic religions are often animist and many have elements of ancestor worship, as well as tamam witches. [6]
Religious syncretism is high, with many citizens combining their Christian faith with some traditional indigenous religious practices. [3]
The Asabano people of Papua New Guinea had traditional methods of treating human remains that varied based on the type of relationship the survivors planned to have with the deceased. [7] These methods included corpse exposure with curation or disposal of bones, disposal of corpses in rivers, and even cannibalism. [7] However, after their conversion to Christianity in the 1970s, the Asabano began burning or burying bone relics and commenced coffin burial in cemeteries. [7]
Some cargo cults - the beliefs in a lost "Golden Age", which would be re-established when the dead ancestors returned - sprang up in Papua New Guinea during the 20th century, including the Taro Cult and the events known as the Vailala Madness in the Gulf of Papua, which, by the late 1920s, was no longer active. [8] [9]
The Makasol (or "Wind Nation"), also known as Paliau movement, is neo-traditional Millenarianist counter-cultural religious and social movement in Papua New Guinea. Its base is in the Manus Province, a motherland of its founder, the prophet Paliau Maloat (d. 1991). He had served in the colonial police force, but became an opposition political activist, organized a movement, and had been arrested twice by the colonial authority. Later he also opposed the independent Papua governing elite. [10] [11]
The faith of the movement focuses on a new Holy Trinity - Wing, Wang and Wong. The new counter-cultural project is based on native values: local production for use; indigenous medical practices; new versions of traditional social institutions ("men's houses" and replacing the structure of local level governments). [11]
There are similar indigenist movements to the Makasol. An example is the movement led by the remarkable "prophet" Yali in the Rai Coast District of northern Papua. [11]
The Baháʼí Faith in Papua New Guinea began after 1916 with a mention by `Abdu'l-Bahá, then head of the religion, that Baháʼís should take the religion there. [12] The first Baháʼís moved (referred to as "Baháʼí pioneering") to Papua New Guinea in 1954. [13] With local converts the first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1958. [14] The first National Spiritual Assembly was then elected in 1969. [15] According to the census of 2000, the number of Baháʼís was less than 21,000. [16] The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Encyclopedia ) estimated that Baháʼís made up 0.89% of the nation in 2020 [17]
Among its more well known members are the late Margaret Elias and the late Sirus Naraqi.
Margaret Elias was the daughter of the first Papua New Guinean woman on the national assembly, [18] and the country's first woman lawyer (in the 1970s). [19] She attended the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women and was given an award in 1995 and 2002 for her many years in the public service, particularly in the national government. She went on to support various initiatives for education. [20]
Sirus Naraqi lived and worked in Papua New Guinea from 1977 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1998, doing clinical medical work as well as teaching at the University of Papua New Guinea, where he was given an award in 1999 and had served as a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors in Australasia since 1985. [21]
Islam in Papua New Guinea counts for more than 5,000 followers, [22] [23] (most of whom are Sunni) mainly as a result of a recent spike in conversions. Despite being a dominant religion in neighbouring Indonesia, adherents of Islam make up a small segment of the population.
According to ARDA, PNG made up 0.01% of the population in 2020 (Shaivites and Saktists). [24] This compared with 0.02% in 2015, [25] and 0.01% in 2010. [26]
The constitution of Papua New Guinea provides for freedom of religion and the right to practice religion freely. Religious groups are required to register the government in order to hold property and obtain tax-exempt status. Foreign missionary groups are permitted to proselytize. Christian religious instruction in public schools is compulsory, although it is possible to opt out. [3]
It was noted in 2022 that more people are being accused of sorcery (nearly 400 per year in the highland provinces). Almost half of allegations led to physical violence or property damage. [3]
In the past, the Papuan government were opposed towards formally recognizing Islam and its institutions. However, the government has reportedly threatened to ban Islam to the present day. There are reports of native Muslims experiencing discrimination and even violence from the Christian majority. [27]
In 2023, the country was scored 4 out of 4 for religious freedom. [28]
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The country is the world's third largest island country, with an area of 462,840 km2 (178,700 sq mi).
The indigenous population of Papua New Guinea is one of the most heterogeneous in the world. Papua New Guinea has several thousand separate communities, most with only a few hundred people. Divided by language, customs, and tradition, some of these communities have engaged in endemic warfare with their neighbors for centuries. It is the second most populous nation in Oceania, with a total population estimated variously as being between 9.5 and 10.1 million inhabitants.
Port Moresby, also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific outside of Australia and New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the south-western coast of the Papuan Peninsula of the island of New Guinea. The city emerged as a trade centre in the second half of the 19th century. During World War II, it was a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43 as a staging point and air base to cut off Australia from Southeast Asia and the Americas.
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
Sanguma was a Papua New Guinean musical ensemble active from 1977 to 1985. They combined music from the cultural tradition of Papua New Guinea with Western instruments and were one of the first Papua New Guinean music groups to perform internationally. Sanguma formed at the National Arts School in 1977 and performed in their homeland at the South Pacific Festival of Arts in 1980. Sanguma were nurtured very closely in their early days by the Australian musician Ric Halstead, who was a lecturer at the National Arts School in Port Moresby from whence Sanguma originated and Les McLaren.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea is a Protestant church denomination located in Papua New Guinea that professes the Lutheran branch of the Christian faith. The Church is incorporated by a 1991 Act of the Parliament of Papua New Guinea and it has a baptized membership of approximately 900,000 members.
Education in Papua New Guinea is managed through nineteen provinces and two district organisational units. It is tuition-free and attendance is not compulsory.
The Society of the Divine Word, abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men. As of 2020, it consisted of 5,965 members composed of priests and religious brothers working in more than 70 countries, now part of VIVAT international. It is one of the largest missionary congregations in the Catholic Church. Its members add the nominal letters SVD after their names to indicate membership in the Congregation. The superior general is Paulus Budi Kleden who hails from Indonesia.
The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered United Nations trust territory on the island of New Guinea from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of Papua were established in an administrative union by the name of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. That administrative union was renamed as Papua New Guinea in 1971. Notwithstanding that it was part of an administrative union, the Territory of New Guinea at all times retained a distinct legal status and identity until the advent of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.
The Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Papua New Guinea has approximately two million Catholic adherents, approximately 27% of the country's total population.
The Rhenish Missionary Society was one of the largest Protestant missionary societies in Germany. Formed from smaller missions founded as far back as 1799, the Society was amalgamated on 23 September 1828, and its first missionaries were ordained and sent off to South Africa by the end of the year.
The Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters are a Roman Catholic religious institute. The nuns live a contemplative life, focused on perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, offering intercessory prayers for the world 24 hours a day. Inside the enclosure the nuns wear rose-colored tunics with their habits symbolizing their joy for the Holy Spirit. As a consequence of these habits, the nuns are known colloquially as the "pink sisters".
Islam in Papua New Guinea is a minority religion in the predominantly Christian country, with around 10,000 followers as of 2021. Papuan Muslims are largely concentrated Port Moresby and villages situated in the Highlands. Due to secular nature of the country's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country.
This is a list of selected references for Christianity in China.
Johann Baptist Anzer, S.V.D., was a member of the Society of the Divine Word, popularly known as the Divine Word Missionaries, and Catholic bishop of the German Mission to China in Shandong Province.
Dowsett is a suburb of Lae in the Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.
John (Jack) Renton (1848-1878), also known as The White Headhunter, was a Scottish seaman from Orkney. In 1868, he was among four or five deserters from the American ship Renard, which specialised in the trade of guano. He and the other deserters travelled in a small boat for 2,000 miles, and eventually landed at Maana'oba (Manaoba), a small island off the north-east coast of Malaita Island in the Solomon Islands. He became a slave of a bigman named Kabbou for 8 years, in which he learnt the Lau language, participated in the island's culture, and became a headhunter. While on Malaita, he befriended a local warrior, Kwaisulia, and taught him English. He is the only European to have been a headhunter and was the first European to live for a long period on Malaita.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Papua New Guinea refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The first missionaries arrived in 1980. As of December 31, 2022, there were 36,626 members in 92 congregations, making it the largest body of LDS Church members in Melanesia and the fifth largest in Oceania.
Sir Ebia Olewale (1940–2009) was a politician in Papua New Guinea (PNG). He was elected as a member of the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea in 1968 and went on to hold several ministerial positions during the period of self-governance and after PNG's independence in 1975, including that of deputy prime minister. He was knighted in 1983 and served as chancellor of the University of Goroka from 2000 to 2006. From 2002 until his death, he was a director of the Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Program.
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