Don’t declare PNG a Christian country

I GREW up going to church with my parents.
Today, I don’t go to church much, butI respect people who do.
If they find comfort in doing what what they believe in, that’s wonderful.
I’m happy I live in a country where we are all free to worship as we like.
Even if we choose not to worship at all, I don’t have a problem with that.
So why is the Government wasting money by asking the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission to find out if PNG should be declared a Christian country?
What absolute nonsense and a waste of taxpayers’ money.
Is such a declaration going to make anyone’s actions any more Christian?
Of course not.
Why does the Government want to alter the Constitution?
The authors of the Constitution got it right when they said to honour and respect our ancestral traditions and the Christianity we embrace today.
Isn’t that what most Papua New Guineans do every day?
Aren’t we preserving our traditions and those of the church at the same time?
But the Government is suggesting we disown those ancestral traditions and declare ourselves a “Christian country”!
What kind of a Christian country is the Government talking about?
Is it a Seventh-day Adventist country, a Lutheran, Anglican or a Catholic country?
The Catholic church does not support this declaration at all.
So it looks like there is no agreement about what a Christian country is.
And didn’t the Government learn anything from the events from 2013 to 2015, when the previous speaker of parliament destroyed part of the Parliament House simply because of his self-centred Christian beliefs?
This happened despite the fact that the Constitution guarantees our freedom of religion under Section 45.
The Constitution demands respect for other traditions and beliefs.
One law for the speaker, a different law for everyone else.
Yet, declaring PNG a Christian country would mean all such respect is abandoned, we let our minds shrivel up and we recognise Christianity as the only religion for this country.
That can never be the case if we want to retain our identity in the world.
Thankfully, the former speaker lost in the 2017 election.
But many MPs who supported the former speaker’s actions are still in Government.
So nothing has really changed?
And now they’re telling us to “take back PNG”.
Declaring PNG a Christian country is all about abandoning it.
This move means forgetting the respect for ancestral traditions, things that identify us as Papua New Guineans and the beautiful diversity that we cherish.
Declaring PNG a Christian country would make us all the same and, more importantly, make us totally intolerant of anyone whose beliefs are different from us.
The Constitutional and Law Reform Commission should respect our Constitution and the very noble principles it promotes.
Forget the arrogance of the Government and let people be free to worship as they like without anyone forcing them to follow a particular religion. These are our personal decisions.
Please let us enjoy our freedoms.
Let us enjoy being Papua New Guineans.

Zebra Yava,
Port Moresby