Don’t forget our traditions, beliefs

IF history is anything to go by, we are seeing a repeat of what our ancestors went through during the early pre/post contact era when the colonisers first set foot on our shores.
That is in context to the latest inquiry by the Constitutional Law and Reform Commission (CLRC) in their quest to establish whether PNG is truly a Christian country, a mantra generalising our people for years.
Most of our people then had their own belief systems based off their own cultural history; whether it was through their languages, taboos, ritualistic initiations, songs, dances and even who and what to worship.
These practices allowed them to come up with their own institutionalised rationale on what holds their people and the way of life together and offending such practices would disrupt their livelihood, hence, corrupting their belief systems on how they should live their lives.
Men and women in those times were barely clothed and that was the norm.
They believed that worshiping a deity from the sea would help them be better fishermen.
They believed that worshipping a deity from the land would give them extraordinary abilities to hunt.
These (not specifically) were common in most ancient civilisations throughout the world, whether it be from the Sumerians from Southwest Asia to the Mayan people of Central America (both are the first and the last civilisations to go extinct in recent memory).
Our ancestors had rich cultures and traditions which in a way, was a form of constitutional reference for their people to adhere to or get kicked out of society.
All of these were shun by the colonisers and labelled as paganism during first contact.
Most of our cultures and value systems seem to die out throughout the years (pre/post-independence).
The advent of the Western ways, instituted through the work of the missionaries, made our people confused, lost and ostracized from their way of lives.
Some of these experiences can back revisited in various PNG literature texts such as Ripples in the South Pacific by Sir Paulius Matane, Sana by the late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, Wanpis by Russell Soaba or Listen My Country by Dame Alice Wedega and many more.
These pioneer Papua New Guinean elites were showing us then how our culture and way of life became tainted through their experiences.
The most blatant in recent memory was the attempted removal of traditional totem poles and masks from the Parliament House, which the National Court deemed unlawful as it infringed Section 45 of the Constitution and Section 9 of the national cultural property.
In my view, the move to have Papua New Guinea known as a “Christian country” is offensive to the culture and way of life of our people which predates any form of religion brought by outsiders.
The Catholic Bishops Conference cannot cry foul over the CLRC’s decision to not consult church groups before launching this exercise because in every vibrant democracy, there has to be a separation of church and the State when laws are enacted, repealed or amended, a philosophy coined by the third president of the United States of America, Thomas Jefferson.
This would allow the Constitution to be uninfluenced by religious entities for the benefit of every citizens and not a particular group.
From the way I see it, this exercise is a slap in the face on the memories of our ancestors who had for years preserved our various cultures and traditions that guided our ways of living before the encroachment period.
The CLRC must be mindful of this exercise and whatever the outcome, must not fall on the sword of Christianity, a religion responsible for the “inquisitions” and many mass murders of people who tried to shun Christianity for their own beliefs which were declared as heresy by the latter.
How can we declare PNG a Christian country when most of our people still connected to our old ways manifested through our traditional songs and dances as seen on Independence Day?
How can we declare PNG a Christian country when most traditional citizens still have the notion of sorcery and witchcraft pervading our society, a practice believed to have emanated from our ancestors?
My only request is that the findings of the CLRC must be fair in the sense that it supports what they are aiming to achieve without offending or neglecting our once rich cultures and traditions.

Layman’s View,
Port Moresby