Papua New Guinea

International Religious Freedom Report 2006
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right in practice.

There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom during the period covered by this report, and government policy continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.

The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in society contributed to religious freedom.

The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.

Section I. Religious Demography

The country is an island nation with an area of 280,773 square miles, and its population is approximately 5,930,400. According to the 2000 census, the churches with the largest number of members were Roman Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, United, and Seventh-day Adventist churches. At that time, 96 percent of citizens identified themselves as members of a Christian church. Minority religions included the Baha'i Faith and Islam; there were approximately forty thousand Baha'is, according to Baha'i leadership, and one to two thousand Muslims. Many citizens combined their Christian faith with some traditional indigenous practices.

Traditional Christian churches proselytized on the island in the nineteenth century. Colonial governments initially assigned different missions to different geographic areas. Since territory in the country is aligned strongly with language group and ethnicity, this colonial policy led to the identification of certain churches with certain ethnic groups. However, churches of all denominations are now found in all parts of the country. The Muslim community has a mosque in the capital of Port Moresby.

Nontraditional Christian and non-Christian religious groups were active throughout the country. According to the Papua New Guinea Council of Churches, both Muslim and Confucian missionaries have become active, and foreign missionary activity in general was high. Pentecostal churches in particular have found converts within the congregations of the more established churches, and many movements and faiths that proselytize had representatives in the country. New Tribes Mission was the largest single missionary group, with approximately 450 missionaries in the country. The Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in the country during the reporting period. SIL partnered with the Department of Education and communities in linguistic research, literacy, Bible translation, Scripture use, and training. SIL produced New Testaments and one complete Bible in 157 of the languages of the country.

The Roman Catholic Church was the only traditional church that still relied to a large extent on foreign clergy.

Section II. Status of Religious Freedom

Legal/Policy Framework

The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government at all levels sought to protect this right in full, and did not tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.

The constitution's provisions for freedom of conscience, thought, and religion consistently have been interpreted to mean that any religion may be practiced or propagated as long as it does not interfere with the freedom of others. The predominance of Christianity is recognized in the preamble of the constitution, which refers to "our noble traditions and the Christian principles that are ours"; however, there is no state religion.

During the period covered by this report, government officials, including the governor-general and the prime minister, attended rallies held by visiting Christian evangelists.

In general, the Government does not subsidize the practice of religion. The Department of Family and Church Affairs has a nominal policymaking role that largely has been confined to reiterating the Government's respect for church autonomy.

Churches continue to run most of the country's schools and many of its health services, and the Government provides support for those institutions. At independence, the Government recognized that it had neither the funds nor the personnel with which to take over these institutions and agreed to subsidize their operations on a per pupil or per patient basis. The Government also pays the salaries of national teachers and health staff. Although the education and health infrastructures continue to rely heavily on church-run institutions, some schools and clinics have closed periodically because they did not receive the promised government support. These problems are due in part to endemic financial management issues in the Government.

Immigrants and noncitizens are free to practice their religion, and foreign missionary groups are permitted to proselytize and engage in other missionary activities.

Religious holidays include Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Christmas Day.

It is the policy of the Department of Education to set aside one hour per week for religious instruction in the public schools. Representatives of Christian churches teach the lessons and the students attend the class that is operated by the church of their parents' choice. Children whose parents do not wish them to attend the classes are excused. Members of non-Christian religious groups were not prevalent in the country, and it was not known if non-Christian religious groups had representatives to teach lessons.

Restrictions on Religious Freedom

Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free practice of religion.

There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the country.

Forced Religious Conversion

There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the United States.

Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination

The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in society contributed to religious freedom.

As new missionary movements proliferated, representatives and individuals of some established churches questioned publicly whether such activity was desirable. However, the courts and government practice have upheld the constitutional right to freedom of speech, thought, and belief, and no legislation to curb those rights has been adopted.

In the past there were incidents of discrimination against recently arrived Muslim immigrants, but there were no reports of such incidents during the period covered by this report.

The Council of Churches made the only known effort at interfaith dialogue. The council members included the Anglican, Gutnius and Union Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, and United churches, and the Salvation Army. In addition fifteen parareligious organizations, including the Young Women's Christian Association, participated in its activities; however, the self-financing council has only Christian affiliates. The ecumenical work of the Council of Churches is confined primarily to cooperation among churches on social welfare projects.

Section IV. U.S. Government Policy

The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The U.S. ambassador continued discussions with the Council of Churches and individual church leaders. The ambassador and embassy officials met with religious leaders to discuss their role in social issues and continued to meet regularly with U.S. citizen missionaries of many denominations.