Christianity in Papua New Guinea may gain national religion status

The federal government ought also be encouraging, and assisting counterpart churches in Australia – notably the Catholic Church (the largest in PNG), the United Church, the Lutheran Church The Seventh Day Adventist Church, and increasingly the growing number of Pentecostal churches (rapidly growing in PNG) – to meet the growing challenges of a nation under massive pressure on a number of fronts.

In the likely event that the anti-Christian elements in Australian society try to prevent or undermine a greater role for the Churches, and engagement with Australian churches, the federal government needs to be resolute. The real challenges facing the community of Papua New Guinea cannot possibly be met by government agencies alone.

In fact the capacity of the state to do so is diminishing all the time and that is a reality we just cannot ignore.

The history of successful Christian engagement in Papua New Guinea since the late 19^th century is in general a very honourable and proud one. The Bible has been successfully translated into many of Papua New Guinea's 800 languages and the church-run hospitals and health centres are almost without exception the very best.

The other area the Churches of PNG need to be encouraged to focus on is agriculture which as I shall write in the near future is undergoing truly alarming decline.

The Seventh Day Adventist Church (in which James Marape is an Elder) has for many years been a very successful producer of basic food needs on its farms in the Highlands.

And the Catholic, SDA and Lutheran Churches have established and maintained high class universities and technical colleges which need to be given further funding to increase both enrolments and course choices.

Making Christianity the "national religion of Papua New Guinea" will be just one step along the road to rebuilding the nation, and enhancing the living standards of its people.

But properly implemented it will be a welcome and positive step!