Religion in Papua New Guinea

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Religion in Papua New Guinea includes the widespread Christian religious communities, which, depending on the assessment, include two thirds to 96 percent of the 6.8 million inhabitants of Papua New Guinea . They are made up of supporters of the Roman Catholic Church , the Evangelical Lutheran Church , other Protestant churches , Anglicans and free church groups. The Christian beliefs are more or less strongly mixed with ideas that come from the indigenous religions ( inculturation ), to which the rest of the population adheres. It is difficult to distinguish between religious and magical elements within the traditional notions to which cargo cults belong . There are small minorities of Baha'i and Muslims . Religious freedom is constitutional.

Indigenous religions

Due to the great linguistic and cultural diversity of Papua New Guinea (approx. 800 languages), only few general statements can be made about the ethnic religions of the Papua New Guinea peoples .

The spiritual worship of cultivated plants, creation, transience and fertility play primary roles everywhere in the Melanesian religions , even if very different ideas are connected with them. This also applies to the division of spirits into natural and ancestral spirits , the central importance of the ancestral cult in connection with a concept of the afterlife similar to this world, mythology with central primeval creators and cultural heroes , the idea of ​​the divine power "mana" and transferable to humans the cultic secret societies, which are responsible for certain rituals and social tasks. In addition, the cargo cults documented for Melanesia also exist , from which the people hope to get into possession of Western goods that the ancestors actually created for them.

In New Guinea there is a belief in magic (or magical abilities of individuals), which is expressed in the traditional music of New Guinea and which also often play a major role as a “social binding agent” for the officially Christian population. Consider the country's very short mission history, which in many areas is only a few decades. A special form of harm magic , sanguma, is also known in this context . The locals believe that illness and misfortune are based on the work of masalai : dark spirits that attach themselves to a person and poison him. The initiations of the young people are conceived as religious stages of knowledge of the world, which are intended to lead to the transformation of the personality within the world experienced as discontinuously, whereby the relationship to the world of spirits with knowledge and use of magic is of particular importance, which as harmful magic, Healing and business magic occurs. With the expansion of the personality, the status of the person concerned also rises, because he now shares the knowledge of the spirits and is familiar with them. This is especially important for the identification of the clan and its land rights, which are not least guaranteed by the ancestors. The belief in field tree magic with its fertility rites, as described by Jensen using the Kiwai as an example, is strong .

For a long time, European researchers paid special attention to the ritual headhunting typical of New Guinea's ethnic groups. However, this led to a clear overestimation of this element. Headhunting was carried out either by individuals or on organized campaigns. Strangers were killed specifically with the aim of capturing the head. The beliefs behind the headhunt were very complex. In addition to reputation or revenge and a demonstration of power, it was also about fulfilling the initiation conditions for young men. Finally, the acquisition of the mana suspected in the dead man's head also played an important role. The Asmat , who live in the southwestern lowlands of New Guinea, are famous for headhunting and an elaborate skull cult . In northeastern New Guinea, for example, there are wooden ancestral figures called kowar that are decorated with human skulls . Today headhunting has largely disappeared.

The so-called Dema deities from South New Guinea also achieved great fame in ethnology (see representative: Marind-anim ). It is the idea that new, vital things arise from the parts of a dead and dismembered creator; for example the crops that are important for the local horticultural crops.

Typical for many ethnic groups in New Guinea are the men's houses with their high gable beams, which are very artistically designed. They act as meetinghouses on religious and political occasions; Other cult houses are also available for large sacred celebrations.

Christianity

mission

In 1852 the first attempt at a Roman Catholic mission began on the island of Umboi , but it failed. In the following decades, various Catholic orders , the Methodists and, from 1882, the Lutheran Neuendettelsauer Mission tried each other . In 1895 the work of the Catholic Steyler Mission, which is still very active today, began . The First World War brought setbacks for the mission, as the German missionaries, on whose shoulders much of the work rested, had to largely leave the country. It was similar during the Pacific War under the Japanese and Australian-American occupations.

During the Australian-British and German colonial times, the churches were each assigned to specific regions, which led to a strong identification of ethnic-language groups with certain denominations.

In some areas, the indigenous concept of God could be integrated into the Christian faith. The Lutheran missionaries in Finschhafen adopted the word Anutu as a designation for God , or Anut in the Madang region.

The missionary work of the highlands of Papua New Guinea did not begin until after the First World War.

In 1927 there were about 500 Christian missionaries across the country, 3,500 in 1971 and 2,800 in 2001. Since then, the number of foreign missionaries has continued to decline as local Christians increasingly take on pastoral, educational and medical tasks in local churches, schools and in the health sector.

Christianity today

The churches with the largest number of members are the Roman Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea , the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea , the Gutnius Lutheran Church , the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea , the United Church in Papua New Guinea (a Church with Methodist , Presbyterian and other roots) and the Seventh-day Adventists .

Today only the Catholic Church is largely dependent on foreign clergy. The Liebenzeller Mission works mainly in the training of local employees and in supporting children and young people in urban and rural poverty. Founded in 1974 by the Swiss Evangelical Brotherhood Mission (SEBM) , the Evangelical Brotherhood Church (EBC) comprised over 100,000 Papuans in 2012 and employed 173 local pastors and 1,800 Sunday School teachers. After 80 Swiss and German missionaries were active in the 1970s, in 2012 only 41 western employees were mainly active in support and counseling services, but this trend continues to decline.

The country's constitution explicitly refers to "tradition and Christian principles". The country is considered to be one of the most Christian missionary countries today.

Non-Christian proselytizing religions

The Baha'i with around 15,000 followers and Islam only play a subordinate role. According to the Papua New Guinea Council of Churches , Muslim missionaries are active in the country.

The Muslim population of Papua New Guinea is largely due to immigrants since the 1970s and some converted natives. In 2000 the number was between 1,000 and 2,000 believers. In 1981 the Muslim Association of Papua New Guinea was founded. The first Islamic center was built in 1988, meanwhile (2006) there are up to a dozen centers.

literature

  • John Garrett: Footsteps in the Sea: Christianity in Oceania to World War II. Institute of Pacific Studies, Suva 1992.
  • Theodor Ahrens: The new person in the colonial twilight. Studies on religious change in Oceania (= Hamburg Theological Studies. 5). Lit Verlag: Muenster (Germany) 1993, ISBN 3-89473-994-0 .
  • Manfred Ernst: Winds of Change. Rapidly Growing Religious Groups in the Pacific Islands. Pacific Conference of Churches, Suva 1994, ISBN 982-200-067-7 .
  • John Garrett: Where Nets Were Cast: Christianity in Oceania Since World War II. Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific in association with the World Council of Churches, Suva and Geneva 1997.
  • Whitehouse, Harvey: From Mission to Movement: The Impact of Christianity on Patterns of Political Association in Papua New Guinea. In: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 4–1. 1998, pp. 43-63.
  • Theo Aerts: Traditional Religion in Melanesia. University Press of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby 1998, ISBN 9980-84-068-4 .
  • Theo Aerts: Christianity in Melanesia. University Press of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby 1998, ISBN 9980-84-069-2 .
  • Christin Koch-Schmid (Ed.): Expecting the Day of the Wrath: Versions of the Millennium in Papua New Guinea. National Research Institute: Port Moresby 1999.
  • Ian Breward: A History of the Churches in Australasia (= The Oxford History of Christian Churches. ) Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, reprint 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-927592-2 .
  • Neville Bartle: Death, Witchcraft and the Spirit World in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Point No. 29, Melanesian Institute, Goroka, PNG 2005, ISBN 9980-65-003-6 .
  • Garry W. Trompf: Religions of Melanesia: A Bibliographic Survey. Westport 2006.
  • Manfred Ernst: Globalization and the Re-Shaping of Christianity in the Pacific Islands. Pacific Theological College, Suva (Fiji) 2006.
  • Hermann Mückler: Mission in Oceania. Facultas, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-7089-0397-2 .
  • Paul B. Steffen: Centers of Formation and Evangelizing Ministry. Pastoral Institutes in Oceania and Africa. Studia Missiologici Societatis Verbi Divini 102, Franz Schmitt Verlag, Siegburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-87710-541-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Corinna Erckenbrecht: Traditional religions of Oceania (PDF) Introduction to the religions of Oceania, in the Harenberg Lexicon of Religions. Pp. 938-951. Harenberg-Verlagsgruppe, Dortmund 2002, accessed on October 14, 2015.
  2. ↑ SA Tokarev : Religion in the History of Nations. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1968. pp. 93, 95, 96 f.
  3. ↑ SA Tokarev: Religion in the History of Nations. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1968, p. 98 f.
  4. ↑ Adolf Ellegard Jensen : The killed deity. World view of an early culture. W. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 1966. pp. 39-46.
  5. ^ Heidi Gmür: Promised Missionaries , NZZ, Zurich December 18, 2012
  6. ↑ http://www.liebenzell.org/weltweit/arbeitsgebiete/papua-neuguinea/
  7. ^ Heidi Gmür: Promised Missionaries , NZZ, Zurich December 18, 2012