page_title: Religion in Samoa
section_title: Status of government respect for religious freedom
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Samoa / Status of government respect for religious freedom
caption_attribution_description: The big Catholic church in Apia. Русский: Католическая церковь в Апиа Français&#160;: Église catholique à Apia, Samoa Deutsch: Katholische Kirche in Apia, Samoa
context_page_description: Religion in Samoa encompasses a range of groups, but 98% of the population of Samoa is Christian. The following is a distribution of Christian groups as of 2011: Congregational Christian, Roman Catholic, LDS, Methodist, Assemblies of God and Seventh-day Adventist. Groups together constituting less than 5 percent of the population include Baha'i, Jehovah's Witnesses, Congregational Church of Jesus, Nazarene, nondenominational Protestant, Baptist, Worship Centre, Peace Chapel, Samoa Evangelism, Elim Church, and Anglican.
context_section_description: The constitution and other laws and policies protect religious freedom. The constitution provides for the right to choose, practice, and change the religion of one's choice. Legal protections cover discrimination or persecution by private as well as government actors.
  The constitution provides freedom from unwanted religious education in schools and gives each religious group the right to establish its own schools. Nevertheless, a 2009 education policy, enforced since 2010, makes Christian instruction compulsory in public primary schools and optional in public secondary schools. The government institutes the policy inconsistently in government schools across the country, with little if any public concern or opposition. Church-run pastoral schools in most villages traditionally provide religious instruction after school hours.
  The government observes the following religious holidays as national holidays: Good Friday, Easter Monday, White Monday (Children's Day), Feast of the Ascension and Christmas.
  The government does not require religious groups to register.
  A government-established commission charged with recommending possible constitutional amendments concerning religious freedom completed its collection of public submissions at the end of 2010. By the end of 2012, the government had not publicly released the report or tabled it in parliament.
  In June 2017, the Samoan Parliament passed a bill to increase support for Christianity in the country's constitution, including a reference to the Trinity. According to The Diplomat, "What Samoa has done is shift references to Christianity into the body of the constitution, giving the text far more potential to be used in legal processes." The preamble to the constitution already described the country as "an independent State based on Christian principles and Samoan custom and traditions."
caption: Mulivai Cathedral, Apia (Catholic), Samoa. The earthquake-damaged Cathedral has now been demolished.
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