Interesting article, and I wish the best for our brothers and sisters in PNG.

However it is plain nutty to reason that Christianity should be the state religion so that the stage can give funding to universities that they can reverse the decline of agriculture.

It is hard to imagine the confusion that produced such a line of bankrupt reasoning.

It is hard to imagine the confusion that produced such a line of bankrupt reasoning.
Cumberland,
That's the crux of most of the problems of the modern world. Tunnel-visioned, saturation educated pseudo-intellectuals dabbling in aspects of life they could never comprehend in a million years !

One of my most memorable experiences in the islands was because of religion.

The Rabaul Yacht Club had an annual event, the Duke of York’s Ball.
This is actually a bar-b-q in a coconut plantation on a beautiful beach fronting a long narrow bay, on the main island of the Duke of York’s Islands, a small group, about 25 miles from Rabaul.

About 25 yachts carrying friends, & anyone who wanted to go sailed over on Saturday. I had a couple of very British matrons, in full evening dress who had expected something more ball like turn up looking for a lift, but came along anyway.

After a fantastic night of good food, a great singalong lubricated by the yacht club bar & with the night temperature in the area always being 24/25C, most slept on the beach. At 7.00 AM we were awoken to the most glorious singing I have ever heard. Just across the bay, there was a coral block church, & they were singing, I presume hymns, but in their own language, so to us it was just a beautiful sound.

It was one of those totally still tropical mornings, not a breath of air, the yachts looked like they were sitting on a mirror the water was so still. Everyone just sat & listened for the half an hour or so it lasted.

Then it was pack up the gear, I located my passengers, one of whom had acquired shorts & a t-shirt from somewhere, the other still in her full evening finery, & back to town. It was great weekend, but the memorable moment was those fantastic voices drifting across the still waters of the lagoon.

I don't know how much the church was doing for those people, but it sure made them sound fantastic.