The Samoan constitution of 1962 opened with a preamble declaring the country an independent state based on Christian principles and Samoan custom and tradition. Preambles are ordinarily read as statements of purpose rather than as enforceable law, and Samoan courts had treated it that way.
In 2017 parliament amended the constitution to insert a declaration into Article 1, the operative part of the text, stating that Samoa is a Christian nation founded on God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The vote was effectively unanimous.
The arguments on each side are worth setting out, because this is one of very few recent constitutional changes anywhere that moves a religious declaration from aspiration to operation.
For the amendment: it recorded what was already the case in a country where church membership is close to universal, and it gave the courts a rule of interpretation grounded in the values Samoans actually hold rather than in imported secular assumptions.
Against: the constitution already guaranteed freedom of religion, and a declaration in the operative text sits in tension with that guarantee. Small religious minorities, including Baha i, Muslim and non religious Samoans, would in principle be interpreting their rights against a constitution that names a specific theology. Critics also noted that the practical pressure on religious minorities in Samoa comes from village councils rather than from the state, and that a constitutional declaration strengthens the hand of the council in exactly those disputes.
No prosecution or deprivation has been reported as flowing directly from the amendment. Its significance so far is interpretive, and the courts have not yet had to define its reach.
Sources Constitution Amendment Act (No. 1) 2017 (Samoa)Independent State of Samoa, Parliament with Samoa: Constitutional Amendment Makes Christianity the National Religion (Global Legal Monitor)Law Library of Congress staff