Weir, Christine H. (2014) Bainimarama and the methodist churches. UNSPECIFIED.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Since 2006 the relationship between the Methodist Church of Fiji and the Bainimarama regime has been variously tense, acrimonious and downright hostile, with Church Conferences cancelled by the government in 2009 -2011 and allowed under restrictions in 2012-13 after the Methodist church was accused of ‘playing politics’. Other attempts to sideline the influence of the Methodist Church have included government encouragement of the New Methodists (Souls to Jesus) movement in 2008-9, and the invitation to Catholic leaders to be involved in the development of government policy. However, these government actions have been premised on the assumption that the Methodist Church is monolithic in its support for conservative Fijian chiefly values, often privileging these over more universalist values espoused by other Christian denominations. While this may been generally true of the years 1989 to 2012, it has not always been the case, as shown by the election of IndoFijian Daniel Mastapha as President of the Methodist Church in 1977 and the initial Methodist reaction to the coup of 1987. This paper suggests that in the last two years dynamics within the Methodist church have changed as the more liberal wing of the church has reasserted itself, a shift which is only partly influenced by Bainimarama’s actions.
| Item Type: | Other |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This is a Seminar Series. |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Arts, Law and Education (FALE) > School of Social Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Repo Editor |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Aug 2015 22:18 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Sep 2016 00:02 |
| URI: | https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/8396 |
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