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Women Speak Out! A Report of the Pacific Women's Conference. October 27 – November 2

Tonga

page 16

Tonga

Religion is, to me, a personal thing, a faith that shapes a woman's life. To me, religion is God living in your heart and He living in your heart will rule from there and I sincerely believe that we will never go wrong if we have that administration from within us.

In Tonga, religion has played quite a lot on women's lives. It has given us freedom. You see, I think from all the Pacific islands, we all had religions in some kind of way. We were groping around in a dark room, touching a chair feeling, and thinking that was something suitable for a God. With us it was like that. When Christianity was brought in and our King was converted, our people welcomed it. There was a great change; there was freedom in the land. And not only from the higher ranks but from all ranks.

What I think about now is that we might get too narrow-minded about religion; that our minds may be taken up too much with religion in the old gospel, I mean religion in the Old Testament, and not with the New Testament. And what is the leading spirit of all is love. If we women could learn to love each other, to love your husband, and your children, to love people as you do yourself, as the bible says, which is the compass for Christian religion. That, I think, will solve all problems.