Conversion to Islam in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Papua New Guinea is famous for its religious diversity, innovation, and role as the intellectual home of the “cargo-cult.” Contrary to the dominant contemporary trend toward localized and syncretized forms of Christianity, one of the fastest-growing new religious movements in Papua New Guinea is the not so “new” religion of Islam. From 2000–2012, the Muslim convert population grew more than 1,000 percent, and data from fieldwork between 2007 and 2011 suggests that globalization factors, especially missionaries and media, are contributing to increased conversion rates. Transition from traditional life to modernity is sparking a range of social and personal crises leading people to search for new religions more closely aligned with traditional, local, cultural and material dimensions. This makes future conversion growth in Papua New Guinea likely.