Religion Gone Awry?

Friday we rented a car to drive around and explore a bit of Western Samoa. It was a beautiful day and we began by going to “Vailima”, the home of Robert Lewis Stevenson. The estate covers several hundred acres and contains the home that was built by Stevenson, himself, over 100 years ago as well as his gravesite at the top of the mountain. We took the tour of the home (which is now a museum) and wandered around the beautifully manicured grounds. It was a great beginning.
Leaving the Stevenson museum we continued on Cross Island Road and drove through one village after, each very small and different from the one before but with a number of similarities as well.
Traditional Samoan homes (or “fales”) do not have walls although many family plots seem to have two homes…one with walls and one without. The one most used is usually a cement floor that is ringed by large posts holding up the thatched roof. Given the heat here it makes sense to allow as much airflow as possible to keep cool but there is a distinct lack of privacy. Also, in front of each home is the family tomb. These range from primitive looking piles of lava rock to very elaborate mausoleums with marble walls and carved headstones. I suspect that Samoans rarely move given the difficulty involved in transporting grandma and granddad.
Samoa has embraced the religions of the Western World with an incredible tenacity. Unfortunately this religiosity has mutated into a system whereby the citizenry are subservient almost to the point of slavery. It is all very bizarre. Each small village has at least a couple and some 3 or 4 churches and they, as well as the home of the preacher, are the nicest buildings in the community. The families are required to choose one church as their own and must attend every Sunday without fail. If a family chooses not to attend they are ostracized by the rest of the village and if a single family member falls away from the church they are not only ostracized by the village but by their family as well. It is a pretty brutal system. Additionally, during the Sunday morning service, an announcement is made telling each family how much they are expected to pay that week for their tithe. It is quite surprising given the limited resources of the citizenry, but the ministers do live better than everyone else so I suppose they are somewhat reluctant to give up their status. As an aside, the suicide rate here is one of the highest in the world and it is reported to be thus because of the conflict the youth have between the extremely conservative way of life here and the experiences they gain from the rest of the world.
As we made our way back to the ocean, hunger set in so we stopped at the Coconuts Beach Club. The food was wonderful, the restaurant overlooked the ocean and there was a great breeze. Perfect!
Life is still good in the South Pacific!