ABC News (Australia): In Papua New Guinea a growing number of people are now choosing to pray at a mosque rather than a church.
PNG is experiencing a sharp increase in the number of people turning their backs on Christianity and converting to Islam.
"A lot of Papua New Guineans are converting to Islam not because they don't like the other religion. It's just they've become, they feel comfortable in there," said Khalid, an Imam who received his training in Malaysia.
"The practice of Islam is much easier than the other religions. In the religion of Islam you are your own preacher. You learn how to pray.
"God is not only in the mosque, it's everywhere. So if I don't come into the mosque, the house of prayer, I can pray under the trees, in the house, anywhere."
Papua New Guineans began converting to Islam in the early 1980s, and there are now more than 4,000 followers with recent reports of entire villages converting at the same time.
Many are drawn to Islam because of the similarities the religion has with Melanesian customs, says Isa Teine, the general secretary for PNG's Islamic Society.
"When we greet people we hug them. This is Islam. We don't shake hands and leave them, so most of our cultures are Islamic," she said.
"Polygamy - this is Islam. Islam encourages four wives. Before Islam came in, people already had two, three, four wives. This is Islam.
"So when the religion came in and said, 'oh we have to do this, our Islamic culture, we have to do this and that', people fit in easily. So it's very easy for Papua New Guineans to embrace Islam.
"Once the religion itself spread I tell you, I'm just predicting in 20, 30 years' time, all Papua New Guinea will submit to Islam." >>> | November 17, 2008
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