The Fiji Islands are located in the middle of the South Pacific,
close to New Zealand and Australia. Numbering three hundred
islands, the country is blessed with a mild, tropical climate and a
combination of both high and low islands. The population of Fiji is
approximately 775,000, with fifty-one percent indigenous Fijians
and the rest being a combination of Indo-Fijians, Chinese,
European, Pacific Islanders, and others.1
The Indo-Fijians are the
largest ethnic group other than the indigenous Fijians and constitute
nearly forty-five percent of the population.2
The Fijians are mostly of
the Christian faith, whereas the majority of Indo-Fijians belong to
other faiths, such as Hinduism and Islam. The country has a multiethnic
and multi-religious persona developed over the past two
hundred years of physical coexistence.3
While the majority of Fiji’s people would like Fiji to be known
and admired for its beautiful beaches, stunning mountain ranges,
pristine reefs, and tropical forests, in reality, we are better known for
the coups that took place in 1987 and 2000. The coups overthrew
elected governments on the basis of indigenous rights. In both cases
Christianity was an important ideological aspect of the upheavals