That evidence helped lead to the international outcry that forced King Léopold II to cede control of the Congo Free State to the Belgian state. The new indigenous leadership has succeeded in expanding its churches in Africa's largest francophone Protestant community. The Belgian colonial state authorized and subsidized the predominantly Belgian Roman Catholic missions to establish schools and hospitals throughout the colony. Estimates concerning religion in the DRC Congo vary greatly. In 1506, King Alfonso I of Congo established relations with the Vatican, the center of Catholicism. The four linguistic phylums spoken in Africa are: Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo, and Khoi-San. Based on these elements, some scholars support the existence of a unique AIR, but these “common elements” are not found in every African culture. The Democratic Republic of Congo is heavily influenced by the Christian religion, which makes up for 80 percent of the people in the country. After Kamwana's death, these churches split on regional lines, those in the Belgian Congo later adopted the name "Kitawala". 16–17, 20, Rotberg, R I (1965). Interestingly, many Christian and Muslim followers also retain elements of traditional African religions within their respective beliefs. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone there are several variations of the traditional African religion. By 1963 there were 143 local assemblies in Congo. Different spiritual traditions, agents, and communities may be sought out for assistance, depending on the situation at hand. 1, pp. In the Republic of the Congo, Kikongo speakers account for 46 percent of the population. The Watch Tower churches initiated by Kamwana in northern Nyasaland and which spread to Northern Rhodesia received funding and publications from the American Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society until 1925, the American organisation then disowned them. The church owns and manages an extensive network of hospitals, schools, and clinics, as well as many diocesan economic enterprises, including farms, ranches, stores, and artisans' shops. Culture of The Democratic Republic of The Congo - Religion and Belief - Indigenous Traditional Beliefs Indigenous Traditional Beliefs Though only 11.5 per cent of Congolese exclusively follow indigenous beliefs , these traditional belief systems are often intermingled with forms of Christianity, and are familiar to the majority of Congolese. For example, Christian students may employ sorcery with the objective of improving their individual exam scores or of helping their school's soccer team win in competition against their opponents. Although there are no reliable statistics, the major religions are Christianity, Islam, and African traditional religions. Share February 3, 2016 By World Watch Monitor Democratic Republic of the Congo ADF, Africa, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Trauma. It is the most popular for decoration and can often be seen printed on cloth or stamped on pottery.The rapid spread of Pentecostal Christianity and fundamentalist Islam has greatly affected the role of indigenous religion in African society. [4] Islam was introduced and mainly spread by Arab merchants and slave traders.[5]. “Kitawala” is derived from a Swahili term that means “to dominate, direct, or govern.” Accordingly, the goal of this movement was essentially political—to establish independence from Belgium. His movement, however, did not die with him. [21], The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, referenced by the European Christian orientalist Timothy Insoll. The church today has almost 44,000 members as well as 145 congregations within the country. The writer Jens Bjørneboe wrote in "Frihetens Øyeblikk" (Moments of Freedom) that "The Belgians worked hard with missionary activities among the black. Harvard University Press pp. Although the Protestant Church was not nearly as welcomed and/or subsidized as Catholic Churches, a quarter of the country identifies with this religion. And the independent state that succeeded colonial authority, black African though it be, has been no more successful in converting the Kitawalists from their apolitical, antiauthoritarian stance. Oral Literature and Moral Education among the Lakeside Tonga of Northern Malawi, Oxford, African Books Collective, pp. After a few years the population in Congo was reduced from more than 30 million to only 8. The Jamaa movement (jamaa means family in Swahili), like other Christian sects in Africa, has taken root under the umbrella of an existing church, in this case the Roman Catholic one. Factbook > Countries > Democratic Republic of the Congo > Demographics. This body evolved into a union called the Church of Christ in the Congo, now the Church of Christ in Congo. Many bishops wished to protect the church's institutional position and to avoid the retaliation that a more militant attack on the state could well provoke. Andre MBATA B MANGU* 1. in a river before crossing it, particularly in places where the water is rough or turbulent. Far more significant are ancestors, who are believed to continue to play a part in community life long after their death. 64, No. [3], 62 of the Protestant denominations in the country are federated under the umbrella of the Church of Christ in Congo or CCC (in French, Église du Christ au Congo or ECC). Christianity was brought to DRC from Europe, mainly Belgium. Structurally, the church organization has been changed to parallel the administrative division of the state into regions, subregions, zones, and collectivities. As is the case for many indigenous religions and rituals throughout the world, the traditions and beliefs of the traditional African religions have always been passed down orally rather than being written down into canonized scripture. That goal, some reasoned, could best be achieved under the cloak of religion. Nature spirits live in particular places, such as rivers, rocks, trees, or pools, or in natural forces such as wind and lightning. DR Congo - Religion. By Justin Findlay on July 27 2018 in Society. The state retaliated with a vicious repression. Islam [16] has been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the 18th century, when Arab traders from East Africa pushed into the interior for ivory- and slave-trading purposes. Around 2 million people in Congo are Catholics. The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa By Timothy Insoll. 1, p. 27, D. K. Mphande (2014). As is the case for many indigenous religions and rituals throughout the world, the traditions and beliefs of the traditional African religions have always been passed down orally rather than being written down into canonized scripture. Tensions would have been still greater but for divisions within the church and for the ambiguity of the church's role relative to the state. Individual congregations are scattered throughout much of the country, but the greatest concentrations have always been in Bas-Congo; some villages there have long been totally Kimbanguist. The church's penetration of the country at large is a product of the colonial era. Kamwana's movement had no concrete strategy of revolution, although the colonial authorities arrested him after six months of preaching in April 1909. Peter and Paul Cathedral, Lubumbashi, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Church of Jesus Christ on Earth by the Prophet Simon Kimbangu, Culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Islam in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Baháʼí Faith in Democratic Republic of the Congo, History of the Jews in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, International Religious Freedom Report for 2015 Congo, Democratic Republic of the, 2018 Report on International Religious Freedom: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Religiously Remapped - Mapping Religious Trends In Africa - Dataset of Religious Affiliations, "Country Profile: Democratic Republic of the Congo", The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "New Temples Announced for France, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Colombia, Utah and Wyoming", "The Baháʼí Faith: 1844-1963: Information Statistical and Comparative, Including the Achievements of the Ten Year International Baháʼí Teaching & Consolidation Plan 1953-1963", "The Baháʼí Faith 1957-1988: A Survey of Contemporary Developments", "QuickLists: Most Baha'i (sic) Nations (2010)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Religion_in_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo&oldid=991711379, Religion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Articles needing additional references from August 2008, All articles needing additional references, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2018, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 1 December 2020, at 12:38. The church has never denounced the Jamaa movement, but the hierarchy has grown steadily more wary of it. They were denied in their own beliefs and treated like animals Christianity is the majority religion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A typical practice involving a nature spirit in much of northern Zaire is the commonplace tossing of a red item (palm nut, cloth, matches, etc.) The majority are Sunni Muslims. Among Niger–Congo -speakers is a belief in a creator God, force or higher deity, which is considered by some to be a widespread and ancient feature of Niger-Congo-cultures, along with other more specialized deities, ancestor spirits, territorial spirits, and beings, as well as evil caused by human ill will and neglecting ancestor spirits, and priests of territorial spirits. The carving of ritual objects became commercialized, and music and dance altered as a result of the introduction of Western instruments and musical styles. Roman Catholicism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is largely a product of the Belgian Colonial era, with Belgian colonizers establishing Catholicism early on. And European interests were affected when African personnel abandoned their posts for long periods in order to follow Kimbangu and participate in his services. It is often simply referred to as 'The Protestant Church', since it covers most of the 20% of the population who are Protestants. Based on these elements, some scholars support the existence of a unique AIR, but these “common elements” are not found in every African culture. The Protestant community includes members of the Evangelical Church of the Congo. [10] Besides preaching the imminent arrival of God's kingdom, Kamwana also preached Booth's message of racial equality, equal pay for equal work, and the millennial doctrine that all government but Christ’s would cease, which was considered to be seditious and anticolonial in ideology. Conflict within the church exists between the lower clergy, who are in day-to-day contact with the population, and the higher clergy; the former argued for a more radical structural critique of the regime, while the latter prevailed in arguing for a more limited, moral criticism. A much more radical product of the synthesis of African and Christian elements is the Kitawala movement or so-called "Watchtower movement", which appeared in Katanga Province during the 1920s. The missions established a committee to maintain contact and minimize competition among them. Religions: Roman Catholic 29.9%, Protestant 26.7%, Kimbanguist 2.8%, other Christian 36.5%, Muslim 1.3%, other (includes syncretic sects and indigenous beliefs) 1.2%, none 1.3%, unspecified .2% (2014 est.) The state sought a counterweight to its critics in the powerful Catholic church. In September he voluntarily surrendered to the authorities and was sentenced to death for hostility against the state; the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, and Kimbangu died in prison in 1950. The Bambuti were linked to Pygmy tribes whose Stone Age culture was slowly replaced by Bantu tribes coming from regions north of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo about 2,000 years ago, introducing Iron Age culture to the region. At independence in 1960, some forty-six Protestant missionary groups were at work, the majority of them North American, British, or Scandinavian in origin. Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity was constantly opposed by the religious leaders of the Jews. Some of these preachers and possibly some of Kimbangu's own disciples introduced anti-European elements in their teachings. When two different religious systems exist in one community, the tendencies of conflicts of socioreligious, ideological, phys-ical, and even political characters will arise between them. Mormonism is a relative newcomer among churches in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, having first been established there in 1986. R I Rotberg, (1965). When, for example, a charismatic preacher of the officially recognized but noncharismatic Church of Christ of the Ubangi (Église du Christ de L'Oubangi) broke away in 1988 to ally his own congregation with a charismatic but officially recognized church community in distant Kivu, the Church of Christ in Zaire stepped in to adjudicate. The extent of his success caused increasing alarm among both church and state authorities. Early relations with the state were not warm. Approximately 90% of the population attends religious services once a week. In the 1970's, the Catholic church of the Congo was one of the Congolese State's loudest critics - this lead to a souring of relations between the church and the state. Sensing the threat of co-optation, the Protestants respectfully declined. Many of these rituals mark important occasions, such as planting or gathering a harvest. Jamaa means "family" in Swahili, and the Jamaa religion is a hybrid of European and African religious beliefs. Varying combinations of Christianity and animism have developed. In general, the living are required to speak respectfully of ancestors and to observe certain rites of respect so that the dead will look favorably on their descendants' activities. Not only was a renewed church involvement sought with struggling institutions, such as the formerly Protestant university in Kisangani (nationalized in 1971), but churches were asked if they would be willing to station representatives within the major government ministries in order to discourage and/or report acts of corruption by state officials. The Catholic Church arrived in the Kingdom of Kongo shortly after the first Portuguese explorers reached its shores in 1483. Since independence in 1960, protestant churches have been successfully handed over to African control, with foreign missionaries working under Congolese Church of Christ guidance. All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions © 2020 worldatlas.com, Native Plants Of The Democratic Republic Of The Congo (Congo-Kinshasa), Ethnic Groups In The Democratic Republic Of The Congo (Congo-Kinshasa), Longest Rivers In The Democratic Republic Of The Congo (Congo-Kinshasa), Tallest Mountains In The Democratic Republic Of The Congo (Kinshasa), Types Of Crimes By Number Of Offenses In The US, Jamaa, Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, and Other Forms of Christianity. [18] The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated that the DRC had the fifth highest population of Baháʼís in 2010, with some 283,000 adherents. DR Congo - Religion; DR Congo - Sorcery; DR Congo - Bana Mura ; Resources. In other words, ATR is part of the African In fact, the most widely practiced religion in the country is Christianity in it's various forms. When Kamwana was eventually allowed to return to Nyasaland in 1937, he initiated the Mlondo or Watchman Healing Mission, an African initiated church entirely independent of the Watch Tower Society, with its own rituals and scriptural interpretations, although many of its members still read the Watch Tower Society's magazines. The majority of Muslims in the Democratic Republic of the Congo identify as Sunni (90%) and 10% identify as Shia and Muslims are mainly concentrated in the provinces of Maniema, Orientale, and Kinshasa, respectively. Numerous preachers and sages appeared, many of them professing to be his followers. The Jehovah's Witnesses have been active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the 1940s, and throughout their history within the country many missionaries have come under attack from the government as well as local people of different religions. The Roman Catholic Church has educated approximately 60% of primary school students as well as 40% of high school/secondary students in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Kimbanguist Church has been a member of the World Council of Churches since 1969. The Baháʼí Faith in Democratic Republic of the Congo began after `Abdu'l-Bahá wrote letters encouraging taking the religion to Africa in 1916. Forty-eight percent of the people adhere to native religions and the remaining 2 percent are Muslim. Christianity is the majority religion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, followed by about 96% of the population. 4 • FOLKLORE Legends trace Bakongo ancestry to Ne Kongo Nimi, who is said to have had three children whose descendants, grouped into three clans, form the Kongo nation. The variety and diversity of traditional African religious beliefs, even in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, make it hard to generalize into one specific list of religious beliefs or rituals. 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