Zaire RELIGION
High school students, Bas-Zaïre Region
Parents with a newborn on the way to having
the baby baptized, Bandundu Region
The majority of Zairians belong to one Christian church
or
another. Although statistics are imprecise, roughly 46 to
48
percent are Roman Catholics; 24 to 28 percent,
Protestants; and as
many as 16.5 percent may belong to the indigenous
Kimbanguist
Church. Islam counts only a small number of adherents in
Zaire,
perhaps 1 percent of the population, principally clustered
in the
former Maniema Subregion of Kivu (now Maniema Region) and
in
pockets in eastern Zaire from Kisangani south to Shaba.
Most of the
remaining population practices traditional African
religions.
A clear delineation of religious affiliation into these
membership categories can give a misleading picture of
Zairian
reality. The number of persons who can be categorized as
belonging
exclusively to one group or another is limited.
Overlapping
affiliations are more common. As with class identity or
with ethnic
identity, an individual Zairian's religious identity may
be
situational. Different spiritual traditions, agents, and
communities may be sought out for assistance, depending on
the
situation at hand. For example, Christian students in
Christian
schools 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. Sophisticated
urbanites,
faced with disease in a family member, may patronize
indigenous
healers and diviners. And Zairians practicing traditional
African
religions may also go to both established Christian clergy
and
breakaway Christian sects in search of spiritual
assistance. In the
search for spiritual resources, Zairians have frequently
displayed
a marked openness and pragmatism.
Data as of December 1993
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