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Zaire Other African Christian Movements
Africanized variants of traditional Christianity can be
found
throughout the continent. In spite of state prohibitions,
new
churches outside the three officially recognized in Zaire
have
sprung up and, so long as they remain small and
nonthreatening,
have usually been left alone by authorities. Some have
been founded
by figures known as prophets, individuals who respond to
situations
of popular dissatisfaction with existing spiritual agents
and
organizations by creating new religious movements. New
movements
often recombine familiar elements with new ones, a
synthesis
effected sometimes with exclusively indigenous elements
and
sometimes with a mixture of Christian and indigenous
elements.
Data as of December 1993
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