Religion and Peacebuilding in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Abstract

Christianity as a new religion imposed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by missionaries is predicated on the destruction of traditional African religions, worldviews, and ethical systems that were the cornerstones of traditional peace among tribes and nations. This imposition of a new and foreign worldview was made at the same time that Africa fell to European colonial powers. The new worldview that takes no inspiration from African tradition thrives only by ridiculing and belittling traditional systems now reduced to being the work of the devil, magical, fetishists, and so on. This reduction creates trauma in the African cut off from his or her ancestors and his or her ancestral imagination. The new religion is not yet internalized or endogenized to become a new locus of creative imagination and ethical harmony. Thus, in the new context, violence erupts because of the lack of social, ethical, and religious cohesion in response to political marginalization and economic exploitation. In the absence of competent political leadership and in the presence of rampant corruption, only Christianity as a social institution remains standing. It is this institution that tries to build peace through education, charitable work, and peace and justice commissions. The success of the Church’s efforts is limited given the widespread endemic violence in the country since it gained its independence from Belgium in 1960, and that true and lasting peace can only come from political choices and settlements.