Topic: Controversial Cultural and Religious Practices
Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Delegate Name: Dane Webb
School: Williamston High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Democratic Republic of the Congo position papers GLIMUN 2018 committees
The problem that religious practices and their extent has caused, is immense. The DR Congo respects freedom of religion and its extent. The religion in the DR Congo is quite is relatively varied. About 50 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, 20 percent is Protestant, 10 percent is kimbanguist and another 10 percent is Muslim. There are also small religious groups like Mormons and jehovah's witnesses who make up the rest. Many of these religious groups in the DR Congo are split by region amongst its provinces and divided by land. Discrimination does take place but it is not as severe as some other countries. However, the line between freedom of religion and a harmful religious topic is a fine one. It is there however, and must be dealt with. There has to be some restraints on religion as it continues to harm people to this day. For example, ritual slaughter is still used in some religions to this day. This is involuntary manslaughter and is appalling. As such, some restrictions must be put on what extent of power religion has over legal and moral actions. This is tricky however, as to step on freedom of religion would be very bad. As such, the DR recommends some basic restrictions on religion to begin with. Things that are very easy and that everybody can agree on, and as time goes on, make the restrictions more in-depth. This would be to not upset the people and have a gradual change as to not completely isolate religion from many governments. In all, this problem is a very big, yet nuanced one, and must be handled with care using gradual change.
