Religious Intolerance Persists In Central Asia, Despite What Constitutions Say
ICC Note: This article gives a good overview of the religious freedom restrictions in Central Asia, which make being a Christian very difficult there.
By Merhat Sharipzhan
03/11/09 Central Asia (Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty) – On March 5, the Tajik parliament adopted in the final reading a new law on religious organizations. The new law is much less liberal than one adopted in 1992. Although deputies who spoke in favor of its passage said it treats all faiths equally, it in fact gives priority to the Hanafi school of Islam, to which 90 percent of the population of Tajikistan adheres.
If signed by the president, the new law would ban the propagation of other religions, in contrast to the more liberal law it supercedes. The new law also imposes new regulations for religious schools, which in future must be attached to and supervised by so-called Friday mosques, or by Orthodox churches with a congregation numbering over 15,000. No religious schools would be allowed in small mosques or churches.
In January 2009, Kyrgyzstan adopted a new law on religion that officially bans missionary activities and proselytism.
While on paper the relevant laws treat all religious denominations equally, in practice governments do everything they can to impose stricter control over religious groups, including so-called traditional religions.
In Uzbekistan, where missionary work and proselytism have been officially banned since 1998, five journalists from a Tashkent-based Islamic periodical were sentenced last month to prison terms ranging from eight to 12 years for propagating the teachings of Said Nursi.
Two months ago, a court in Kazakhstan sentenced a Russian citizen and missionary of the Unification Church, Elizaveta Drenicheva, to two years in jail for her religious lectures.
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Difference Between Paper, Practice
There are, to put it simply, no signs of any easing of restrictions on religious practices by non-Muslims in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, or Kazakhstan, even though the constitutions of all four countries “guarantee the rights and freedoms” of their citizens, including freedom of belief and religion. While on paper the relevant laws treat all religious denominations equally, in practice governments do everything they can to impose stricter control over religious groups, including so-called traditional religions.
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Fearful lest any unofficial religious group become so popular as to pose a threat to political stability, Central Asian leaders seek to co-opt all Islamic and other religious groups in their respective countries. In officially registered government-controlled mosques, clerics in their sermons laud the leaders of the “Stans” for bringing stability and prosperity to their countries… [Go To Full Story]
