News
Kazakhstan: Religious Freedom Under Attack
(By Anneta Vyssotskaia)
Kazakhstan is one of the Central Asian countries that were part of the Soviet Union Communist empire and later became independent states. During the Soviet era the ruling Communist Party imposed so-called scientific atheism on the people's minds using the education system and official propaganda. However, with the collapse of the Communist regime and the Soviet state, freedom of religion came to Kazakhstan among other freedoms. Through the work of numerous missionaries the Good News was accepted by large numbers of people, resulting in the birth and growth of many Protestant churches. The churches in Kazakhstan continue to grow and the number of converts from both the ethnic and Russian population continues to increase.
However, Protestant Christians are still a religious minority in Kazakhstan. Most of the ethnic population historically consider Sunni Islam to be the only true religion for ethnic Kazakhs, while the majority of the Russians living in Kazakhstan relate to the Russian Orthodox Church. The government wants to keep strict control of all religious life in the country, deciding which religions are suitable for Kazakhstan and which are not. There is a growing intolerance of Protestant Christians and some Muslim groups as well as other religious bodies, mainly Jehovah's Witnesses and Hare Krishna. During 2007 the authorities started to put greater restrictions on the activities of such organisations, with 43 people of various religions charged with illegal missionary activities.
In August 2007 Grace Presbyterian Church in Karaganda, a large church in Kazakhstan with 2500 members, was raided by National Security Committee secret police for 15 hours. Whilst initial accusations of treason against the pastor and three other church leaders were dropped, in the following months other Grace churches in Kazakhstan were investigated and several were threatened with closure. On 25 & 26 January the 5000-member Grace Presbyterian Church in Almaty, one of the largest churches in the country, was raided by secret police for 17 hours. As Forum 18 reports, a Grace Church representative said all this was aimed at closing down the approximately 300 Grace churches in Kazakhstan. They are now being scrutinised by state agencies like the Financial Police, Justice Department and National Security. Although the investigation is still under way, there have already been several negative media reports, such as 'Deceptive Grace' which accused church members of spying, possessing drugs and stealing church members' property.
Whilst Kazakhstan's official policy had been to set an example of tolerance towards all peaceful religions, President Nazarbayev, speaking at the Nur Otan party's council meeting on 17 January, attacked missionary activities in the country. He said: 'We are a secular state and have no official religion. However, it does not mean that Kazakhstan should become a dumping ground for religious movements of all kinds.' In his opinion the existing religious law needed to be strengthened especially regarding religious extremism. 'Thousands of missionary organisations are functioning in Kazakhstan. We are unaware of their goals. We must curtail their unlimited freedom, as this country does not need it.' The next day, participants at the round table, 'Impact of non-traditional religions on youth', expressed their concerns about the growth of 'violations of the law' by non-traditional religious bodies.
After such statements from Kazakhstan's head of state, there will most likely be more persecution of religious organisations not approved by the government, including many Protestant churches and especially those having links with foreign missionary groups. There is an urgent need to pray for the situation in the country as it may deteriorate very quickly.
RLP guest writer Anneta Vyssotskaia serves on the WEA Religious Liberty Commission. Elizabeth Kendal, our regular researcher and writer, is on another assignment.
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