religion
In 2022, the ministry of education detected over a hundred children who do not attend school because of religious beliefs of their parents. But even the agency admits that the figure could be much higher in fact. (more…)
Religious preachers of Kazakhstan use social media actively to expand their audience. (more…)
In Kazakhstan, those convicted for “religion-related” offences under the Criminal Code have little chances to be released early and even after their release they continue to incur out-of-court punishments. (more…)
Kazakhstan has a paradoxical situation: citizens are punished for dissemination of religious non-extremist materials. One can even get fined for selling Quran or the New Testament on classifieds sites or for publishing an interview with the clergy. (more…)
The percentage of Muslims and Christians in Kazakhstan declines, according to the comparison of two national census of 2009 and 2021. 13 years ago, 70.2 per cent of census participants declared their Islamic identity, and only 69.3 per cent a year ago. (more…)
In the centers of Tursunzoda, Shaartuz, Dusti and Nosiri Khusrav districts, the representatives of public organizations and local governments, social workers, staff of Ministry of Education, religious leaders discussed the issues of promoting interreligious tolerance and countering violent extremism with experts.
“The sphere of religion, which a priori should be separated from politics, has become a factor determining political processes in the country and is even used as a tool to achieve political goals,” mentioned political scientist Arsen Usenov, in an article written specifically for CABAR.asia.
«The Central Asian governments need to get out of a mindset that still retains the Soviet legacy of separation of state and religion understood as the prohibition of religion interfering in affairs of the state, but under which the state has the right to control all, or the majority of, religious activities» – said Sebastian Peyrouse, research professor of the Central Asian Program at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Relations in the interview with CABAR.asia.
Central Asia spoke about the religious freedom and separation of religion from state back in the 10th century. Today’s concept of “secularism” in Kazakhstan has changed and is not working for all.
The Constitution of Kyrgyzstan has it that religion does not interfere in public administration, yet this principle does not always apply.