The Beliefs of the Kazakhstan People

Religious Beliefs of the People

08-Apr-2008

Religion in Kazakhstan is in a time of change. Arabs brought Islam to the region in the ninth century and, more than a thousand years later, Russian Orthodoxy was introduced by Russian settlers from the north. For all intents and purposes, no religion was practiced for the seventy years of Soviet influence over the region. During this time, religious participation was banned, and many churches and mosques were destroyed—religious traditions were lost in the name of Soviet atheism. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, 47 percent of the people profess to be Muslim (mainly Sunni branch) and 44 percent Russian Orthodox. However, few people practice religion in any formal way, but Kazakhs have incorporated religion into some parts of their everyday life. For example, they cover their faces in a short prayer when they pass graveyards where someone they know is buried and they often say prayers after meals. Sayings such as "God willing" and "this is from God" are very common in everyday speech.

Kazakhstan is a modern, secular state promoting ethnic and religious diversity and tolerance and is home to more than 100 ethnic groups and more than 40 faiths. These include Islam, Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Jewish and other religions coexisting in the Republic. Since its independence, Kazakhstan has hosted two international conferences that brought together secular and religious leaders to highlight religious freedom in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan has had no religious or ethnic conflicts on its territory since its independence, an exception in the region. Religion was suppressed for so many years that it became immaterial and continues to occupy little of everyday life. It is simply not an issue of importance between Russians and Kazakhs.

Beginning with Lenin and continuing on through Stalin and the Communism rulers who followed, religion was suppressed with the plan to ultimately eliminate religious beliefs. This suppression continued until the end of the 1980's. After the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991, religious beliefs revived in the newly independent states even though Lenin continued to be revered by some.

Ethnic Kazakhs are primarily Sunni Muslims. The Slavic people of the country are traditionally Orthodox Christians. There are many other congregations and also a smaller Jewish community.

Islam was adopted gradually in Kazakhstan, with complete conversion in the 19th century. In the early period of the Soviet Union, the government provided some stability for the existence of Islam. Later, however, it considered it conservative and reactionary.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many Muslims have become involved in spiritual life. Today nearly half of the population of Kazakhstan profess to be Muslim (mainly Sunni branch).

Soviet authorities attempted to encourage a controlled form of Islam as a unifying force in the Central Asian societies while at the same time prohibiting true religious freedom. Since independence, religious activity has increased significantly. Construction of mosques and religious schools accelerated in the 1990s, with financial help from Turkey, Egypt, and, primarily, Saudi Arabia. In 1991,170 mosques were operating, more than half of them newly built. At that time, an estimated 230 Muslim communities were active in Kazakstan.

Islam and the state: Concerned about the Islamic governments of nearby Iran and Afghanistan, the writers of the 1993 constitution specifically forbade religious Islamic political parties. The 1995 constitution forbids organizations that seek to stimulate racial, political, or religious discord and imposes strict governmental control on foreign religious organizations. As did its predecessor, the 1995 constitution stipulates that Kazakstan is a secular state; thus, Kazakstan is the only Central Asian state whose constitution does not assign a special status to Islam. This position was based on the Nazarbayev government's foreign policy as much as on domestic considerations.

Christianity in Kazakhstan is the second most practiced religion after Islam, with 46% of the population Christian and 47% Muslim. Most Christian citizens are Russians and, to a lesser extent, Ukrainians and Belarusians who belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. 1.5 percent of the population is German, most of whom follow Roman Catholicism or Lutheranism. Presbyterians, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, Pentecostals, Methodists, Mennonites, Baptists and Mormons have also registered churches with the government.

Russian Orthodox churches are in many parts of Kazakhstan, especially in the north and in large cities. Orthodox priests perform services and baptize children much as in the West. Great care is taken in preparing bodies and coffins for burial. Funerals in this part of the world are very intense, with wailing being a sign of respect and love for the dead. Funerals are usually held in the home of the deceased with people coming from afar to pay their respects. Russians and Kazakhs are usually buried in separate sections of the graveyard. If the means are available, a Kazakh can be buried in a mausoleum.

The Cathedral of the Temple of Holy Ascension in Almaty is the main Russian Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan, celebrating its 100-year anniversary this year. The church brings together local and Russian architecture as both Kazakh and Russian people participated in its construction.

The Catholic Church in Kazakhstan has Catholics of Latin Rite as well as Catholics of Oriental Rite. Two Greek-Catholic priests work respectively at Karaganda and Pavlodar under the jurisdiction of the local ordinary. There are about 8,000,000 Muslims, 6,186,900 Russian Orthodox and around 360,000 Latin Rite Catholics. The country is divided into three dioceses including one archdiocese.

The Catholic Church has deep roots in Kazakhstan. Historians at Tashkent University say that as early as the second century AD in the town of Merv, today known as Mary (on the Uzbekistan border in southern Kazakhstan). there were Christians among Roman soldiers taken prisoners after a battle they lost against the Persians. A bishop's see existed there in the year 334. In the same place, at the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth centuries, there was a Melkite monastery.

In the seventh and eighth centuries, Nestorian Christianity spread through southern Kazakhstan and Semiretchinsk (Turkmenistan) and later in the ninth and 10th centuries led to the founding of the Metropolitan See of Karluki. Christian churches still exist in Taraz and Mirke. In Taraz today there are still Christian families of Syrian origin (easily recognized by their dark skin) who claim that their ancestors went there to escape persecutions, the memory of which has been lost in time. In the year 1009, Nestorian missionaries baptized one of the numerous groups of Mongol speaking ethnic Kereiti whose Khan took the Christian name Mark, Marguz. In the same period, the Nestorian tendency spread among other peoples of Central Asia and the Metropolitan Sees of Kachgar (Xinjiang, China) and Navakheta were established.

In the year 1278, the Holy See attempted to organize ecclesiastical structures in the territory of Kazakhstan and in Central Asia. Because of the countless conversions made by the Franciscans, Pope Nicholas III established the Diocese of Kepciak. Franciscans in the territory of Kipciak received special privileges (probably from Khan Monke-Timur,1267-1280) and later renewed by the Khans. For example, all Latin clergy were exempt from military service, corve (unpaid labour) and tax. This all corresponded to the general legislation promulgated earlier by Genghis Khan. The Khan were obliged to protect Catholic churches and bell towers. The legislation mentioned above established a stable and ordered situation for missionaries throughout the empire.

Paradoxically, it can be said that the history of the Catholic Church in Kazakhstan resumed in the 20th century when Stalin ordered the deportation to Central Asia of whole peoples of the Catholic tradition. Providence turned a diabolical plan into a missionary event beyond the boldest dreams of even Propaganda Fide or any missionary strategist. From 1930 onwards, many priests were deported and sent to concentration camps in Kazakhstan. Having been released, they settled among the people and began clandestine ministry.

In 1991, after the perestroika, Pope John Paul II appointed Fr. Pavel Lenga as Apostolic Administrator of Karaganda for Catholics of Latin Rite in Kazakhstan and the other four former Soviet territory Republics of Central Asia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. He was ordained at Krasnoarmiejsk but the Episcopal See is in Karaganda, the main center of Catholicism in Kazakhstan. In 1999, Astana received an Apostolic Administration as did Almaty and Atyran. There are 250 parishes. 20 churches have been built so far, there are 63 priests, 74 religious sisters and. in 1998. a major seminary was opened under the title Mary, Mother of the Church.

One of the challenges here is to deepen the people's knowledge of the faith. Years of Soviet rule weakened family faith life and Christian education of the children. Many adults today have no proper understanding of the value of the Sacraments. For example, for many people, including Catholics, church-weddings do not exist. The wedding ceremony is still Soviet style: a wreath laid at the memorial for war dead and the couple are married.

While 44% of the population are Russian Orthodox Christians and only 2% is Protestant, there are more Protestant congregations. 93 "nontraditional" Protestant Christian churches registered with the Kazakh government from 2006 to 2007. There are 83 Roman Catholic churches in Kazakhstan. There are two Baptist organizations in Kazakhstan; the Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians and Baptists, with 1,000 members, and the Baptist Union of Kazakhstan, with 10,000 members. 198 churches affiliated with the Baptist Union registered with the government.

The Baptist church in Astana started 52 years ago and met in homes. German Baptists exiled here during the days of Stalin played a major role in the forming of the church. When freedom came to Kazakhstan in 1991, the city gave the Baptists a plot of land in a marsh where most thought nothing could ever be built. But God has blessed and a beautiful church was constructed in 1995, which can seat 400.

Jewish history in Kazakhstan began when General Secretary Joseph Stalin forcibly moved thousands of Jews, from other parts of the Soviet Union to the Kazakh SSR. During the Holocaust, 8,000 Jews fled to Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan has a small Jewish community that is well organized. There have been no recent reports of anti-Semitism. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, these communities openly practice their religion in Kazakhstan. There are synagogues. A large Jewish community in Almaty has 10,000 members. Smaller Jewish communities are located in Astana, Pavlodar, Karaganda, Chimkent, Semey, Kokchetav, Dzhambul, Uralsk, Aktyubinsk, and Petropavlovsk.

About 2,000 Jewish Kazakhs are Bukharan and Juhuro (Mountain Jews).