Astana to hold world faith conference

In an effort to foster greater dialogue among religions, Kazakhstan will host a two-day congress on world religions, the first of its kind in the vast Central Asian state. "The idea is to get people from different religions to sit down around one table and discuss the most important issues of the day," Adel Abishev, a spokesman for the Kazakh Foreign Ministry told IRIN from the Kazakh capital Astana. "We want to show the world that people from different religions can meet and talk to each other." Some 150 participants are expected to attend the conference set to begin in the capital on Tuesday, including 24 delegations from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the United States, representing Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Budaism and others. Additionally, representation will come from the United Nations, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF and others. "This is the first time in Eurasia the leaders of different religions will meet each other," Abishev said, describing Kazakhstan, the world's seventh largest, as a natural venue for the event. "We consider Kazakhstan a bridge between east and west, a type of crossroads of civilizations. More than 120 ethnic groups, representing 46 religions live in our country. Kazakhstan is like a small world," he explained. Asked what prompted the government to host the event, the official said that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev wanted to share with the world their country's experience of peaceful coexistence with so many different people and cultures in one nation. "Of course, a democratic country cannot force to practice this or that religious dogma. This is a principal stance of current Kazakhstani authorities," the president was quoted as saying, adding: "Let's now recollect our historic traditions." But such comments have been dismissed as rhetoric by some observers - with each of the five Central Asian states exhibiting examples of religious intolerance. According to Felix Corley, editor of the Forum 18 News service, dedicated to monitoring religious freedom issues in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the worst religious freedom violator was Turkmenistan, closely followed by Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan has in effect outlawed all public religious activity by Shia Muslims, Protestant Christians (including Baptists, Pentecostals, Adventists and Lutherans), the Armenian Apostolic Church, Jews, Baha'is, Jehovah's Witnesses, Hare Krishna devotees and other faiths. Even the two approved faiths - Sunni Islam and the Russian Orthodox Church - were under tight state control. "Several places of worship have been bulldozed," Corley told IRIN from his office in England, adding: "Believers of many faiths have been fined for meeting for worship, sacked from their jobs, threatened, beaten and had their homes confiscated." He added that Uzbekistan allowed more public religious activity, but only for religious groups that registered, noting all unregistered religious activity was banned and subject to criminal penalty. "Many mosques have been closed and devout Muslims - who the government regards as a potential challenge to its rule - have been imprisoned, often serving long sentences. Protestant Christian places of worship - as with places of worship for other minority faiths - have also been denied registration. Religious literature is subject to censorship," he said. And while Kazakhstan, the host of this week's conference, had a better record than Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, believers from religious communities that did not wish to register or had been denied registration face harassment from law enforcement agencies and fines, he added. [For more information on religious freedom issues in the region see: www.forum18.org]