Microscopic Analysis- Week # 80; Dated 9th Aug- 15th Aug; Zone 1-Asia

Religious Education in Kazakhstan; Religious Revival and Government Regulation:

In 2010 Kazakhstan will serve as Chair of the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and thus has been under increased international scrutiny. Recently the government's efforts to amend the country's religion law threatened increased official control over Kazakhstan's highly diverse religious communities. According to available statistics Muslims make up 47 percent of the population, Russian Orthodox 44 percent, Protestant 2 percent and others 7 percent.

In late 2008, Kazakhstan's parliament passed highly restrictive amendments to the country's religion law. The amendments established more restrictive registration procedures; prohibited proselytism and the production of religious literature; prohibited groups from maintaining worship facilities open to the public; and significantly increased fines and penalties for violations of the law. On February 12, 2009, Kazakhstan's Constitutional Council declared the amendments unconstitutional. Nevertheless, some Kazakh officials reportedly still treat the overturned amendments as valid.

Until recently Religious instruction was not permitted in public schools, but enrollment in supplemental religious classes was allowed. This is however to be amended with last week’s announcement by the Science and Education Ministry, stating that Schools in the state will start teaching religion as a compulsory subject. The ministry announced that qualified teachers would be hired to teach "all religions and their history" in order to propagate religious tolerance at an early stage.

While Islamic revival in the Central Asian region has been on the rise, mosques and religious schools have mushroomed across the region. ‘Kazakhstan Today’ reported last week the opening of Medrese abu Hanif in Almaty, along the lines of similar institutes functional all over the country. The project under the auspices of the National Administration of Muslims in Kazakhstan (SAMK), duly registered by the state, is headed by the Chief Mufti. The organization exerts significant influence over the country's practice of Islam, including selecting imams and regulating the construction of mosques. The dominant organization reportedly exercises some pressure on the non aligned imams and congregations in a country where Muslims make up 47 percent of the population, Russian Orthodox 44 percent, Protestant 2 percent and others 7 percent.

School courses on religion are a thorny issue in the state part of the former Soviet Union where atheism was a state ideology and state regulation has steadily increased, amid protests by human rights activists. On the international level however the Kazakh government has organized events to showcase what it views as its record of official religious tolerance, having hosted three religious conferences ( in 2003, 2006, and 2009).

The issue of religious education seems to be an important theme across regions. While the Kazakh government aims at regulating religious education in its domain, it perhaps fears upsurge of civil society as in the case of the Nigerian Boko Haram (meaning ‘Western education is a sin’) which demands strict imposition of religious education and law in the country.

Tentative Discussion Questions:

Could the heightened regulation of religious activity in Kazakhstan be a result of government paranoia that may trigger more harm than good in the long run?

Is heightened religious revival, as is speculated in the case of the Nigerian Boko Harem, a result of religious revival or an outlet of emotions against corrupt and incompetent governments?

Could a secular Kazakh state effectively regulate, as a non partisan administrator, the nation’s ethnic and religious diversity?
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