Christianity in Tajikistan

Christianity is a minority religion in Tajikistan.

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According to the 2020 census, it is the second largest religion in the country behind Islam.[1] This is 0.69% of the population, or approximately 50,000 people.[2]

Denominations

The World Christian Encyclopedia, Second edition, Volume 1, states the Russian Orthodox Church as the largest Church. The Lutheran Church has one congregation in Dushanbe and smaller groups in few other places. The World Christian Encyclopedia also mentions the presence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. There were about 100 Catholics in the country in 2020.[3]

There are at least five registered organizations of Baptists. There is at least one congregation of Korean Protestants. There are foreign Christian missions in Tajikistan. In the constitution, freedom of religion is mentioned. Religious communities must be registered by the Committee on Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers. It is legal to distribute Christian literature.

Restriction

In early 2009 Tajikistan enacted a new law on religious practice which essentially limits worship to state-sanctioned forms. The new law imposes censorship on religious literature and restricts performing rituals to state-approved venues. It makes it harder for new religious communities to get registration.[4] This law has been used to ban the Christian aid group.[5]

Discrimination

In recent years, several incidents of violence and discrimination against the Christian minority have been reported. These included the bombing of a Christian church in Dushanbe in 2000,[6] killing 10 and wounding many more.[7] According to reports, some of the surviving victims later faced harassment by the police.[8] In 2012, a young man dressed as Father Frost was stabbed to death in Dushanbe by a crowd shouting "You infidel!".[9] The murder was motivated by religious hatred, according to the Tajik police.[9]

In spite of opposition in relation to conversion from Islam to Christianity, a 2015 study estimates some 2,600 Christians with Muslim backgrounds reside in the country.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Religions in Tajikistan | PEW-GRF".
  2. World Religion Database at the ARDA website, retrieved 2023-08-03
  3. Catholics And Culture website, retrieved 2023-08-03
  4. US State Dept 2022 report
  5. Targeting Christians in Central Asia Archived February 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Seven dead in Tajikistan church bombing". BBC News. 2 October 2000.
  7. Barbara G. Baker (13 November 2000). "Tajikistan: Church Bombing Kills 10". Christianity Today.
  8. "Three Muslim extremists arrested in Tajikistan church bombing". Archived from the original on 2007-02-14. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  9. Roman Kozhevnikov (3 January 2012). "'Father Christmas' stabbed to death in Tajikistan". Reuters.
  10. Johnstone, Patrick; Miller, Duane Alexander (2015). "Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census". IJRR. 11 (10): 1–19. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
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