part of government efforts to discourage visits to churches and other religious gatherings, a major human rights group claimed Friday, May 27. The news agency of the group Forum 18 said it learnt that authorities in the village of Krasnoyarka, 70 kilometers (45 miles) north of the capital Astana, are trying to spread Atheism, resembling the days of Soviet domination.
Igor Tsai, pastor of the Protestant Agape church in Astana, told Forum 18 News Service (F18News) that teachers have told eight-year old children that it is very harmful to pray and that it "can even cause death."
After school, children who attend prayer meetings are kept in school for "educational talks" by teachers, the pastor was quoted as saying. They are allegedly told that those who pray are turned into "shahids and zombies", the Islamic reference used in former Soviet countries to describe suicide bombers.
PRAYER MEETINGS
Tsai said almost all Protestant parents in Krasnoyarka region were told by teachers not to take their children to prayer meetings.
"The authorities dislike our church. In April this year, when we applied for state registration, as part of the process the authorities told church members to state not only their place of work, but also which political parties they supported, their hobbies, and even their zodiac sign," he added. Being asked to name their "zodiac sign" is offensive to Christians, who do not believe in horoscopes, F18News said.
Olga Mozhayeva, head of the Education Department of Tselinograd district, which includes Krasnoyarka, admitted she ordered "educational work" with children who attend Protestant prayer meetings. "We have received reports that the Protestants have been working actively with children, and have also been engaged in charitable work. They are distributing expensive presents, which people cannot afford, only to families whose children attend church," Mozhayeva reportedly told F18News.
WRITTEN INSTRUCTION
The Ministry of Education and Science has earlier issued a written instruction to head teachers "not to permit teachers or pupils to visit religious associations and confessions." It forced schoolchildren in central Kazakhstan to answer a questionnaire about their religious beliefs, whether they attend a place of worship, and banned under-18s from going to places of worship or Sunday School, as well as ordering compulsory "educational work" for those who disobey the ban, F18News reported.
"We cannot prevent a schoolchild from attending church. But we do have the authority to set up out-of-school clubs meeting a range of interests, so that a child will have neither the time nor the desire to attend church," ministry official Mozhayeva apparently said.
Aleksandr Klyushev, head of the Association of Religious Organisations of Kazakhstan, linked the problems in schools with current parliamentary moves to restrict religious freedom for all faiths. "We can interpret the education ministry initiatives as part of a deliberate policy by the state to restrict believers’ rights," he told F18News in Astana.
Protestants comprise only about 2 percent of Kazakhstan’s population of over 15 million, while most people are Muslims (47 percent) and Russian Orthodox (44 percent), according to estimates. The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has described the republic as being under "authoritarian presidential rule, with little power outside the executive branch." (With: Stefan J. Bos, BosNewsLife Research and reports from Astana).
