Kazakhstan to issue rules to regularize missionaries’ work

In addition to the recently adopted law on religion Kazakhstan will develop regulations on missionaries and their operations, Kairat Lama Sharif, Head of the State Agency for Religion, said in an interview for Liter newspaper. “To fully implement the law and regulate missionaries’ operations, the Agency in partnership with the Interior Ministry is working out regulations on missionaries”, he said. The head of the Agency emphasized that “with the regulations in place, we will be able to (…) counteract the destructive impact of some religious organizations on the spiritual development of the Kazakhstan’s society”. He stressed that as of October 1, 2011 there are 310 duly registered missionaries, 124 of them representing the Roman Catholic Church, 90 being representatives of Protestant churches, 48 representing Islam, 42 of the Russian Orthodox Church, 5 rabbis and one Buddhism missionary. “Local bodies of the Justice Ministry and the Agency for Religion are to inspect operations of 4514 religious entities. Some of them were established back in the 1980ies, some were initiated by only 10 members under the law on religion as of January 15, 1992”, Lama Sharif said. “Regional governors’ offices will have to be engaged in large-scaled operations to review state registration of religious entities in all the country’s regions. Besides, local bodies in charge of establishing relations with religious entities have been galvanized”.