The article discusses the role of a religious factor in the life of multi-religious Kazakh society. Religion has come to play a significant role in a social development, also in maintaining stability of Kazakh society. It required the governmentto build an adequate relation with religious associations. Church-state relations have becomeone of the most important point for the Republic of Kazakhstan. In spite of its stability, the religious situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan is not so clear, many problems are still unsolved.
As known, the importance of the religious factor in the political life of Kazakhstan prior to the 1990s was small.
The role of religion in Kazakhstan increases with the destruction of the totalitarian ideology. People tries to renew traditional values and moral foundations through religion. The role and place of religion was changing in a system of social relations.
It required the government to build an adequate relation with religious associations. Church-state relations have become one of the most important point for the Republic of Kazakhstan. Being that Kazakhstan is a secular state, specific tasks of forming Kazakhstan's model of secularism and forms of building state-confessional relations, became in all its sharpness nowadays.
Contemporary religious situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan is largely determined by the specific structure of the multi-ethnic population. During the years of independence, Kazakhstan provided peace and harmony to representatives of more than 140 nations and nationalities. A confessional view of Kazakhstan developed over the centuries of shared history and living of people with different languages who was always characterized by a significant degree of ethnic and religious stability and self-sufficiency.
In the years of sovereign development of Kazakhstan there is a significant increase in the number of religious associations, among believers, there are followers of almost all world religions: Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and Judaism, Hinduism, ancient polytheistic cults and new religions.
The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Regarding Freedom of following a religion and Religious Associations" (1992) created the legal environment for the wide range of faiths and denominations functioning in the country. Freedom of religion became one of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the country. In practice, it is embodied in inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony between the followers of traditional and non-traditional religions in Kazakhstan.
Despite of the CIS countries’ experience, there was no order in registration of religious associations in the form of activity in sovereign Kazakhstan. There were some cases of informal methods which used by religious associations considering an unsafe threat to the health of people.
During the period that the Law "Regarding Freedom of following a religion and Religious Associations" existed, it had been changed 7 times. But the changes referred to specific issues that were seeking comprehensive improvement of the legislation in view of the current religious situation. If in 1990 there were 670 religious associations in Kazakhstan, by the end of 2010 there operated more than four thousand, 2500 of them - Islamic, about 300 Orthodox, Protestant over 1200. There appeared a problem to analyze the confessional field and re- registration of religious organizations, to clarify the content of their activities.
On October 2011 the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan adopted the Law "Regarding religious activity and religious associations". [1]
The main aim of the legislation in the field of religion was the need for better regulation of relations between the state and its organs with religious associations, including the order of creation and functioning of religious organizations, the mechanism of their re-registration, as well as the onset of legal responsibility in case of in violation of the provisions of the new Law.
So that the new Law took into account two main points:
- consolidation of the provisions to protect citizens against the activities of pseudo-religious movements and cults;
- development of provisions for the regulation of activities of religious
The process of re-registration of religious organizations showed not only a quantitative picture of the spatial location of religious organizations, but also the attitude of religious associations to the state religious policy. Since October 2012 there were registered 3,088 religious organizations representing 17 denominations in Kazakhstan.
Re-registration of religious associations in Kazakhstan has become useful to the general religious view, and at the same time, did not allow to comprehensively assess the situation regarding the activities of religious associations. [2]
"Our country is not only a multi-ethnic, also multi-confessional”, - underscores Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, - “religious attitude inherent to the hundreds of thousands of people, and the number of followers of different faiths continues to grow. Religion - is a real component of the social and spiritual life. In order to consolidate the ideological society the dialogue of the clergy of various faiths is important " [3].
The most widespread religion in Kazakhstan is Islam, which according to a number of sociological studies conducted in 1995, 1997 and 2009, 70 percent identified themselves as representatives of the titular nation - the Kazakhs and representatives of more than 80 percent of other Asian ethnic groups living in the country.
The second largest denomination is the Russian Orthodox Church, to which, according to the same polls, holds more than 60 percents pro-Slavic population of Kazakhstan. The share of Muslims and Orthodox Christians account for 95 percent of the total number of believers in Kazakhstan.
By the "Islam - Christianity" axis in our country there can be formated the tolerance of Kazakhstan population, which has been said by the President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the "Development Strategy of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the period till 2030". This agreement is possible on the basis of the most important commandments of Islam and Christianity which preach love, compassion, trust, openness, respect for one's neighbor. [4]
the most widespread from other faiths and denominations are: the Roman Catholics, Protestants, Lutherans, Jews. In recent years the number of religious associations, non-traditional for Kazakhstan, significantly increased. These include many of the non-traditional confessions and new formations that exist today in the world community.
In general, the religious situation is characterized as stable in the country. At the same time, it would be wrong to assume that the religious situation in Kazakhstan is absolutely perfect. There are still many problems.
The activities of several denominations politicized mainly influenced by external factors. The proximity of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, where, as we know, extremist groups hiding behind fundamental slogans, repeatedly violated the borders of these countries that makes Kazakhstan to seriously treat opportunities of similar events on its southern border.
An important problem is the situation associated with the identification of the faithful of their religious and ethnic background. The dominant ethnic group in Kazakhstan - Kazakhs - are Muslims, the second largest ethnicity - Russian - Russian Orthodox belong to the Church. Thus, belonging to a denomination is considered by believers as an element of national self-determination.
However, not every Russian isautomatic ally Christianor every Kazakh –is Muslim. The percentage of real religious people, those whose social behavior is defined by the relevant precepts, covers only part of the ethnic and national diaspora. This part forms a minority ethnic group.
Declaring unconditional freedom of speech and religion, the government consistently seeks to regulate relations with religious associations. At the same time there are pursued the aims to prevent conflicts in multi- ethnic and multi-confessional society.
The government seeks to make a social life enriched by genuine human values, the true faith, the formation of the spiritual ideals of the youth.
The past years for Kazakhstan have been a period of re-evaluation of a whole complex of ideological orientations and values. It is beginning of realizing that the formation of citizenship, concern for the preservation of interethnic consent, approval of democratic ideas and norms of political life is organically linked with the development of national culture and the spirituality of the Kazakhstan society.
As noted by the head of Kazakhstan: "Kazakhstan - is a multiethnic state. In cultural terms, this means some fairly stringent conditions for a democratic state."Underestimating the culture not only leads to a significant depletion of civilization as a whole, but also leads to the emergence of conflicts, fraught with civil wars. [5]
There is implemented a balanced language policy In Kazakhstan, which shows that even the minority ethnic groups such as Assyrians, Iranians, Nogai, have every opportunity to develop their language and culture. It creates a legal framework that guarantees freedom of conscience.
One of the mechanisms for preserving inter-ethnic harmony in the country is the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan as a public body of citizens of all nationalities consolidation. In order to enhance the role of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan's national policy is necessary: first, to raise the status of the Assembly itself, and secondly, the Assembly should encourage, to avoid the politicization of interethnic relations. Hence, the main task of the Assembly should not be to stand response to events, and to establish a system of preventive measures and recommendations to inter-ethnic relations are not turned into a political issue.
Religion (especially, world and traditional religions) is a powerful factor in the development of spiritual and moral principles of man. The true purpose of religion is to preserve and increase in man all that is human, to help a person maintain his "face". The task of the modern world is to actively use the universal values of humanism and tolerance, interfaith harmony and dialogue, which for centuries developed the principles and paradigms of world and traditional religions to maintain peace in the modern world of human civilization.
To strengthen the role of religion as an integrating, spiritually and morally-forming factors, it should improve the educational status of the population, we are referring not only to increase religious literacy of the population, but alsoit means increasing of political literacy, the formation of a certain political culture and political consciousness and self-awareness of the population.
This need is related primarily to the fact that one of the serious threats to modern civilization - religious extremism has not only a direct result of the lack of religious knowledge, but the fusion of religion and politics. Fusion of religion and politics quite a dangerous thing, as the religious and political leaders are appealing to the religious feelings of religious norms and dogmas to achieve their goals and ambitions. Today there is the strong interaction of religion and politics. On the one hand, there is the politicization of religious processes, on the other hand, the use of religion and religious factors in the solving of a political situation.
A confessional identity plays a specific role in strengthening inter-religious peace and harmony and religious tolerance. In this regard, some work is required on the part of world and traditional religions, that aimed at eradicating these kinds of negative religious self-identities as selfishness, isolationism, bigotry, the basis of which is a konfessiot sentrizm and ubiquitous rooting positive religious identity.
The condition of a positive religious identity, on the one hand, is an independent and stable existence of confessional groups, on the other hand, the peaceful interaction in multi-confessional world. Creating a positive religious identicity involves, on the one hand, the development of respect for their confessions, pride in its history, customs and traditions, on the other - comprehension of diversity multi-religious world, the rejection of the opposition "ours - foreign", adoption of the "other" regardless of their religious affiliation, understanding otherness and unity.
Thus, we can say that religion can be a powerful integrating factor, if we do not look for differences in our religions and the common features and principles, common ground and common values, unifying principle. And only in this case the religious harmony and dialogue can play a positive role in society, serve as the basis for the national security of the state and to act as a condition of survival in today's globalized world.
References
- Ivanov Trofimov Ya.Religiya Kazakhstan: Directory . – Almaty, 1999. Page 4
- Global dialogue for peace // Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, 2011.15
- Nazarbaev N.A. Critical decade. – Almaty: Atamura
- Nazarbayev A.Demokratization is a condition for national peace, but only a condition, not a guarantee // Panorama, 2000, 22 December, №50
- Nurpesova Tolerance as a factor of peace // Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, 2006.13 of June.