Categories: christianity
Date: 07 April 2009 11:15:33
Turkmenistan
Languages: Turkmen, Russian
To have a place to meet is vital for a community of believers. Yet in Turkmenistan this issue poses one of the biggest challenges for the Church as the government controls, obstructs and prevents the building, buying or renting of religious meeting-places and places of worship. Churches can obtain a meeting place only if they are registered; yet despite the fact that the number of members required for registration was reduced from 500 to only five in 2004, few Christian communities have actually managed to register. Many officials who approve registration are dismissed from their jobs.
Christians had hoped that their conditions would improve after the death of former President Niyazov who created a cult centred on himself, wrote a sacred book, Ruhnama, and legally required all places of worship to have a room set aside for reading it. However, promises to respect human rights have (so far) come to nothing. There are still severe restrictions on all religious activity and Christians can be fired from their jobs or evicted from their homes because of their faith.