Christianity in Uzbekistan
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Christianity in Uzbekistan is a minority religion, accounting for 2.5% of the population or 630,000 according to a 2010 study by Pew Research Center.[1]
History
Prior to the advent of Islam, present-day Uzbekistan had sizable communities[citation needed] of Eastern Christians, including Assyrians (historically associated with Nestorianism) and Jacobites (historically associated with miaphysitism ). Initially tolerated by the Muslim rulers, they came under increasing persecution and pressure to convert.[citation needed] Around 1400, Tamerlane engaged in a fierce campaign to exterminate Christianity within his empire. The last Christian churches in Samarkand and Central Asia were destroyed by his grandson, Ulugh Beg.[2]
Christianity returned to the region after the Russian conquest in 1867, when Orthodox churches were built in large cities, to serve Russian and European settlers and officers.
According to a 2009 US State Department release, about 5% of the population of Uzbekistan are Orthodox Christians, most of whom are ethnic Russians.[3] According to a 2010 study by Pew Research Center 2.5% of the population of Uzbekistan are Orthodox Christians.[4] There are about 4,000 Roman Catholics in Uzbekistan.[citation needed] New parishes cannot register. [citation needed] In 2006 a law, by which printing religious books can be punished with three years, came.
The government indulges in massive persecution of Christians. There is strong pressure on Christians from a Muslim background in remote areas. Uzbekistan was designated to its list of countries of particular concern of the U.S. State Department.
Christian converts
A 2015 study estimates some 10,000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background in the country, most of them belonging to some sort of evangelical or charismatic Protestant community.[5]
Protestants
Protestants are less than one percent of the population. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Uzbekistan has seven parishes. The seat of the bishop is Tashkent. The president of the synod is Gilda Razpopova.
Denominations
- Baptist Union in Uzbekistan
- German Evangelical Lutheran Church
- Korean Baptist Churches
- Korean Methodist Church
- Korean Presbyterian church
- Seventh-day Adventist Church
References
- ^ "Religions in Uzbekistan | PEW-GRF". www.globalreligiousfutures.org. Retrieved 2020-06-06.
- ^ Dickens, Mark "Nestorian Christianity in Central Asia. p. 17
- ^ "Uzbekistan". State.gov. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
- ^ "Religions in Uzbekistan | PEW-GRF". www.globalreligiousfutures.org. Retrieved 2020-06-06.
- ^ 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.
- Source of the list: The World Christian Encyclopedia, Second edition, volume 1, p. 795
See also
- Roman Catholicism in Uzbekistan
- Russian Orthodox Church in Uzbekistan
- Human rights in Uzbekistan#Freedom of religion
