Since 2007 the government in Tajikistan has been working on a new religion law that will place restrictions on sharing one’s beliefs and on religious education for children and young people. For example, children younger than seven years can be forbidden religious education, and young people may be banned from being members or participants of Christian organisations. Church registration will be even more difficult to obtain than it is at the moment, and only Tajik citizens will be allowed to lead religious organisations.
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The last of these restrictions will be a particular problem because there are very few Tajik believers among the small Christian community. Only about 1.5% of the population is Christian, and for a long time this was mostly composed of ethnic European believers rather than Tajik. Also while there are now a growing number of believers among the Tajik, who are traditionally Muslim, converts from Islam frequently face much pressure from their family and/or community to return to Islam.
About 97% of Tajikistan’s citizens profess to be Muslims, although their beliefs often contain elements of superstition and Zoroastrianism. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, thousands died during the civil war between Communists and Islamists. The current government is trying to control all religious activity, especially after an influx of Muslim missionaries from neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan helped to spread a more radical form of Islam. Already the government is clamping down on Christians: in the past year, several churches have been declared illegal, church buildings have been seized without compensation, and at least one has been demolished.
