Artemyev A. Jehovah's Witnesses of Kazakhstan and Central Asia: Historical and Religious Analysis

INSTEAD OF AN INTRODUCTION

Three circumstances prompted me to write this small book.

First: the absolutely unimaginable avalanche of negative materials that almost daily falls on the average person through the media about the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses - a world Christian organization operating in 236 countries of the world and already having more than 7 million active members ("publishers") or more than 17 million followers ("publishers" together with sympathizers).

For reference, I will say that in Soviet times this church was banned as anti-Soviet, and the local communities of Jehovah's Witnesses were underground (although the legalization process began during perestroika, but it was never completed).

But new times have come: Kazakhstan has become an independent state that has constitutionally proclaimed the secular, democratic principles of its construction, the main of which are freedom of conscience and equality of all faiths and denominations before the Law.

Jehovah's Witnesses, like some other "persecuted" denominations, came out of hiding and officially registered their communities in accordance with the requirements of the Law on Freedom of Religion and Religious Associations.

It would seem that all the dots over the "i" were placed.

Unfortunately, religious tolerance and harmony did not last long. The harassment campaign has already swept not only the media. Trials began, moreover, on the most ridiculous charges.

Here is just one example. The program "Zheti Kun" on the TV channel "Khabar" (Kazakhstan) aired an article about how a young man appealed to the prosecutor's office of the city of Taraz with a statement against his parents, who allegedly "encroached on his civil rights", forcing him to visit the community of Jehovah's Witnesses. As it was said, it was this letter that served as the reason for the prosecutor's office to appeal to the court with a statement of claim to invalidate the registration of this religious community.

Let's leave aside the moral aspect of the young man's act and the involuntary associations with the pioneer heroes that it evokes. Let's just ask, what does the religious community have to do with it? If parents forced their son, against his wishes, to join a pro-government party, would the prosecutor file a lawsuit to ban the activities of its local branch?

I think the question is rhetorical.

They tried to convince us that believers receive instructions for such treatment of children from their spiritual mentors, and the literature of Jehovah's Witnesses contains calls for abuse by parents of their children. But this is absurd! You don't need to be a religious scholar to be convinced of the inconsistency of such statements. An elementary acquaintance with the mass publications of Jehovah's Witnesses is enough. As M. Y. Lermontov once said, "all this would be funny if it were not so sad." But in this situation, it is not only sad ... For all this is already becoming widespread.

So, it is necessary to understand how justified other accusations against Jehovah's Witnesses are, how legitimate is the campaign directed against the followers of this creed.

Second, the extremely negative attitude towards Jehovah's Witnesses of many even very educated people who in other situations are not averse to speculating about tolerance, freedom of conscience and religious tolerance. Why did they succumb to propaganda directed against Jehovah's Witnesses and often advocate banning the activities of this religious organization?

Having pondered this phenomenon for a long time, I have found no other explanation than the lack of objective information.

Russian scientists have already made some efforts to change this situation. Two very informative works were published there: Doctor of Philosophy, Professor N. S. Gordienko "Russian Jehovah's Witnesses: History and Modernity" and Candidate of Philosophical Sciences S. I. Ivanenko "On People Who Never Part with the Bible" (recently Sergey Igorevich defended his dissertation "The Evolution of the Ideology and Activities of the Religious Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" and became a Doctor of Philosophy). We do not have such studies yet.

And thirdly, having been studying religions for almost thirty years, Jehovah's Witnesses remained something of a "blank spot" for me, although I naturally had a general idea of this confession. Hence the desire to somewhat deepen their knowledge, having understood in detail the history, doctrine, cult practice and current state of the world Christian organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. And there is no better way than to sit down and start writing a book, in my opinion.

At first, I intended to limit myself to materials on Kazakhstan. But the deeper I began to delve into the problem, the more I became convinced that the history of Jehovah's Witnesses in Kazakhstan is closely intertwined with the history of the spread of this creed throughout the Central Asian region: it is impossible to write about Kazakhstan without touching on the state of affairs in the countries of Central Asia. Therefore, the geography of the study was expanded.

And one more point that needs to be highlighted.

Not only am I not a follower of the Jehovah's Witnesses' creed, but I also cannot consider myself a believer at all, since I do not belong to any denomination or denomination.

In this regard, one episode comes to mind. I happened to be in London. The hospitable hosts decided to show not only the capital, but also the country and offered a trip to the lakes that are located on the very border of England with Scotland. The famous Russian poetess Lydia Grigorieva, who has been living in London for several years, went with us, as her husband, a talented writer, journalist, poet Ravil Bukharaev, works for the BBC. And so, walking and admiring the beauty of the lakes, Lydia suddenly asked me:

- You are engaged in the philosophy of religion, and you yourself are a believer?

"Me?" "No," I replied.

"How, then, can you study religion?"

- You know, Lydia, I am deeply convinced that only a person who does not belong to any denomination can be a religious scholar. Imagine if I were, for example, Orthodox or Muslim, could I objectively write about other religious movements?

A pause followed... We did not touch on this topic again.

In Kazakhstan, that year, a noisy campaign began to revise the legislation on freedom of religion and religious associations in the direction of its tightening (which, unfortunately, has not ended even today).

Neither civil principles nor professional conscience allowed me to stand aside, so when I returned to Almaty, I wrote an article in the magazine "Sayasat", in which I sharply opposed the constant "shyness" of the state in relations with religious associations: from ensuring freedom of conscience to rough administration and legislative tightening. In it, he tried to protect such denominations and denominations as Jehovah's Witnesses, Bahay, Ahmadi and others from unfounded attacks. I sent the published article to Lydia with the inscription: "In continuation of our dialogue on the lakes."

I am deeply convinced that unbelief is not lack of spirituality. If a person deeply believes in God and it helps him in life, that's great!

It is frightening when a person is spiritually devastated, when instead of spiritual values there is moral decay, cynicism, complete degradation.

And to choose between faith and unbelief is everyone's right.

I am impressed by the point of view of Jehovah's Witnesses:

"To understand what another person believes is not to share his beliefs and follow them, and to acquaint him is not to convert to one's faith." It is important to be able to respect each other's views.

But back to our main topic.

So, who are Jehovah's Witnesses? What kind of Christian world organization unites them? And how is it represented in Kazakhstan and Central Asia?

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