RELIGION

Bakhodyr ERGASHEV

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Bakhodir Ergashev, D.Sc. (Philos.), professor, head of the Social Sciences and Humanities Department, University of World Economy and Diplomacy (Tashkent, Uzbekistan)

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The New Year celebrations were the most important event of the beginning of 2005, demonstrating that the republic’s confessional life had reached maturity. In his New Year Address to the nation, the president pointed out that 2005, declared as the Year of Health, should be used “to mobilize all the resources of the state, society, non-commercial, and commercial structures and pool them together for the sake of the nation’s health.” This meant that the religious structures, together with the state structures, were invited to contribute to the major social programs and political decision-making. In this way Uzbekistan, a multinational and poly-confessional state, acquired additional and very effective potential.

In 2005, there were 2,202 religious organizations in Uzbekistan belonging to 16 confessions; 2,016, or 91.5 percent belonged to Islam. There were 170 Christian organizations, eight Jewish and six Bahai communities, one Krishna society, and one Buddhist temple in the republic. About 20 religious organizations were registered in 2005.

In 2005, there were 46 teachers and lecturers teaching religious and secular subjects at the Tashkent Islamic Institute; 231 worked in the madrasahs, 20 at the Orthodox seminary, and 15 at the Protestant seminary.

In 2005, the Koranic readers from Uzbekistan took the leading places at the International Contest of…………….

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