View source for Christianity in Kazakhstan

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Christianity by country}}

'''Christianity in [[Kazakhstan]]''' is the second most practiced religion after [[Islam]]. There are 4,214,232 Christians in Kazakhstan (according to the 2009 census)<ref>https://www.liportal.de/fileadmin/user_upload/oeffentlich/Kasachstan/40_gesellschaft/Kaz2009_Analytical_report.pdf</ref> The majority of Christian citizens are [[Russians]], [[Ukrainians]] and [[Belarusians]], who belong to the [[Orthodoxy in Kazakhstan|Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan]] under the [[Moscow Patriarchate]]. About 1.5 percent of the population is ethnically [[Germans|German]], most of whom follow [[Roman Catholicism]] or [[Lutheranism]]. There are also many [[Presbyterian]]s, [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], [[Seventh-day Adventists]] and [[Pentecostals]].<ref name=REPORT>[http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108501.htm International Religious Freedom Report 2008] U.S. Embassy in Astana, Kazakhstan</ref><ref name=SECOND>[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kz.html Kazakhstan] CIA The World Factbook</ref> [[Methodists]], [[Mennonites]], and [[Mormons]] have also registered churches with the government.<ref name=REPORT/>

There are more Protestant congregations - 93 "nontraditional" Protestant Christian churches registered with the [[Kazakh government]] from 2006 to 2007. There are 83 Roman Catholic churches in Kazakhstan.<ref name=REPORT2006>[http://www.usembassy.kz/documents/irf-2006.html International Religious Freedom Report 2006] U.S. Embassy in Astana, Kazakhstan</ref> According to a 2009 national census, 26% of Kazakhstan's population is [[Christianity|Christian]].<ref name= "2009 Census">{{cite web|url=http://www.stat.kz/news/Pages/n2_12_11_10.aspx|title=Итоги национальной переписи населения 2009 года (Summary of the 2009 national census)|language=Russian|publisher=Agency of Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan|accessdate=15 November 2010}}</ref> There are two Baptist organizations in Kazakhstan: the Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians and Baptists, with 1,000 members,{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} and the [[Baptist Union of Kazakhstan]], with 10,000 members.{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} 198 churches affiliated with the Baptist Union are registered with the government.<ref name="REPORT"/>

==Demographics==
[[File:Orthodox prayers in Kazakhstan.jpg|thumb|Orthodox prayers in [[Zenkov cathedral]]. Almaty.]]
According to the 2009 Census, there were 4,214,232 Christians in Kazakhstan. Their ethnic affiliation is as follows:<ref>http://www.stat.kz/p_perepis/Documents/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%86%20%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2.rar</ref>

*Russians - 3,476,748 ([[Demographics of Kazakhstan|91.6% of the ethnic Russians]])
*Ukrainians - 302,199 (90.7% of Ukrainians)
*Germans - 145,556 (81.6%)
*Belarusians - 59,936 (90.2%)
*Koreans - 49,543 (49.4%)
*Kazakhs - 39,172 (0.4%)
*Polish - 30,675 (90.1%)
*Tatars - 20,913 (10.2%)
*Azeris - 2,139 (2.5%)
*Uzbeks - 1,794 (0.4%)
*Uighurs - 1,142 (0.5%)
*Chechens - 940 (3.0%)
*Tajiks - 331 (0.9%)
*Turkish - 290 (0.3%)
*Kyrgyz - 206 (0.9%)
*Kurds - 203 (0.5%)
*Dungan - 191 (0.4%)
*Other minorities - 82,254 (52.3%)

== History ==
{{main|:ru:История христианства в Центральной Азии|Naimans#Religion}}
[[File:Zakaukazie-Turkestan1903.jpg|thumb|Map from a 1903 Polish encyclopedia showing the Naiman people living north of [[Lake Balkhash]] in eastern Kazakhstan]]
Before conquest of Genghis Khan there used to be some [[Church of the East|Nestorians]].

By the time they were conquered by [[Genghis Khan]] most of the Naimans were Christians. They remained so after the Mongol conquest and were among the second wave of Christians to enter China with [[Kublai Khan]].<ref>Cary-Elwes, Columba. ''China and the Cross''. (New York: P. J. Kennedy and Sons, 1956) p. 37</ref> Meanwhile, the Naimans who settled in Western Khanates of Mongol "Empire" all eventually converted to Islam. 
{{expand section|date=September 2012}}

==Persecutions==
On 25 July 2013, a report said that 67-year-old Bakhtzhan Kashkumbaev, a jailed pastor arrested in May and accused of using mind-altering drinks (which turned out to be red tea purchased from local suppliers) to pry donations from a member of his congregation, had gone on a hunger strike amid reports that authorities were planning to transfer him to a psychiatric facility to undergo a compulsory mental-health examination. The pastor says the examination is aimed at locking him up in a psychiatric hospital and the criminal case against him "is going nowhere" and thus came up with the idea of sending him for psychiatric evaluation. Kashkumbaev, an ethnic Kazakh and Christian convert, has been a pastor at his Blagodat Baptist church in Astana since 1995 and was accused of exerting "psychological influence" on church member Lyazzat Almenova through the use of mind-altering drinks, sermons, and prayers in order to compel her to donate money to the church. Both Kashkumbaev and the 34-year-old Almenova deny the charges with Almenova insisted that she was "perfectly healthy" and that the pastor had "done nothing" to damage her health.<ref>[http://www.rferl.org/content/kazakhstan-evangelical-christian-jailed/25055888.html Jailed Pastor Goes On Hunger Strike In Kazakhstan]. 25 July 2013. ''Radio Free Europe''. Retrieved 15 October 2015.</ref>

On 9 October 2015, a court in [[Astana]] began hearing the case against 54-year-old Yqylas Qabduaqasov charged with inciting religious hatred. Qabduaqasov is a Protestant convert and an active member of the [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]].<ref>[http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/tag/yqylas-qabduaqasov/ Christian Convert Faces 10 Years Imprisonment In Kazakhstan]. ''Religious Freedom Coalition''. Retrieved 14 October 2015.</ref> Saryarqa District Court Judge Aqmaral Isaeva allowed journalists to film only three minutes of the trial's start and then banned any recording devices in the courtroom. Several witnesses in the case testified that Qabduaqasov expressed ideas during Bible study sessions that sounded insulting to Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad. Qabduaqasov, who was arrested in mid-August, pleaded not guilty.<ref>[http://www.rferl.org/content/kazakh-christian-convert-facing-incitement-charges/27297491.html Kazakh Protestant Convert Facing Incitement Charges]. ''Radio Free Europe''. Retrieved 14 October 2015.</ref>

In spite of persecution of converts from Islam to Christianity, a 2015 study estimates some 50,000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background residing in the country.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Johnstone|first1=Patrick|last2=Miller|first2=Duane Alexander|title=Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census|journal=IJRR|date=2015|volume=11|issue=10|pages=1-19|url=https://www.academia.edu/16338087/Believers_in_Christ_from_a_Muslim_Background_A_Global_Census|accessdate=30 October 2015}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Bukharan Jews]]
*[[Judaism in Kazakhstan]]
*[[Hinduism in Kazakhstan]]
*[[Islam in Kazakhstan]]
*[[Catholicism in Kazakhstan]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zfbVZrirghvo.klu7uxVpKblk Map of Catholic Churches in Kazakhstan]
*[http://www.cornellcaspian.com/analyst/010926F2.htm Pope John Paul the Second visits Kazakhstan]
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{{Christianity in Europe}}
{{Kazakhstan topics}}

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[[Category:Christianity in Kazakhstan|*]]