New York Times - 09.25.2003

 

 

New York Times

Kazakhstan Faith Talks Seek to Subdue Religious Clashes

By CHRISTOPHER PALA

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Sept. 24 — More than 120 delegates from 18 religions gathered today in Kazakhstan's political capital to condemn terrorism and lay the foundations of an organization they advertised as a diverse effort to reduce violent clashes between faiths around the world.

Envoys who attended the conference included Sheik Abdullah al-Turki, secretary of the Muslim World League based in Mecca, Saudi Arabia; Cardinal Josef Tomko of the Vatican; and Yona Metzger, Ashkenazic chief rabbi of Israel. All pledged to combat violence by propagating the peaceful values of their different faiths.

"Violence and terror can only come to an end if we promote religious values on a global scale," Ayatollah Mahdi Hadavi, professor of Islamic law at Qum Seminary School and head of the Iranian delegation, told the conference.

"Interreligious meetings have happened before," said the Rev. Minoru Sonoda, director of the Association of Shinto Shrines in Japan. "But it is epochal that this one took place in a Muslim country."

Kazakh officials said they hoped the new organization would focus on flash points like the Middle East or the Indian subcontinent and bring religious leaders to religiously diverse Kazakhstan so they could get to know and understand each other better.

Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president of Kazakhstan and a Muslim who attends religious services only on high holidays, pledged to build a palace for the new organization, the Congress of World and Traditional Religions, here in Astana, the capital since 1997. He said the building would include many shrines so that "all religions can enter and leave through one door."

Mr. Nazarbayev rules over a country of 15 million that is roughly half Muslim and half Orthodox Christian but includes some 40 other religions and 100 ethnic minorities. A strong leader in the Soviet tradition, he keeps a steady eye on religious practice while preserving tolerance. The most senior Muslim cleric, Grand Mufti Absattar Derbisali, is picked by the president, who has led Kazakhstan since 1988. An attempt last year by other imams to challenge the grand mufti, largely on grounds of lack of religious credentials, was derailed by internal security forces, said Yakov Trofimov, a professor of religion.

Since independence in 1991, the number of mosques has grown to 1,623 last year from 46 in 1988, while the number of Russian Orthodox churches has grown to 225 from 62 in about the same period, according to official figures.

Russian Orthodox leaders, leaders of other Christian churches and Jewish leaders all say there is full freedom of religion in Kazakhstan, prompting Mr. Nazarbayev to promote Kazakhstan as a model of religious tolerance.