The following was reported about a week ago by Forum 18 News Service regarding Uzbekistan’s enforcement of the “Religion Law”.
RELIGIOUS BOOKS “ONLY ALLOWED TO BE READ WITHIN REGISTERED
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES’ BUILDINGS”
In two separate cases on the same day in August in Samarkand and
Kashkadarya, fines on 20 religious believers for “illegal religious
literature” totalled the equivalent of nearly 68 years’ official minimum
wage, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. In the Samarkand case, the judge
ordered the confiscated literature – including the New Testament and the
Pentateuch – destroyed. Uzbekistan’s courts routinely order destroyed
Muslim and Christian literature. Begzod Kadyrov, Chief Specialist of the
government’s Religious Affairs Committee, insisted to Forum 18: “Those are
court decisions and the courts are independent from us.” Asked why such
penalties are handed down, and why individuals cannot carry their religious
books like the Bible with them, Kadyrov responded: “According to
the Religion Law, religious books are only allowed to be read within
registered religious communities’ buildings.”
Also, keep in mind that there are good churches in Uzbekistan that are not registered, meaning that there are many Christians who have no where to go to “legally” read their Bibles but simply must break the law anytime they wish to read the word of God or any other religious literature. As disheartening as this is, we can take great comfort from the Apostle Paul’s words
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.
2 Timothy 2:8-9
Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are in Uzbekistan and have to deal with the authorities’ attempts at enforcing laws directed against the very word of God.
