(Photo: Religions-congress.org)Delegates of the II Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional religions attend a plenary session in Astana, 12 September 2006. A three-day forum on religious freedom and tolerance rings together more than 40 national delegations and as many international spiritual leaders in the capital of Kazakhstan.
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Reports that four Christian Pastors and one Christian minister were banned from entering Kazakhstan have been denied by officials.
Norwegian news website Forum18.org is reporting that religious conference organizers received a letter from Kazakhstan's Agency of Religious Affairs (ARA) stating the ARA "recommends refraining from inviting" the five Christians to their religious conference.
It's believed that Pastors Victor Sudakov, Yuri Kochkin, Gennadiy Mokhnenko, and Aleksey Pronkin along with Minister Denis Podorojniy were preparing to attend a Protestant conference in Almaty earlier this month when, "officials told the New Life Church that five foreign Protestant pastors already advertised as guest speakers could not come."
It's unclear why the ARA allegedly made this request and they reportedly refused to explain whether there would be any repercussions if the Christians did enter, but as Forum18 reported, "church members told Radio Free...that one official had told them that, "speakers conducting religious activity without registration as a missionary would have to be detained, fined and deported from the country".
The reports come just six months after it was reported that two Christian pastors were charged in Kazakhstan for praying for others, and even faced jail time if convicted.
Pastor Yerzhan Ushanov and Pastor Vissa Kim were accused of "causing severe damage to health" after kindly praying for the well being of others.
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New Life Church members reportedly told Forum18.org that, “This is not the first time the authorities in southern regions of Kazakhstan bring such absurd accusations against pastors for allegedly using hypnosis, while in reality all they do is pray for the sick.”
They continued explaining, “In some cases, the authorities have even demanded some of our pastors to obtain a special license from the health ministry for praying to heal the sick.”
Ershat Ongarov of the ARA said, "We did not issue a ban on these pastors visiting," which fueled outrage as critics argue that his statement is untrue.
Christian groups are calling for Kazakhstan to change its policies in order to make it safer and less discriminatory for missionaries to enter the predominantly Muslim country.
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