Uzbeks convert to Christianity

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Despite official government efforts, conversions of Uzbeks to Christianity are on the rise in parts of the country, a regional television station reported. However, according to Chirchik TV, authorities are joining efforts by Islamic religious officials to combat the trend.

Conversions are also on the rise in the Uzbek part of the Fergana valley, traditionally a citadel of Islam. It has now become a place of pilgrimage for Protestant and Catholic preachers, where churches and parishes have become popular

Ravshan Ahmedov, 38, from the central Jizak region converted to Christianity more than three months ago. He joined the Jehovah's Witnesses sect. Ahmedov, who said his conversion angered his relatives, and produced summons from the prosecutor's office, believes his conversion to Christianity has changed his life.

"Before I used to go to the mosque, recite a prayer, ask God to free me from problems such as lack of funds, unemployment and family quarrels. I used to pray for my children to be educated," Ahmedov said.

Ahmedov thinks all changed when he converted to Christianity. "The main thing is that I have obtained a belief in the future," Ahmedov said. Now his family reads the Bible every evening.

"The phenomenon is very dangerous for society," said Shohimardon Isayev, the mufti of the Jizak region.

The prosecutor's office in Jizak thinks that Ahmedov was a victim of Christian missionaries. Missionary activities are illegal in Uzbekistan.

Niholboy Normatov, Jizak city assistant prosecutor, believes the local population needs to be warned about missionaries trying to convert Muslims.

"Last month three meetings were held in Jizak where we have asked the area's elders to be watchful and not allow their children be converted to Christianity," Normatov said.

Furthermore, according to Normatov, the Jehovah's Witnesses are not registered with Uzbekistan's Ministry of Justice.

The country's crackdown on Islamic extremism could explain some of the recent conversions of Uzbeks to Christianity. "In the aftermath of the Tashkent explosions (in 1999) the authorities started pursuing Muslim students," Abdugafur Mamatov, the head of the Spirituality and Enlightenment Department of the Jizak Pedagogical Institute said.

Five car bomb attacks in the capital, Tashkent, in February 1999 killed 16 people and wounded more than 100. It is believed that the bomb attacks were organized and carried out by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which the U.S. government regards as a terrorist group. The IMU is a coalition of Islamic militants from Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries opposed to Karimov's secular regime. Its goal was to set up an Islamic state in Uzbekistan, and, according to some sources, the rest of the region.

According to Mamatov, many students are rejecting Islam and converting to Christianity out of fear of being arrested.

The followers of the Jehovah's Witnesses and other sects are not offset by calls from the prosecutor's office and Islamic authorities to cease the conversions. Around 80 Uzbek students from the Jizak Pedagogical Institute have already converted.

Uzbekistan's Constitution guarantees freedom of religion to all citizens.