Kyrgyzstan (MNN) — A new religion law looms over Christians in Kyrgyzstan. The constitution of the Central Asia nation guarantees freedom of religion. But years of increasing restrictions send another message.
This latest draft law has been in the making for over a year. An earlier version was struck down in parliament in June 2024, but now it’s back and passed its first reading in December. If it passes into full law, it would require all places of worship to register with the government, among other impacts.
“Imposing these new laws are creating greater restrictions [than those] that are already in place — for example, [laws that are already] forbidding evangelism and distributing religious literature publicly,” says Floyd Brobbel with Voice of the Martyrs Canada.
“Churches need to register, and they’re increasing the restrictions on how churches can register. Previously, you had to have about 200 adult members, and now they’re looking to increase it to about 500 adult members in order for the church to gain legal status.”
That 500-member hoop would be a problem in many Western churches, let alone a Muslim-majority nation like Kyrgyzstan. Out of every thousand people in the nation, less than 40 are Christians, with only 3 being evangelical believers (see The Joshua Project).
“We could say, ‘Well, they could maybe move to home churches.’ But even those they (government leaders) are looking to make illegal, imposing heavier fines on any any religious violations that would oppose their laws or their bills,” Brobbel says.
“So what you’re really seeing is that it becomes a judicial control. These laws are enacted and enforced, and they supersede the freedom of being able to gather, being able to worship, being able to share your religion with other people.”
If passed, the law could begin hampering gospel ministry as soon as February 1. If that happens, Brobbel says “we will see these restrictions [curtailing] the church from doing the work of the church — restricting the freedom of Christians on how they can worship, where they can worship, how they can share their faith, how they can be a witness to their neighbors and and and do good.”
Pray that Kyrgyzstan’s parliament strikes down this bill just like they did the earlier draft last summer.
“[Pray] that somehow the Lord will intervene in this situation and give His church strength,” Brobbel says.
Header photo: Parliament photographed from above. Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Photo courtesy of Nikolai Bulykin via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
