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Christian Persecution on the Rise in Uzbekistan

  • Veronica Neffinger

    Veronica Neffinger wrote her first poem at age seven and went on to study English in college, focusing on 18th century literature. When she is not listening to baseball games, enjoying the…

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  • Updated Oct 05, 2016

Persecution of Christians has been increasing in Uzbekistan, where it is illegal to even own a Bible.

According to ChristianToday.com, Christian persecution ministry Open Doors is asking Christians around the world to pray for Uzbekistan's Christians.

One recent example of the crackdown on Christianity, and particularly, owning Christian literature, is the case of STanislav Kim, a Uzbek Christian who was sentenced to two years corrective labor for owning religious books. Kim also had part of his income confiscated by the government.

Another incident occurred this summer when a Christian in the capital city of Tashkent was fined for owning religious literature. He was given a criminal trial and the literature was seized by the state.

There have been many other similar cases of Christians being prosecuted for owning Bibles or Christian books.

"Please pray for the Christians in Uzbekistan," a source told Open Doors. "It's getting more and more difficult to spread the gospel with literature."

Uzbekistan does permit the Russian Orthodox Church, but all other Christian denominations are discriminated against.

There are only 300,000 Christians in Uzbekistan which has a population of 30 million. The majority of people in the country are Muslim.

Uzbekistan ranks 15 on Open Doors World Watch List of worst countries for Christian persecution.

 

Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com

Publication date: October 5, 2016