Christianity in Kazakhstan

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Christianity in Kazakhstan is the second most practiced religion after Islam, with 46% of the population Christian and 47% Muslim. Most Christian citizens are Russians, and to a lesser extent Ukrainians and Belarusians, who belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. About one-third of the population of Kazakhstan identifies as Christian. 1.5 percent of the population is German, most of whom follow Roman Catholicism or Lutheranism. There are also many Presbyterians, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, and Pentecostals.^[1]^[2]

Methodists, Mennonites, and Mormons have also registered churches with the government.^[1]

While 44% of the population is Roman Catholic and only 2% is Protestant, there are more Protestant congregations. 93 "nontraditional" Protestant Christian churches registered with the Kazakh government from 2006 to 2007. There are 83 Roman Catholic churches in Kazakhstan.^[1]

There are two Baptist organizations in Kazakhstan; the Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians and Baptists, with 1,000 members, and the Baptist Union of Kazakhstan, with 10,000 members. 198 churches affiliated with the Baptist Union registered with the government.^[1]

1 History
2 Appointment of Bishop of Atyrau
3 References
4 See also
5 External link

[edit] History

Pope John Paul II created four administrative divisions in Kazakhstan on 7 July 1999; the diocese of Karaganda and the apostolic administrations of Almaty, Astana and Atyrau. The Pope made Astana an archdiocese and Almaty a diocese on 17 May 2003.

[edit] Appointment of Bishop of Atyrau

Janusz Kaleta, formerly the apostolic administrator, became the first bishop of Apostolic Administration of Atyrau on 17 December 2006. Vasiliy Hovera, the Greek Catholics' ecclesiastical superior in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, first spoke during Kaleta's installation ceremony. Tomasz Peta, archbishop of Astana, said "it is necessary to note that so important an event is happening during celebrations for the 15th-year anniversary Kazakhstan's independence. Due to independence and freedom of religion, we now have five bishops." Bishop Henry Theophilus Howaniec of Almaty and Bishop Jerzy Maculewicz, apostolic administrator of Uzbekistan, also attended. Atyrau is the smallest of Kazakhstan's Church jurisdictions.^[3]