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On July 13 in the town of Gulistan, 15 officials raided the home of Shakar Dosova, a Pentecostal pastor. Dosova was away, but members of his church were meeting there. Police seized Christian books and pamphlets and questioned everyone at the meeting.

In August an Uzbek judge fined Dosova's wife, Tamara, and deacon Sanjar Jabarov 40,000 soms each (equivalent to $35 U.S.) for holding a meeting of an unregistered religious group.

Dosova said during a recent telephone interview that his church had tried to register three times before the raid. After the fines were assessed, the church tried a fourth time. Deacon Jabarov said a state official "simply tore up our [registration] documents, saying that we had come on the wrong day."

In such ways, government officials in Uzbekistan are attempting to stop all unregistered religious activity and are throwing roadblocks in the path of church leaders seeking registration.

Under Article 240 of the Uzbek administrative code, all religious organizations must be registered with authorities. Christians say registrations of new congregations are at a standstill. But the raids continue.

In the past year, officials have raided unregistered Baptist and Presbyterian congregations. Leaders in both churches have attempted to register with the government, but are unable to get a ruling.

Konstantin Kmit, pastor of Peace Presbyterian Church in Nukus, said a local official transferred his registration application to a national office, which would not consider the application without the local official's ruling. "It's a vicious circle," Kmit said.

A secular state, Uzbekistan supports Sunni Islam and permits a handful of Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches to operate. The government is an important ally in the global campaign against terrorism and has received $26 million in U.S. aid. But U.S. officials and human rights activists have sharply criticized Uzbekistan for its human rights record, including many religious liberty violations.

According to the U.S. State Department, Uzbek officials have:

• Refused to allow some Christians in registered churches to train leaders or operate Sunday schools.
  
  
• Arrested a Jehovah's Witness pastor for excluding the Qur'an from his preaching.
  
  
• Harassed those who attempt to convert Muslims to Christianity.
  
  

Police have beaten and tortured individuals accused of "religious extremism." Since 2000, four people (none of them Christian) have died while in custody as a result of beatings.

The government's ban on unregistered religious groups (Christian and Muslim) allows it to keep religious expression by the country's ethnic Uzbek majority under tight government control.

Despite the sharp limits, one anonymous leader told Christianity Today, four church planters started two churches last year with 11 small groups among ethnic Uzbeks. Only a few thousand ethnic Uzbek Christians have formed fewer than 100 unregistered fellowships across the country. Most meet in homes or other private spots.

Among other ethnic groups, there are 500,000 Christians. About half are Russians (many moved to Uzbekistan during the Soviet period). When the state became independent in 1991, Muslim outsiders poured in and went on a mosque-building spree. "A pastor friend of mine has been trying to register his church since 1994," the source said. "But the number of mosques has grown from 80 in Soviet times to 6,000 today."

Anita Deyneka, president of the U.S.-based Russian Ministries, believes Uzbekistan's current practices are a throwback. "As part of the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan had a systematic structure in place to monitor and contain religious practice," she said.

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January 2003, Vol. 47, No. 1