Experience of forming a culture of religious tolerance in Kazakhstan

Abstract

In modern conditions, a particularly relevant theoretical and practical task is to study the problem of a culture of religious tolerance and the preservation of the socio-political stability of society. In this article, the authors analyze the activities of some religious organizations in Kazakhstan in the context of identifying the possibility of forming a culture of religious tolerance, based on determining the role of Islam, including Orthodoxy and Catholicism in the format of maintaining interfaith dialogue, assessing the experience of maintaining interethnic and interfaith relations in general. The authors of the article reveal the established experience of maintaining religious tolerance based on the analysis of the activity of Islam, Orthodoxy and Catholicism in Kazakhstani society. The authors also note that tolerance in a multi-ethnic society implies not only the recognition of existing ethno-cultural, religious, confessional differences within society, but also the awareness of "unity in diversity". Then the existing ethno-cultural differences will not be given self-sufficient and institutional significance. The authors also note that in the Republic of Kazakhstan this “unity in diversity” is provided by a common civic identity. The authors of the article reveal the established experience of maintaining religious tolerance based on the analysis of the activity of Islam, Orthodoxy and Catholicism in Kazakhstani society.

Keywords: tolerance, religious tolerance, multiethnic society, interethnic dialogue, interconfessional dialogue, ethnopolitics, Hanafi madhhab.