Christianity in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

is the second most practiced religion after

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

. There are 4,214,232 Christians in Kazakhstan (according to the 2009 census). The majority of Christian citizens are

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian. The majority ...

and

Belarusians , native_name_lang = be , pop = 9.5–10 million , image = , caption = , popplace = 7.99 million , region1 = , pop1 = 600,000–768,000 , region2 = , pop2 ...

, who belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan under the

Moscow Patriarchate , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

. About 1.5 percent of the population is ethnically

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, most of whom are

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

. There are also many

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...

Seventh-day Adventists The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...

and

Pentecostals Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

.International Religious Freedom Report 2008
U.S. Embassy in Astana, KazakhstanKazakhstan
CIA The World Factbook Methodists,

Mennonites Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

, and

Mormons Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

have also registered churches with the government. There are more Protestant congregations - 93 "nontraditional" Protestant Christian churches registered with the

Kazakh government The Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan ( kk, Қазақстан Республикасының Үкіметі, tr, ''Qazaqstan Respublikasynyñ Ükımetı'') oversees a presidential republic. The President of Kazakhstan, currently Kassym- ...

from 2006 to 2007. There are 83 Catholic church buildings in Kazakhstan.International Religious Freedom Report 2006
U.S. Embassy in Astana, Kazakhstan According to a 2009 national census, 26% of Kazakhstan's population is

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. 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 are registered with the government.

Demographics

According to the 2009 Census, there were 4,214,232 Christians in Kazakhstan. Their ethnic affiliation is as follows: *Russians - 3,476,748 ( 91.6% of the ethnic Russians) *Ukrainians - 302,199 (90.7% of Ukrainians) *Germans - 145,556 (81.6%) *Belarusians - 59,936 (90.2%) *Koreans - 49,543 (49.4%) *Kazakhs - 39,172 (0.4%) *Polish - 30,675 (90.1%) *Tatars - 20,913 (10.2%) *Azeris - 2,139 (2.5%) *Uzbeks - 1,794 (0.4%) *Uighurs - 1,142 (0.5%) *Chechens - 940 (3.0%) *Tajiks - 331 (0.9%) *Turkish - 290 (0.3%) *Kyrgyz - 206 (0.9%) *Kurds - 203 (0.5%) *Dungan - 191 (0.4%) *Other minorities - 82,254 (52.3%)

History

Before the conquest of Genghis Khan there used to be a minority of

Nestorians Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian N ...

in the Kazakh region. By the time Kazakhstan was conquered by

Genghis Khan ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin , ...

, most of the Naimans were Christians. They remained so after the Mongol conquest and were among the second wave of Christians to enter China with

Kublai Khan Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of th ...

. Meanwhile, the Naimans who settled in the Western Khanates of the Mongol Empire were all eventually converted to Islam.

Converts to Christianity

A 2015 study estimates that some 50,000 Christians from a Muslim background reside in the country.

References

External links

Map of Catholic Churches in Kazakhstan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christianity In Kazakhstan

Demographics

History

Converts to Christianity

See also

References

External links