December 16 1991 is one of the most important days for every citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan. On that day, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan 1008-XII adopted the Constitutional Law «On the State Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan». The new history of the country and the unification of State and national unity are closely linked to the name of the first President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev Abishevich. In a short period of time, in the historical arena, our country has achieved a number of achievements in raising the standard of living of the population, in economic development, in building a democratic State based on the rule of law and in further strengthening security and stability. Despite the fact that our country’s independence is based on more than 130 nationalities, there is no doubt that interethnic and interfaith relations will always be in harmony and cooperation.

Inter-religious and inter-ethnic harmony in Kazakhstan is an important condition for the integrity of the State and its establishment as a democratic State. The Law on Religious Activities and Religious Associations, adopted on 11 October 2011, clearly proclaims freedom of religion: « This Act proclaims the Republic of Kazakhstan a democratic, secular State, affirms the right of everyone to freedom of conscience and guarantees equality regardless of religion, Recognizes the historical role of Hanafi Islam and Orthodox Christianity in the development of the culture and spiritual life of the people. The people of Kazakhstan respect other compatible religions and recognize the importance of interfaith harmony, religious tolerance and respect for the religious beliefs of citizens» .

Freedom of religion is the driving force of a democratic State, one of the key elements of the system of human rights and freedoms. The problem of freedom of religion remains a pressing one for both Kazakhstan and a multi-religious country.

We’ve been developing as an independent country for 30 years. By that time, many people have come and gone. It’s a fact that they brought their ideas and their religions with them. Thus, Kazakhstan has a law governing religion. This is the Law on Religious Activities and Religious Associations, adopted on 11 October 2011.

We all know that religion plays an important role in State society. According to recent data, 67.4 per cent of Kazakhs consider themselves to be believers. This means that the role of religion in Kazakhstan’s social society is dominant. Of course, in this case, the issue of religious literacy is very important to the citizens of our country. Having religious literacy is public safety. Today, however, we see that, in the search for literacy, many of our citizens cannot distinguish black from white and follow opposite trends. In that regard, it is true that our citizens need experts who know right from wrong and who can maintain inter-religious peace in our country. Today, the religious profession plays a prominent role in carrying out these tasks and promoting each other. The following Kazakh universities offer religious studies: Kazakh National University. Al-Farabi, Egyptian University of Islamic Culture Nur-Mubarak, Academy of Business Careers of Foreign Languages, as well as International Kazakh-Turkish Hoji Ahmed Yasakhi University in Turkestan, etc.

al-Farabi Kazakh National University

Specialty «Religious identity in conflict theory»

Second year of Magistracy

2nd year master’s student

Kurmanaliyeva A.D.