Religious Situation in Modern Kazakhstan (а sociological reconstruction)

The purpose of the study is to reconstruct current religious situation in Kazakhstan as a secular state. Goals were formulated as follows: to reveal specifics of the religious situation; to present the religious self-identification of the population; to show the spectrum of the value perception of religion in public discourse; to outline main trends of religious changes; to discover the lines of "fault" in understanding the possibilities and prospects of secularism and religiosity; to comprehend the relevance and practical application in the research of the religious process. The religious process is assessed as multifactorial and contradictory. Based on sociological studies of public opinion and expert assessments, the authors presented a paradigm of perception of religion, analyzed its functions and capabilities in a multicultural and multi-confessional society. The religious situation in Kazakhstan is analyzed on the basis of state statistics, mass and expert surveys. Practical recommendations are given for improving government approaches in cooperation with religious institutions.

Republic of Kazakhstan, religious identification, religious process, trend of Islamization, traditional religion, secularism of the state, sociology of religion