LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR RELIGIOUS POLICY IN SOVIET KAZAKHSTAN IN 1940–1990 YEARS

The authors address the problem of legal regulation of state-confessional relations in Kazakhstan during the Soviet period. The Kazakh SSR, as one of the republics of the Soviet state, was no exception in the all-Union struggle to build an atheistic society. The anti-religious regulatory framework issued in Kazakhstan during the period under review became an integral part of the general anti-religious policy in the USSR. The purpose - based on the Soviet legislative system, study legal acts on religion in the Kazakh SSR using the method of discursive analysis of documentary sources. The results: the authors examined the laws adopted in the USSR on the religious issue, which had a profound impact on the religiosity. It has been proven that many suffered not only for religious activities, but also simply for faith. The republican regulatory framework for religious policy was developed on the basis of the union, but regional characteristics were taken into account: multi-ethnic and multi-confessional composition of the population of the republic, close connection between national traditions and religious views of the Kazakhs. Conclusions: the authors summarize that the religious legislative policy of the state in the 1940-1980s was a logical continuation of the policy of the pre-war years in the sense that it was based on the ideology of atheism and was aimed at eradicating the religious consciousness of the population. Legislative acts and normative legal documents on religion adopted during these years limited the rights of believers to open and register places of worship, to carry out spiritual practices, and placed the activities of the clergy of all faiths under strict state control. Religious education was destroyed at the legislative level, madrassas and other religious educational institutions were closed. The ultimate goal of Soviet religious legislation was the eradication of religion as an ideological system.

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