Of Religious Freedom, State and Casus of Turkmenbashi

Youre wondering why I still go on and on with my interest in Religion...well its part of this world. And thus cannot be ignored...even if sometimes one wishes to pull the socket out ot of wall. Well im COOL with THAT THERE IS religion in the world. I guess my decade long involvment with Bahai Faith, partial Eastern background, curiousity , relative openmindedness and last but not least " live and let live" life philosophy makes me being okay with religion...well there are facets that i question and ppl that give me creeps, when i start thinking about them. But minus all that religion is a force to be counted in world. and i have at least now some symphathy towards religion. In fact at at times i feel appalled when someones right to believe is subject to someone elses whim or state sanctions, because Majority group or system thinks that other group is false or dangerous..Under this falls discrimination of any religious minoritys right to exist and believe what they believe. I recently saw a doc on Ruhnama and rather comical reverance that State of Turkmenistan, its citizens and religious organizations were demanded to give to lately died president Sapmurat Niyazov namedTurkmenbashi or Father of all Turks. Comical is perhaps wrong word, it is rather tragicomical, when one thinks that people had to live under this...see http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=522 TURKMENISTAN: President's personality cult imposed on religious communities, published on F18News on: 1 March 2005For Ruhnama or Turkmenbashi you can either google, youtube it and see what world appers to you..And if Ruhnama is translated into your language, its thanks to may multinational enterprises that payd lipservice or sometimes even more to get business done in Turkmenistan as they paid for translation of that "holy book" of Turkmenbashi. The doc dealing with that theme is called The Shadow of the Holy Bookhttp://www.shadowoftheholybook.net/Survey from august 2008 on above mebtioned forum is available here http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1167TURKMENISTAN: Religious freedom survey, August 2008Amonst other harrasments an incident related to one Bahai is mentoned in August 2008 surveyQuote:"One arrested Baha'i was told – after the state decided in 2004 to allow religious minority communities to apply to register – that this "applies only to Sunni Islam and the Orthodox Church, while such dubious groups as yours will be thoroughly checked out with the aim of preventing any possible conflicts." President Niyazov at that time banned Muslims from registering new mosques. However, some religious minorities – such as some Protestants including Seventh-day Adventists, Bahai's and Hare Krishna devotees – have been eventually allowed to register."I really wonder what it was like to a Bahai in country where tribute to leader is reminding of idolizing like monarchs of past, a kind of like religion on its own. And one has to put Ruhnama and presidents picture in holyground or communty centre?i know that Bahais are asked to follow the laws of country and not engange in partisan politics amongst other principles. I do not know what it was like to be a Bahai there, but i assume that it was probably not easy to meet in big numbers. Maybe the Bahais on idividual level tried to find common points in Ruhnama, something they could agree to, maybe at individual level, some liked the president s person. Yeah, question is what one does if the climate of the country is challenge to you as countryman and member of minority group? At communist times there were Lenin's case that was close to that but that could be counted as pseudoireligious reverance as Mr. Turkmenbashi ordered to build a mosque upon which he decreed that that citations from Ruhnama should be written next to Koran's verses and that Ruhnama should be read by clergy. Which is step for more religious nature than of marxism-leninism-communism's faith of century, who proclaimed that religious creed is opium for the people. Yet in odd way, Communism of Soviets trying so badly to quench the religion and their idolizing of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, ideology and the state carries like religious zeal and became a kind of religion too. And then ther was of course Chaiman Mao and his little red book. But let us return to Turkmenbashi and where it started.."Although the president's cult of personality – which includes a gold statue in Ashgabad that revolves to follow the sun and a monument to the Ruhnama – began in the mid-1990s, the cult was stepped up after the publication of the first volume of the Ruhnama in 2001, which Niyazov described at the launch ceremony as a "holy book". Officials later likened it to the Koran. The second Ruhnama volume was ceremonially launched in September 2004. In 2000, one government minister claimed that the Ruhnama would make up for shortcomings in both the Bible and the Koran, neither of which were, he claimed, fully adequate for the spiritual needs of Turkmens. Controversy was stirred among Muslims when news spread last year that the Kipchak mosque – named after the president - was decorated with quotations from the Ruhnama. Indeed, to enter the main entrance of the mosque, visitors have to walk through a gateway over which is written in Turkmen: "Ruhnama is a holy book; The Koran is Allah's book". On one side of the gateway is the text of the oath of allegiance to the president carved in stone and on the other the text of the national anthem." ( 1 march 2005 article F18news)Any opposers were naturally "well taken care of" as anybody who lives in such country can probably can imagine...Quotes from article of 1 march 2005 on F18news :"One mosque was closed down by the State Security Ministry secret police for not putting the Ruhnama on the same reading stand as the Koran (see F18News 19 November 2003 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=187). One local Muslim suggested that four of the Ashgabad mosques demolished in the autumn 2004 campaign of mosque destruction were targeted because their imams refused to read the Ruhnama in their mosques (see F18News 4 January 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=481). One theory as to why in January 2003 Niyazov ousted the Chief Mufti, Nasrullah ibn Ibadullah, an ethnic Uzbek who had led Turkmenistan's Muslims for the previous ten years, and had him sentenced to 22 years' imprisonment in March 2004 was his lack of enthusiasm for the campaign to promote the Ruhnama in mosques." In light of this, life can be stranger than fiction and be thankful if you stil have situation wher you are not persecuted for what you believe in..and "smile...tommorow can be worse" :Dand if you drop into youtube please check out this channel. The Turkmen Dissident TV athttp://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TurkmenDissidentTV&view=videosthat features news and satirical cartoons...