A new religion law in Tajikistan could make ministry difficult in that former Soviet bloc nation. Slavic Gospel Association’s (SGA) Joel Griffith says it could ban all unregistered religious activity. Griffith outlines some of the other restrictions: “Religiously-affiliated political parties would be banned. Children younger than seven would be banned from receiving religious education. Young people would be forbidden from being members or participants in religious organizations. All religious education in private houses would be forbidden. Only Tajik citizens could lead religious organizations.” SGA helps the local church with summer camp. Griffith says that activity would end and cause other problems. “You look at kids that get involved in drug abuse and sexual abuse, perhaps criminal gangs,” he said. “You want to give children the best opportunity of escaping these kinds of bad influences. And if children are forbidden to be instructed in the ways of Christ, obviously that's going to cause quite a lot of problems and will have ripple effects throughout the country.”(Mission Network News)
