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as a gradual rejection of legislative and administrative methods for preventing religious fanaticism and a transition to the next, higher level of its prevention based on the use of the creative force of religious values themselves (primarily traditional general Islamic values), as well as on educating a new generation of comprehensively educated, honest, and deeply respected clergy.
It is very important in terms of the range of religious freedom that the country strive not for a perfunctory increase in its rating, but for a harmonious interweaving of religious rights and freedoms into the secular state structure, consistently excluding the possibility of any forms of radicalism and extremism arising on its territory.
Aysel ALLAKHVERDIEVA
Master of Law, Ph.D. Candidate at Dublin University (Dublin, the Republic of Ireland)
TOLERANCE AS THE BEDROCK OF CONFESSIONAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL HARMONY IN AZERBAIJAN
Abstract
The author bases her conclusion that the experience of many centuries of peaceful coexistence of different ethnic groups and confessions in Azerbaijan
can provide answers to the challenges of the globalizing world on her detailed analysis of the past and present of religious tolerance in this country.
I n t r o d u c t i o n
In the age of globalization, which has accelerated all aspects of human development, the rising and gradually internationalizing wave of violence and permanent ethnic and religious conflicts made it clear that all social forces worldwide should pool their efforts to try to restore civil peace and sociocultural harmony. Since the late 20th century this task has been coming to the fore in everything the international community has been doing to fully tap the potential of peaceful coexistence among peoples and religions mankind has accumulated throughout the centuries. There are regions, which, due to unique historical circumstances, became crossroads of civilizational, ethnic, and confessional cooperation and acquired a unique and harmonious social climate.
It can be justifiably said that Azerbaijan is one such historical zone of religious and ethnic tolerance, a country with many centuries of dialog among peoples and confessions behind it. Azerbai-
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jan’s ancient, medieval, modern, and recent history has supplied us with numerous examples of respect for people with different religious convictions and tolerance of their ideas. We may ask: Is the above an overstatement? To provide an answer I have organized the relevant material into several key groups:
■ the meaning of tolerance today;
■ an overview of the recent history of relations between the state and confessions;
■ the roots of confessional tolerance in Azerbaijan, something that most experts and religious figures never fail to praise.
Tolerance as Mankind’s Intellectual and Moral Solidarity
By adopting the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance on 16 November, 1995, the UNESCO General Conference and the international community announced that religious peace and harmony was one of their priorities. Under Art 1:
■ Tolerance is respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world’s cultures; tolerance is harmony in difference; a moral duty, a political and legal requirement;
■ Tolerance is an active attitude prompted by recognition of the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms of others; tolerance is to be exercised by individuals, groups and States;
■ Tolerance is the responsibility that upholds human rights, pluralism (including cultural pluralism), democracy and the rule of law;
■ Tolerance means accepting the fact that human beings, naturally diverse in their appearance, situation, speech, behavior and values, have the right to live in peace and to be as they are.1
So far, the fairly contradictory interpretations of the phenomenon of tolerance (English borrowed the term from Latin tolerantia) ranging from unquestioned acceptance to active rejection have been preserved across the world. On the one hand, Western mentality ascribes to tolerance a magic ability to bring together, in the most natural way, wide communicative characteristics and the freedom of self-identification that individuals or groups of individuals can enjoy; in this context, tolerance is an inner characteristic that denotes a special sociocultural way of dealing with the contradictions any society accumulates in the course of time. On the other hand, not infrequently tolerance is seen as a factor that destroys nations and states; as a process allegedly leading to the ruin of everything that united individuals into ethnic and confessional groups and states. Some people try to find a difference in meaning between patience and tolerance and set them against each other.2
The primordial ideas of tolerance and its varieties (social, ethnic, religious, etc.) as an immanent quality typical of all nations are also widely accepted. Some of the contributors to the All-Russia Scientific Conference on Preserving Tolerance in Polyethnic and Multi-Confessional Regions held in Makhachkala in March 2007 insisted that ethnic tolerance is an inalienable feature of any ethnic
1 [http://www.unesco/org/cpp/declarations/tolerance.pdf].
2 [http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki].
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group and part of its ethnic mentality.3 These optimistic statements are unfortunately refuted by the cruel realities of the early 21st century in the Caucasus and elsewhere.
In 2008 prominent international developments testified that tolerance is not merely a cultural-psychological attitude designed to preserve compatibility but one of the key peace-keeping instruments at all levels of human communication: local, regional, and even global. During the crisis around South Ossetia the world came face to face with the fears and prejudices that have been piling up inside societies for decades, an obvious inability and unwillingness to respect the positions of the opponents and the notorious “double standards” as their result.
This forces mankind to exercise a fresh approach to the potential of tolerance since the alternative philosophy—development through multilateral cooperation—turned out to be a philosophy of decline and ruin brought about by disintegration. This makes tolerance not only the most important principle of socioeconomic development of all peoples but also a necessary prerequisite for the world’s continued peaceful existence.
This explains why Azerbaijan’s independent development was closely connected with the consistent and purposeful application of the traditions of tolerance. Public and religious figures believe that the democratic development vector of Azeri society and the state have added vigor to confessional tolerance.
It should be said that religious tolerance in Azerbaijan is not a product of someone’s decision or of pressure exerted by international, no matter how important, organizations. It is rooted in the long history of peaceful coexistence of different religions (Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) that goes back two thousand years. In other words, tolerance cannot be brought in from the outside—it must grow from the very nature of the nation and its mentality. It is a historical tradition bequeathed by one generation to the next. Abraham Cooper, who heads the Symon Wiesenthal Center, offered the following extremely apt comment: “Many countries hold forth about tolerance—this is a highly adequate political term, but few countries can achieve it. Your country is an exception. Here tolerance is rarely discussed but frequently practiced; it is one of your national features. Tolerance in Azerbaijan is an inexhaustible category.”4
World Religions and the Azeri Model of Tolerance
Christianity
Christianity came to Azerbaijan some 1,700 years ago. In 313, the Albanians together with King Urnayr were baptized by St. Gregory the Illuminator, which made Christianity the state religion of Caucasian Albania. Since that time (with the exception of a very short period in the mid-6th century when they fell away to Monophysitism), the Albanians, unlike the Armenians, remained Orthodox Christians (Dyophysites). Later, when Arabs came to the Caucasus, most of the local population changed their religion, however the traditions of peaceful coexistence among all confessions struck root.
In the post-Soviet period some of the Russian-speakers preferred to leave the republic thus decreasing the number of Orthodox Christians. Today, about 200 thousand (about 2.5 percent of the republic’s population) of all nationalities (Russians, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Greeks, etc.) are free
3 See: Z.M. Dzarakhova, “K voprosu o tolerantnosti v etnokul’ture narodov Kavkaza,” Vserossiiskaia nauchnaia konferentsia “Problemy sokhranenia tolerantnosti v usloviakh polietnichnogo i mnogokonfessional’nogo regiona” (Makhachkala, 2007), available at [http://www.ingush.ru/serdalo395_2.asp].
4 “Baku—odin iz nemnogikh gorodov mira, gde ia mogu svobodno khodit’ v kipe,” Nedelia (Baku), 22 August, 2008.
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to remain Orthodox Christians.5 The Russian Orthodox churches are united into the Baku-Caspian Eparchy, which began functioning again on 28 December, 1998; the eparchy headed by Bishop Alexander (Ishchein) consists of five churches in Azerbaijan—the Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Most Holy Mother of God, the Mother Church of the Holy Wives, the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael in Baku, the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky in Ganja, and the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Khachmaz.
The St. George Church in the village of Gakh-Ingiloy (the Gakh District) where Ingiloi Georgians live in a compact group is functioning under the jurisdiction of the Georgian Orthodox Church. There are 11 Molokan communities in Azerbaijan that follow the traditions of Old Believers (they are found mainly in villages in Shamakha, Ismaili, and some other districts).
Head of the Baku-Caspian Eparchy Right Reverend Bishop Alexander has pointed out that “Azerbaijan has developed an optimal system that allows people of different nationalities to live together... We are grateful to God who placed us in this country among these wonderful people.”6 In the last five years the level of relations between the state and the confessions has become much higher because the state structures have started paying more attention to the religious communities and their problems. For instance, the state helped to restore the Mother Church of the Holy Wives in the republic’s capital. In other words, Azerbaijan is pursuing a wise policy of cementing ties among the world religions traditionally represented in the country and between them and the state.
This experience has already attracted the attention of several countries: in 2007 an inter-religious Azeri delegation was invited first to Kuwait and then to the Republic of Belarus to share its experience of peaceful coexistence among world confessions and its experience of implementing all sorts of projects.
Father Alexander is convinced that this unique tolerance is rooted in the Azeris’ national mentality, their psychological makeup, and their very special history. In the past, their territory was inhabited by the followers of different traditional religions (Judaism, Islam, and Christianity) who shared the joy of victories and the bitterness of defeats.
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II took into account this historical background of religious tolerance in Azerbaijan when he said that the republic was an example of how friendly cooperation among the traditional religions can be maintained. He also supported the initiative of the Chairman of the Administration of the Muslims of the Caucasus Sheih-ul-Islam Hajji Allahshukiur Pasha-zade who suggested that Baku host an extended summit of the religious figures of the CIS countries in 2009. “This will be an important event since religious leaders come together not to discuss religious dogmas but to speak about the need to preserve moral and spiritual values. This is our common task. Going back in my mind to my visits to Azerbaijan I can say that this is a country of religious tolerance and good relations among all confessions,” added Alexy II.7
The Assembly of Hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, the highest governing body that gathered in Moscow on 24-29 June, 2008, expressed its satisfaction with the tolerance level in Azerbaijan and praised the dialog between the state and confessions, between different confessions, and the contacts between the highest governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church and Azerbaijan.8
President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev spoke highly of the efforts of traditional confessions present in the republic to bring people closer irrespective of their ethnic or religious affiliations. This comment made at the president’s meeting with the religious leaders of Azerbaijan
ru].
7
[http://www.pravoslavie.ru/put/070126150112].
“Vladyka Aleksandr: ‘My blagodarny Bogu, chto zhivem v etoy strane,’” available at [http://www.azkongress.
[http ://news.trend. az/index. shtml?show=ne ws&ne wsid= 1172809&lang=RU]. [http://news.trend.az/?show=news&newsid=1237179&lang=RU].
5
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(Chairman of the Administration of the Muslims of the Caucasus Sheih-ul-Islam Hajji Allahshukiur Pasha-zade, Right Reverend Alexander, Bishop of Baku and the Caspian and Chairman of the Community of Mountain Jews S.B. Ikhiilov) confirmed that stability and religious tolerance in Azerbaijan were highly appreciated.9
Judaism
According to some sources, Judaism appeared in Azerbaijan some two thousand years ago; it should be said that throughout this long history there have been essentially no instances of animosity toward its followers. It is common knowledge that the well-known traditional ethnic and religious tolerance of the local populations attracted Jews from all corners of all empires: Sassanian, Arab, Seljuk, Mongol, Safavid, Russian, and Soviet. This largely explains the Krasnaia Sloboda (the Quba District) phenomenon with its 11 synagogues in 1920. There are still a compact group of 4,000 Mountain Jews,10 the only one across the post-Soviet expanse.
In his greeting to the Jewish community of Azerbaijan in connection with the Roshashon holiday President Heydar Aliev wrote: “The Jews that have been living in our country for centuries were never persecuted or subjected to discrimination; they have preserved their national cultural traditions and everyday way of life. Today the Jews are actively involved in the academic, cultural, social, and political life of our country; they are fulfilling their duties as citizens with honor while contributing to the development of our independent state.”11
According to the information supplied by the Jewish community of Azerbaijan, today there are three Jewish communities in the country: the Mountain Jews, Ashkenazim, and Georgian Jews. According to information supplied by the religious communities, there are about 16 thousand Jews, 11 thousand of which are Mountain Jews (6 thousand of them live in Baku, and 1,300 in other places); 4,300 are Ashkenazim (3,300 in Baku) and about 700 are Georgian Jews. The Mountain Jews have preserved their language, traditions, and customary way of life; they are generally considered to be more orthodox than the other communities.12 Certain other sources insist that there are many more Jews in Azerbaijan—they also count those who carry passports with different nationalities registered in them (for various reasons). According to the religious organizations of the Mountain Jews, for example, there are over 30 thousand of them in Azerbaijan; they are all served by three synagogues in Baku, one in Quba, and another one in the Oguz District.13
During the years of independence the country acquired a branch of the International Association of Judaism and Jewish Culture in 1992; a course in Hebrew was introduced at Baku State University; in 1997 the Georgian Jews’ synagogue was restored. The country organized an exhibition called “Jews in Azerbaijan” held at the Art Museum in 1999 and the Museum of History of Azerbaijan in 2001. In 2001 the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan organized a seminar called “The Mountain Jews of the Caucasus;” a new Ashkenazi synagogue was built in 2003, etc. In July 2008 the president of Azerbaijan passed a decision to build a new synagogue for Mountain Jews in Baku—today the site is being selected; there are plans to open a synagogue in Sumgait.14
9 [http://www.day.az], 3 July, 2008.
10 [http://gorskie.ru/php/news/newsnew.phtml?id=306&idnew=31005&start=0].
11 18 September, 2001.
12 Based on the materials of Confronting the Jewish Agenda. The Jewish Community of Azerbaijan, available at [http://www.ijc.ru/istoki46.html].
13 [http://gorskie.ru/php/news/newsnew.phtml?id=306&idnew=30837&start=0].
14 See: “V Baku postroiat novuiu sinagogu dlai gorskikh evreev,” Mir Religiy, 28 July, 2008, available at [http:// www.religio.ru/].
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An international scientific-practical conference on Relations between the Press and Ethnic Groups held in New York in 2007,15 as well as a number of publications abroad, pointed to the high level of religious and ethnic tolerance in Azerbaijan. Gabriel Lerner, editor of La Opinion, the largest Spanish-language newspaper of Los Angeles, described Azerbaijan in his article “Azeri Jews: Centuries of Coexistence in Azerbaijan” that appeared in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal after his visit to this country as a model for religious liberty in the world, “especially compared to Armenia,” he emphasizes, where «there are not even 10 Jewish families today.” 16 Ambassador of Israel to Azerbaijan Arthur Lenk totally agrees with him and describes the republic as an example to be emulated by other Muslim countries.17 This ethnic and religious tolerance is one of the reasons why relatively few people moved from Azerbaijan to Israel.
Chief Executive of the U.S. Jewish Committee David Harris has pointed out that Azerbaijan is a good example of tolerance. “We consider Azerbaijan to be a real model of tolerance. We also hear it from the Jewish community of Azerbaijan, with which we maintain good relations. We think it is really like that and certainly Azerbaijan may serve as an example for other countries, especially in the Muslim world. We need such a model of tolerance. We want to tell everyone, especially, the world Jews, about what is going on in Azerbaijan, as I want to repeat that in this region Azerbaijan is an important country and a model of tolerance to us and the present-day world really needs such a model.”18
Catholicism
Catholicism is a relative newcomer in Azerbaijan—it reached the country in the latter half of the 19th century at the crest of the first oil boom in Baku. Early in the 20th century a Catholic community appeared that built a Catholic cathedral, one of the architectural landmarks in the very center of Baku. The second oil boom of the mid-1990s and especially the visit of Pope John-Paul II to Azerbaijan in 2002 revived the Catholic community; it was registered in 1999 and has a membership of over 400 foreigners and local people. The state allocated it a site not far from the center of the capital for building a cathedral. Five years later, in March 2007 at the ceremony of opening the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary it was said that “the Vatican highly appreciated religious tolerance in Azerbaijan, of which the new cathedral was another confirmation.”19 Today services are conducted in this cathedral and in the parish chapel of Christ the Redeemer of the Salesian Fathers. There is also a shelter for the homeless run by the sisters of charity of Mother Theresa of Calcutta. Ordinary Jan Chapla is head of the Catholic Church in Azerbaijan.
Pope Benedict XVI confirmed the atmosphere of good ethnic and confessional relations in Azerbaijan and successful contacts between Azerbaijan and the Vatican by saying that religious tolerance in Azerbaijan is at a high level.20
C o n c l u s i o n
On 16 November, 2007 Baku hosted a conference called “Azerbaijan as a Model of Tolerance” at which the contributors pointed out that “tolerance in Azerbaijan may serve as an example
15 [http ://news. trend. az/index. shtml?show=news&newsid=994644&lang=RU].
16 G. Lerner, “Azeri Jews: Centuries of Coexistence in Azerbaijan,” available at [http://www.jewishjournal.com].
17 Ibidem.
18 “Head of U.S. Jewish Committee: ‘We are Azerbaijan’s Friends,’” Interview with David Harris, chief executive of the U.S. Jewish committee, 15 August, 2008, available at [http://www.day.az/news/politics/127630.html].
19 “V Azerbaidzhane otkrylsia katolicheskiy khram,” Kavkazskiy uzel, available at [http://www.kavkaz.memo.ru].
20 [http://ru.apa.az/news.php?id=59381].
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for the rest of the world.”21 In this article I have done my best to demonstrate that these are not mere words and not a tactical maneuver used to secure domestic or foreign political aims. The laws that ensure the freedom of conscience allow the believers to practice their faiths. It is obvious, however, that tolerance depends, first and foremost, on what the religious leaders do and say and on the position of the state. Recently the state has being doing a lot to demonstrate that is wants to promote tolerance.
At the same time, neither state power nor the religious leaders will be heard if there is no favorable social, cultural, and spiritual atmosphere in which the people and confessions feel at ease. The Azeri nation has many positive cultural features, the main being its amazing ability to patiently seek and achieve mutual understanding with different ethnic groups and religions. It has been demonstrating this throughout its history. “The world is studying our experience. In the future the role of Azerbaijan as an area of tolerance in which a religious and cultural dialog is being encouraged will increase throughout the world.”22
21 [http://www.blagovest-info.ru/index.php?ss=2&s=3&id=17099].
22 “Ilham Aliev: Azerbaidzhan—primer tolerantnosti i mezhreligioznogo dialoga,”
Vserossiiskiy Azerbaidzhanskiy kongress, available at [http://vakmos.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=124&Itemid=1].
Leyla MELIKOVA
Ph.D. (Philos.),
junior fellow at the History of Religion and Social Thought Department, Academician Buniatov Institute of Oriental Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (Baku, Azerbaijan).
BAHAISM AND ECUMENISM IN THE CONTEXT OF RECENT SOCIOCULTURAL TRENDS
Abstract
T
he author analyzes some of the current sociocultural specifics of Baha-
ism and ecumenism and their place in the republic’s public and religious life.
I n t r o d u c t i o n
Globalization as a sociocultural, political, and economic phenomenon that has enveloped all spheres of life has also affected its spiritual and religious component. As a product of Western civili-
