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MERICAN Journal of Public Diplomacy and International Studies
www.
 grnjournal.us 
 
look at the history of religions operating in our country, we can see that the territory of modern 
Uzbekistan is one of the oldest countries where the first religious ideas and beliefs appeared in 
people. In the middle of the Stone Age, worship of various animals and the Sun, and later 
fetishism, animism, and sorcery (magic) spread among our ancestors. [3] 
"In general, Uzbekistan, which has been the center of coexistence of peoples with different 
religions, cultures and lifestyles for thousands of years, is an undeniable confirmation of this. 
Since ancient times, representatives of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and other ancient 
religions have not only lived together here, but also complemented and enriched each other".[4] 
Since the early days of independence in our country, the issue of forming a tolerant relationship 
between religions has been considered as a strategic task and reflected in the legislation. 
Atheism, alienation from values, alienation from national characteristics, which became a 
"heritage" of the former totalitarian system, and the question of returning to our people the 
characteristics that are in line with our national interests, was defined as the main task from the 
first days of the state's independence. In this regard, there was a need to solve the following 
priority issues before the state and society: 

First, to abandon the management method related to the totalitarian system, to introduce the 
democratic form of development in accordance with world standards in harmony with the 
national characteristics of the country; 

Secondly, based on the country's glorious past, statehood traditions, historical experience, 
creating a legal system that is modern, liberal and compatible with world standards; 

Thirdly, to create necessary conditions for equal and free functioning of all nationalities and 
confessions in all spheres, including multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state administration; 

Fourthly, based on the universally recognized principles of tolerance of international law, the 
solution of current issues such as ensuring and guaranteeing the freedom of religious belief 
of the country's citizens was considered as an important factor for security and development. 
Freedom of belief was guaranteed in the constitution, which is considered the basic law, by the 
responsible state bodies, who understood the above-mentioned needs in time. Initially, based on 
the international norms of relations between the state and religion, they were defined as separate 
entities in the basic law. According to Article 75 of the updated constitution, "Religious 
organizations are separate from the state and equal before the law. The state does not interfere in 
the activities of religious associations. The state guarantees the freedom of activity of religious 
organizations operating in accordance with the law. [5] 
In the fifth section of the Strategy of Actions adopted on the five priority directions of the 
development of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2017-2021, the priority directions in the field of 
ensuring security, interethnic harmony and religious tolerance were indicated. In this direction, 
ensuring religious tolerance was defined as one of the important priority tasks. 
T. Ahmedov, Head of Department of the Institute of Strategic and Interregional Studies under 
the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, explains the wide-scale work carried out in 
Uzbekistan in connection with the provision of religious tolerance as follows: "the authority to 
make a decision on the termination of the activity of a religious organization has been transferred 
from the executive power - judicial bodies to the courts, and the legal guarantees of their 
freedom of activity strengthened. The amount of the state duty for the registration of a religious 
organization has been reduced by five times, and the periodicity of reports has been shortened. 
From now on, religious organizations will submit reports only once a year".[6]