Kazakh Orthodox Leader Calls For Religious Tolerance

ALMATY -- The head of the Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan believes that the rights of all the country's religious minorities should be respected, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

Metropolitan Mefody of Astana and Almaty told RFE/RL that he does not think that the rights of religious minorities are abused in Kazakhstan.

He said that Kazakh lawmakers, who are currently discussing a new law on religion, should remember that all religious minorities have equal rights with Kazakhstan's two traditional confessions, Islam and Orthodox Christianity.