Leaders for the Seventh-day Adventist Church are expressing concern over a trend toward intolerance and persecution aimed at Christians in the central Asian countries of the former Soviet Union. Responding to news that two bombs damaged churches in the capital city of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Dr. John Graz, director of public affairs and religious liberty for the Adventist Church worldwide, says, “It may be a kind of warning from extremist groups to gain attention.”

A bomb destroyed two buildings annexed to the Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas and blew out windows in the Sunday school and baptistry. Another bomb blew windows out of the Seventh-day Adventist church. The explosions occurred minutes apart on Sunday, December 31, 2000. There are no reports of injuries.

Although the country, which is mostly Muslim, is impoverished and the target of frequent acts of violence and terrorism, churches are not necessarily havens of safety. This past October, a Korean Christian mission suffered a bombing that killed seven and injured 50.

Graz expresses the regret that such violent actions “put a lot of pressure on Christians” and that acts of aggression to destroy and persecute people are committed through religion. He adds, “We are concerned because we see a trend in some states of the former Soviet Union toward violence, and we hope that the governments and the international communities will act on behalf of human rights to send a clear signal that this behavior cannot be accepted.”

This past year, churches were destroyed and Christians threatened-even arrested-in the nearby country of Turkmenistan. (See ANN stories November 28, 2000 and October 31, 2000.) Among the destroyed churches in Ashgabat was the only Seventh-day Adventist house of worship in the country.