Religious Freedom, Interethnic Harmony, and the Prevention of Coercive Proselytism: The Experience of New Uzbekistan
Mansur Musayev
Abstract. This article examines the relationship among freedom of conscience, interethnic and interconfessional harmony, and the prevention of coercive proselytism in contemporary Uzbekistan. It combines two lines of inquiry that are often treated separately: the analysis of manipulative missionary strategies and the study of Uzbekistan’s institutional experience in sustaining solidarity within a multiethnic and multiconfessional society. The research uses normative-legal analysis, comparative interpretation, systems analysis, and institutional synthesis. It distinguishes lawful religious communication and voluntary conversion from practices involving coercion, deception, exploitation of vulnerability, intrusive data use, or incitement to hostility. The findings show that durable security cannot be achieved through prohibition alone. It requires a rights-based preventive model in which constitutional guarantees, proportionate law enforcement, religious literacy, media literacy, social support, interfaith dialogue, cultural institutions, education, mahalla participation, and accessible complaint mechanisms reinforce one another. The article proposes a four-part policy framework: protection of individual freedom of conscience; prevention of coercive and manipulative conduct; development of intergroup trust; and continuous, evidence-based evaluation. The experience of New Uzbekistan is interpreted not as a finished or universally transferable formula but as an evolving model whose strength depends on legal equality, civic inclusion, and the capacity to reconcile national cohesion with religious and cultural diversity.
Keywords: freedom of conscience, coercive proselytism, missionary strategy, interethnic harmony, interconfessional dialogue, religious tolerance, New Uzbekistan, human rights, prevention, media literacy