LYNC — Love Your Neighbor Community Eurasia Panel
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Research

Phase two of the cycle. Research feeds Equip.

Research asks What do we need to understand together?

In practice

What research means at each level.

Nationally

The country's own religious landscape and religious freedom stance — historical, geopolitical, security, legislative — and which international experience would work there.

Internationally

The outcomes of those discussions and of joint action, including religious freedom assessment trips.

What it produces

The conclusions the room reaches. Participants examine how others have approached the same problems, argue it out among themselves, and what they conclude is written down — as findings, and as recommendations that carry their names rather than ours.

Surveys taken at the first ever international religious freedom roundtables in modern Kazakhstan’s history recorded where participants actually stood. There was near-unanimous agreement that national security and religious freedom can coexist, and that national identity can accommodate people of all faiths and none — and an overwhelming rejection of the proposition that encouraging a multi-faith environment threatens security, whether locally or nationally. Participants named Soviet-era stereotypes about religious minorities as a principal obstacle to progress.

  1. November 2019

    At the roundtables, participants heard international experience, case studies, and approaches to advancing religious freedom, and debated them among themselves. What came out of that debate were their own recommendations, which fed a draft memorandum of understanding with the government.

  2. January 2024

    An assessment delegation travelled to Tashkent, Fergana, Bukhara, Termez, and Nukus, meeting government officials, religious leaders, human rights defenders, civil society actors, and young people. Its recommendations were sequenced rather than aspirational: platforms for government–religious dialogue, a working group to define religious extremism precisely, a review mechanism for those imprisoned on terrorism charges, and an advisory board on registration.

  3. September 2025

    A religious freedom assessment across Astana, Almaty, and Shymkent, with separate visits to Aktobe, Atyrau, and Aktau — evidence gathered from inside the system rather than commentary from outside it.

  4. Ongoing

    The Almaty model — an informal, solution-driven multi-faith roundtable that began before LYNC’s work in Kazakhstan and is still meeting. Examining it answered the national question directly: the approach that fits here was already running, and what it rests on is a reframing — religion as part of the solution rather than a problem to be managed. The 2025 assessment also names its limit. The clubs currently admit registered communities only, and the recommendation is a sequence rather than a demand: bring unregistered communities in first as observers, and let the record build from there.

Research here is not a study commissioned about a country. It is what that country’s own officials, clergy, and civil society concluded once they had examined the alternatives — which is why the recommendations travelled into agreements rather than onto a shelf.

How it connects

How research draws on the pillars.

The Research phase transforms trusted relationships into reliable knowledge. Building on the networks established through relational diplomacy(opens in a new tab), the Eurasia Panel works alongside governments, universities, religious communities, and civil society to examine challenges collaboratively rather than from a distance. This approach encourages local ownership of both the questions being asked and the solutions that emerge.

The principles of Covenantal Pluralism(opens in a new tab) shape how research is conducted. The goal is not to judge or rank religious communities, but to understand how diverse groups can coexist while preserving both freedom of conscience and social cohesion. By valuing multiple perspectives and encouraging intellectual humility, the Panel seeks evidence that strengthens cooperation rather than deepens division.

Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy (CCRL)(opens in a new tab) provides the analytical framework for this work. It helps researchers understand how religious beliefs, identities, and institutions influence public life, enabling assessments that move beyond legal analysis alone. Combined with empirical research, stakeholder interviews, and measurable indicators, CCRL produces practical evidence that informs policy, educational initiatives, and future engagement.

Together, these three pillars ensure that research is not simply an academic exercise but a collaborative process that produces credible, locally informed evidence for advancing religious freedom, strengthening social cohesion, and preventing radicalization.

The cycle continues

Research feeds Equip.

National work brings evidence and experience to the Panel; the Panel returns approaches that countries test against their own conditions and build into their own curricula.

Back to the full cycle