Freedom of Religion in Georgia - Societal Attitudes

Societal Attitudes

According to a report issued in 2005 by the United States Department of State, the public's attitude towards religion is ambivalent. Although many residents are not particularly observant, the link between Georgian Orthodoxy and Georgian ethnic and national identity is strong. It stated, in addition, that "Despite their tolerance toward minority religious groups traditional to the country—including Catholics, Armenian Apostolic Christians, Jews, and Muslims—citizens remain very apprehensive about Protestants and other nontraditional religions, which they see as taking advantage of the populace's economic hardship by gaining membership through handing out economic assistance to converts."

The Georgian Orthodox Church withdrew its membership from the World Council of Churches in 1997 in order to appease clerics strongly opposed to some of the Council's requirements and methods of operation and thereby avert a schism within the Church. Simultaneously, the Orthodox Church also withdrew from the Conference of European Churches.

Some senior church leaders remain highly exclusionary and profess theirs as the "one true faith". Some Protestant groups—especially evangelical groups—have been criticized by church officials and nationalist politicians as subversive. Eleven leaders of the Georgian Orthodox Church have argued that Christian missionaries should confine their activities to non-Christian areas.

The Muslim and Jewish communities report that they have encountered few societal problems. There is no pattern of anti-Semitism. During his time as president, Eduard Shevardnadze made statements criticizing anti-Semitic acts.