President Karimov established a special commission that has granted over 50 exceptions to the requirement that a church have 100 Uzbek members. The fact that the government has granted exceptions is very welcome, but the need for so many exceptions shows that the registration requirement is intrinsically flawed. The American approach to religious groups is quite different. We do not require registration. Starting a church is as easy as inviting a few people to your home to talk about religion.
Most churches do register in order to get tax benefits.
But if a church is not interested in those benefits, it has no reason to register. Since there are no specific restrictions on religious activities, there is no need to keep track of each and every religious group. The Uzbek religion law, by contrast, places numerous restrictions on religious activity. It prohibits proselytizing, bans religious subjects in school curricula, prohibits private teaching of religious principles, requires government approval of all religious teachers, forbids the wearing of religious clothing in public by anyone other than clerics, and requires religious groups to obtain a license to publish or distribute literature. In fact, it is one of the most restrictive religion laws in the world.