Georgian Gov't to fund Muslim, Gregorian, Catholic and Jewish groups

Four more religious denominations, other than Orthodoxy, will receive state funding in Georgia.

The news was announced at a Governmental meeting led by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili today.

Garibashvili said Armenian and Roman Catholic Churches as well as Muslim and Jewish groups in Georgia would be financed in a form of compensation for repressions those groups experienced during the Soviet times.

"Lately I have heard that religious contention has become more frequent after our Government came to power. This is not true and we have a definite improvement in this field,” Garbashvili said.

"We have equal respect for all religions and our new initiative where state budget will finance four more religions proves this.”

Georgia’s State Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality Paata Zakareishvili said the state will allocate a maximum of 4.5 million GEL to the four groups. The money will be divided among the four religious groups proportionally.

Zakareishvili claimed this initiative dated back to when Bidzina Ivanishvili was Prime Minister.

"He [Ivanishvili] put this issue on the agenda and Irakli Garibashvili started working on it as soon as he became Prime Minister,” Zakareishvili said.

"I am happy that we have fulfilled the task given by both PMs in a very short period of time,” he added.

This decision was positively assessed by representatives of the four religious groups, who were named on a list of potential candidates for funding. The decision to fund these religious denominations was made after consultations between the state and themselves.

However, this step was assessed as "discriminative” by those groups which were not on the list.

While commenting the issue, Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said he was very interested in this topic but was not familiar with the criteria of selecting which religious groups were funded.

"I will learn it in detail and will let you know my opinion later,” Margvelashvili said.

Ambassador of the USA Richard Norland said he liked the decision, while some of the theologists found the issue tricky and discriminative against the rest of the religious groups presented in the country but were not selected for state funding.

In response to this, the Government said they had not finished working on the issue and would discuss possible funding of other groups too.

"The issue is not closed yet. The state will estimate the loss [during the Soviet times] of other religious groups too and they also will receive state funding,” Minister Zakareishvili said.

PM Garibashvili said funding for Lutherans would be considered at the "next stage”.

The topic may become an issue of further discussion in the Public Defender’s office.

The Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) is so far the only religious denomination in Georgia that receives state funding. The state has allocated 25 million GEL for the GOC this year.