Azerbaijan, Baku, June 12 / Trend , K. Zarbaliyeva/
Imports of religious books to Azerbaijan increased 3 to 4 times recently, State Committee for Religious Associations Chairman Hidayat Orujov said.
"However the number of harmful religious books has reduced. About 750 books were imported in 2007. Import of around 140 of them was prevented as they were harmful. As many as 1,507 religious books were imported in 2008; 59 were harmful," he added.
Orujov said harmful books aim to undermine political and religious stability in the country.
"These books distorts core of religion and instigates trouble between religions and trends. Fight against these problems proves effective. The media says import of religious books is not allowed and there is censorship. These reports are untrue. The number of import religious books proves it. There are such mechanisms all over the world. Such mechanisms are toughened every year," he said.
There are 534 registered religious communities in Azerbaijan. A total of 156 of them were registered for the last two years; 156 of them are Islamic and one is Jewish community in Sumgayit.
Some 32 of the 534 are non-Islamic.
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