an earlier version of the law, to reregister with the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) every three years to operate legally. According to religious organizations, government security forces continued to surveil religious organizations and ban the importation of religious literature, and it remained difficult to obtain places of worship. Syncretism in Turkmen Islam The Russian Academy of Sciences has identified many instances of syncretic influence of pre-Islamic Turkic belief systems on practice of Islam among Turkmen, including placing offerings before trees. The Turkmen word taňry, meaning "God", derives from the Turkic Tengri, the name of the supreme god in the pre-Islamic Turkic pantheon. The Turkmen language features a multitude of euphemisms for "wolf", because of a belief that speaking the actual word while tending a flock of sheep will invoke a wolf's appearance. In other examples of syncretism, some infertile Turkmen women, rather than praying, step or jump over a live wolf to assist them in getting pregnant. Children born subsequently are typically given names associated with wolves; alternatively the mother may visit shrines of Muslim saints. The future is also divined by reading of dried camel dung by special fortune tellers. Other religions Christianity Christianity is the second largest religion in Turkmenistan, accounting for 6.4% of the population or 320,000 according to a 2010 study by Pew Research Center. Around 5.3% or 270,000 of the population of Turkmenistan are Eastern Orthodox Christians. Protestants account for less than 1% (30,000) of the population of Turkmenistan. There are also very few Catholics in the country – around 95 in total. Armenians living in Turkmenistan (below 1%) mostly adhere to Armenian Apostolic Church. Hinduism Hinduism was spread in Turkmenistan by Hare Krishna missionaries. Hare Krishnas are a minority community in Turkmenistan. A Hare Krishna representative reported to the U.S. Department of State that harassment from officials had decreased since her group's registration. In October 2006, as part of a general annual prison amnesty, former President Niyazov released imprisoned Hare Krishna follower Ceper Annaniyazova, who had been sentenced to seven years in prison in November 2005 for having illegally crossed the border in 2002. Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith in Turkmenistan dates to before Russia's advances into the region, while the area was under Persian influence. By 1887 a community of Baháʼí refugees from religious violence in Persia had founded a religious center in Ashgabat. While the Baháʼí Faith spread across the Russian Empire