In 1924 Kemal Ataturkand the Grand National Assembly abolished the Caliphate, and along with it, the Ministry of Religious Affairs . Pious Foundations were wound up, religious schools transferred to the secular arm, and the Sheriat Courts were closed. Instead, a Civil Code, based on the Swiss code, was introduced.
Ataturk believed that Islam was “natural” religion, based on reason, science, knowledge and logic, and that Friday sermons in mosques should be in harmony with them. Preachers should follow closely the political and social conditions of the civilised world and deliver their sermons in Turkish, not in a dead language.
Nearly a hundred years later old-fashioned Islamism is back, imperiling Turkish law and democracy, not to mention the position of women in society. Everywhere in Islam the movement is backwards. The Turkish parliament has just passed a law against alcohol (Ataturk was a huge drinker and died of cirrhosis of the liver). It is no better in the US, where there is a growing disdain for science, and where huge numbers of people believe in the literal words of the bible, deny global warming and think the Earth was created six thousand years ago.
If you are looking for a “natural” belief, based on reason, science, knowledge and logic, espouse Epicureanism; don’t go backwards into ignorance or fanaticism.
Yes, Turkey is reverting to type. The archetype being the warlord “prophet” Muhammad. Turkey now has hundreds of journalists and secular military personnel either falsely charged or imprisoned (i.e. the fabricated Ergenekon case).
But this is to be expected. Since Islamic doctrine is not peaceful, we should be more surprised when a Muslim country is NOT a violent repressive theocracy.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/05/danish-researcher-islam-is-the-most-violent-religion.html
Danish researcher: Islam is the most violent religion
“The religious texts of Islam call upon its followers to commit acts of terror and violence to a much higher degree than any other religion, concludes Tina Magaard, who graduated from the Sorbonne in Paris as a PhD in Textual Analysis and Intercultural Communication, after a three-year research project that compared the basic texts from 10 religions.”
A Rational Study of Radical Islam, by Dr. Bill Warner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9sYgqRtZGg
http://www.politicalislam.com/blog/what-is-the-truth-about-american-muslims-part-3-3
“Mohammed committed an act of violence on the average of every 6 weeks for the last 9 years of his life”.
http://www.politicalislam.com/pdf/WebSitePDF/Sira.pdf
“In Medina, Mohammed sat all day long beside his 12-year-old wife while they watched as the heads of 800 Jews were removed by sword.2. Their heads were cut off because they had said that Mohammed was not the prophet of Allah.”