Study: Turkey remains a committed Muslim society despite 94 years of secularism

[Jugger]

Turkey only 12%? In addition I heard somewhere only 20% of Turks are practical.

The more people are educated they become less dependant on religion and as a consequence become less religious.
Religious fanaticism is more prelevant in regions where the population is less educated or illiterate.
You can verify the above fact easily by comparing terrorist attacks and literacy of that particular region.

 

[OguzSenturk]

Islam and Secularism are not opposed things. Secularism is Freedom of Belief, which ordered by Allah in Quran. So if Turkey as a Secular Nation holds Islam in their hearts, it shouldnt be suprising thing.

 

[KediKesenFare3]

I'm a liberal guy. I support LGBT rights and unlike many Kemalists I also support the freedom of every Muslim women to wear whatever she wants to wear. It's not my business to decide who's a good Muslim. Being a secular Muslim is no contradiction in itself to me.

A secular but liberal state and society system is the best option to realize Islamic values like justice, freedom and equality between men and woman.

 

[Zulkarneyn]

These are values from our Ottoman and Seljuk heritage. And they will survive the test of time

 

[AUz]

Never met a Turk who doesn t drink alcohol,and I've met plenty...

Millions of Turks drink. However, overwhelming majority of Turks do not drink.

Other than Pew report, you can look into OECD figures for alcohol consumption and also Turkish governments own surveys. 80% (+,-) of Turks aren't regular drinkers and abstain from alcohol.

Turkey has the lowest alcohol consumption per capita in entire high-income, industrialized world. Look it up

In a way, Turkey has the fittest social culture in the high-income industrialized world by far (Israel may come second).

 

[AUz]

The more people are educated they become less dependant on religion and as a consequence become less religious.
Religious fanaticism is more prelevant in regions where the population is less educated or illiterate.
You can verify the above fact easily by comparing terrorist attacks and literacy of that particular region.

Turkey is a high-income, industrialized society with high literacy rate, universal health care, modern infrastructure, and secular political system. Yet, it's pretty religious overall and Islam plays a central role in Turkey's society and culture.

 

[Jugger]

Turkey is a high-income, industrialized society with high literacy rate, universal health care, modern infrastructure, and secular political system. Yet, it's pretty religious overall and Islam plays a central role in Turkey's society and culture.

I think if you ask a very religious person about the situation in Turkey then he will not be happy, the youth of Turkey are very modern and engage in many activites that can not be termed as very Islamic.
This is what I call the hipocracy of people.
There was a survey conducted that showed that 32% of European Muslims are not religious at all, they might not be athiest but are not very religious, I think Turkey also falls under this category.

 

[The SC]

The Data speaks for its self, Islam has always been powerful because of its simplicity yet with very high values and benefits to the human being..Turkey is not an exception although it can be taken as one due to its European location, but we find the same data all over the Muslim world with more people committing themselves back to Islam after experiencing other values that did not fit with their reality..

 

[الأعرابي]

Islam is outdated, just like any other religion out there.

 

[AUz]

I think if you ask a very religious person about the situation in Turkey then he will not be happy, the youth of Turkey are very modern and engage in many activites that can not be termed as very Islamic.

Lol, 'asking a religious person' is not how societies and data are guaged. It's like saying "Ask a Republican if Obama was a great President"...

Opinions are subjective, data and compilation of surveys aren't.

Turkey is a special case internationally. No high-income, universally educated, industrialized, developed, and politically secular country has religion play such a pre-eminent role in nation's culture, society, traditions, and lifestyle as Turkey.

I'd be interested to see similar data for other high-income and industrialized modern societies and see how religion plays a part there. To my surprise, even Israel is extremely irreligious/secular with Judaism playing almost no role in people's lives, culture, and Israeli traditions (bar few). Outside of Ultra-orthodox section in Israel, "Jews" just do not care about Judaism that much.

Compared to Israel, Turkish society has allowed Islam to play a much more central role in the modern Turkish identity and culture.

Offcourse Turkey isn't as Islamic as say Pakistan or Saudi Arabia, and many Turkish people would indulge in activities that aren't perfect (Islamically speaking). But that was not my point

 

[Aramagedon]

The more people are educated they become less dependant on religion and as a consequence become less religious.
Religious fanaticism is more prelevant in regions where the population is less educated or illiterate.
You can verify the above fact easily by comparing terrorist attacks and literacy of that particular region.

I believe educated people don't necessarily become less religious. Unlike you I think educated people can even become more religious. They learn more sciences and they see how exact this world is created. They see how amazing substance, anti substance, energy etc are created. How great substance and energy work together. They learn more & more and they become more amazed.
How great Human body, human brain, animals, galaxy, discovered and none discovered hidden power like gravity, dispersion force, subatomic etc work. They can't be designed out of nothing. Any sane understand inexistence can't design this great system. There should be a superme existence that has created this systems. So education didn't necessarily decrease faith. In post-Islamic era Iranians scientists who discovered many unknown forces in the world, knew medical, astronomy etc not only didn't become less religious but their belief developed. Most of them had memorized whole Quran and were practical.

 

[xenon54 out]

Lol, 'asking a religious person' is not how societies and data are guaged. It's like saying "Ask a Republican if Obama was a great President"...

Opinions are subjective, data and compilation of surveys aren't.

Turkey is a special case internationally. No high-income, universally educated, industrialized, developed, and politically secular country has religion play such a pre-eminent role in nation's culture, society, traditions, and lifestyle as Turkey.

I'd be interested to see similar data for other high-income and industrialized modern societies and see how religion plays a part there. To my surprise, even Israel is extremely irreligious/secular with Judaism playing almost no role in people's lives, culture, and Israeli traditions (bar few). Outside of Ultra-orthodox section in Israel, "Jews" just do not care about Judaism that much.

Compared to Israel, Turkish society has allowed Islam to play a much more central role in the modern Turkish identity and culture.

Offcourse Turkey isn't as Islamic as say Pakistan or Saudi Arabia, and many Turkish people would indulge in activities that aren't perfect (Islamically speaking). But that was not my point

The key point is, unlike other muslim majority countries religion in Turkey is a personal matter, meaning its not enfoced or the law of the country even thought it serves as a universally accepted social codex whether a Turk is secular or conservative.
Asking someone whether he is praying or other religious activities in a questionin way is considered rude since its the same as interfering in someones private life.
This might have its source in the multi religious Ottoman Empire where multiple faiths have lived side by side for centuries.

The poll in the OP has also shown this:

Overwhelming majority spoke against forcing religion on people
90% of Turkish Muslims believed that women should have the right to decide whether they want to wear a hijab/veil

 

[Jugger]

Lol, 'asking a religious person' is not how societies and data are guaged. It's like saying "Ask a Republican if Obama was a great President"...

Opinions are subjective, data and compilation of surveys aren't.

Turkey is a special case internationally. No high-income, universally educated, industrialized, developed, and politically secular country has religion play such a pre-eminent role in nation's culture, society, traditions, and lifestyle as Turkey.

I'd be interested to see similar data for other high-income and industrialized modern societies and see how religion plays a part there. To my surprise, even Israel is extremely irreligious/secular with Judaism playing almost no role in people's lives, culture, and Israeli traditions (bar few). Outside of Ultra-orthodox section in Israel, "Jews" just do not care about Judaism that much.

Compared to Israel, Turkish society has allowed Islam to play a much more central role in the modern Turkish identity and culture.

Offcourse Turkey isn't as Islamic as say Pakistan or Saudi Arabia, and many Turkish people would indulge in activities that aren't perfect (Islamically speaking). But that was not my point

This is why it pains me to see Turkey slide in to a conservative ultra religious society under Erdogan.

 

[xenon54 out]

This is why it pains me to see Turkey slide in to a conservative ultra religious society under Erdogan.

My own experinces from visits every year tell the opposite.

 

[Jugger]

My own experinces from visits every year tell the opposite.

I hope what you say is true.
I have faith in the Turkish people.