How do most Turks feel about Turkish atheists?

Question

Is atheism extremely uncommon among Turks in Turkey, as in most other countries muslim societies?

As a related questino, most Turks seem to be very secular. How do they reconcile the idea of being muslim and secular at the same time, as from my understanding Islam doesn't permit secularism?

Answer 1

Turkey is the only muslim nation who interprets islam like it suits them.My family and I are turkish atheists,never harmed anyone,nobody harmed us.But Turkey is getting worse towards radical islamist and with pretence of "shaping up to fit European Union"!!!

Fed up with it.

Please give me the thumbs down,all the blind idiots.

Answer 2

I'm a Muslim and secular. That's why I also respect to atheists and all other religions.

Answer 3

totally blunt,you do speak alot of sense,i like your answers.your a more politically correct, less angry version of me :P

anyway,to answer the question.you say islam doesnt permit secularism.well turkey isnt a islamic fundementalist state.just like the UK or Germany arent christian fundementalist either. christianity and islam are just as brutal as each other if you obey the faith by the book.

civilised nations like britian and germany and US are modern christians living in a modern world.theres nothing wrong with turks being modern muslims living in the modern world either,same thing.

i dont care what religion someone is,aslong as they keep it personal,respectable and in line with the law of the land.which is how it should be.

there are many different people,believing in many different things,many different views and opinions,but the one thing that should be cast iron solid,is the law.the law is there for protection and equality of the people living there,dont upset it by pushing ur own religious ideas onto others who dont believe.

Answer 4

Depends on where in Turkey you are talking about. In small cities and rustic areas it's uncommon. In bigger cities especially among educated people atheism or agnosticism are more likely to be found. Turkey is not the only country with a decent more of a humanist interpretation of Islam. Albanians and Bosnians also have their own interpration. A center for Bektaşi sect has been established in Albania hundreds of years ago. Also Bosnians interpret Islam more realistically for human life unlike Vahabi Arabs. Not that I even find that optimal. Religion is for ancient people and has nothing to do with 21st century's matters.

Answer 5

In my opinion the actual reason for the wider portion of atheism is the politicians' adherence to Wahhabi Islam instead of the traditional, mild, worldly Anatolian Islam.

What is stranger to us (the burkas, strict rules, the necessity of memorizing unintelligable Arabic verses) push us away. Ask me. When I was a child I demanded to be sent to the Kuran course and it lasted only one day for me.

And despite above answers, there are many devout Muslims who believe in secularism, because we are sick and tired of corrupt politicians who never cease to quote from the Kuran. Islam will never be a pure religion as long as people after wordly gains continue using it to rally people. Sad but true.

And last, I see more atheists than Muslims in the circles I am moving in. We see it as our right to be so. The higher the education level, the higher the rate of atheism. Hence the efforts of the Islamist government to hack the share education gets from the budget.

Answer 6

nobody is atheist or muslim in Turkey by force. its a personal choice.  atheism is not  uncommon amongst Turks .

add: i totally agree with above answerer

Answer 7

Well atheism is Turkey is very commun as a resul of influence of comunism during 1960's and it is remaining until nowadays. The problem is there is or not atheism in turkey the problem is that majority of them have not learn or can not come to the idea of freedoom of believe or not believe. Ä°f you are truly atheist you should concern about another topics in your life not to be focused in the believe or someone else and their life, but unafortunatly here in turkey they really like to be involve in stop the believe of the rest of the turks specially muslims. And beside them there are turks with islamic heritage but indeed they dont practice religion at all and they think that they are secular, but if you ask them are you muslim they will say yes but i dont practice, even they say i do fast in ramadan i am muslim....

They have taken the flag of secularism to stop the rights of muslims practicants and to them to be turk and religios is like insult them...

As they have the flag of mis understood secularism they want to manage the country and the problem is that they are supported by militar sistem and free massons.

Answer 8

States can be secular, people cannot be secular. In other words, Secularism is something attributed to states. People can support the idea of secularism. Most of the Turks do.

Secularism means "the official neutrality towards any religion". Attention to the word "official".

A person can be Muslim and support the idea of his/her country's secularism at the same time. That is not a strange thing.

And please do not use the word secular as an adjective as you said  "very secular."

There are lots of atheists in Turkey. It is not uncommon. There are also deists among Turks.

As for islam's not permitting secularism: well, secularism dates back to the enlightenment period. It is relatively a new phenomenon. There was no concept of secularism at the time of any prophet.

Answer 9

am living in turkey and i think no one can say he is muslim and at the same time he can believe in secularism, most of them are just muslims by heritage and no more.they already lost their identity , and they dont reconcile the idea of being muslim coz they arent ( most of them )

and atheism is so common and they take it so easy , no problem for them is they met such a person.

and if they accept being atheists or secular why they dont like my answer coz reality bites,isnt it?!

they have eyes but they cant see

they have ears but they cant hear

Answer 10

hi,

Türkiye has the laic state and when you ask any Turkish citizens about theirs religion choice, They say "Hop!this is my private life,why do you interest with  my religion choice !".

Answer 11

I have a Turkish friend that once said:

"Turks are generally 'culturally Muslim' only, and not really practicing... but it took me many years to even realize this about myself."

I little authority to address this question since I am not Turkish and can't really comment well.  However, I know many atheists in Turkey, and many people who are Muslims, but are not ver devout.  However, this is in my social circle.  On the streets there are plenty of people at least clearly devout based on their clothing choices (head scarves, etc.).  Somehow, I rarely interact with these people somehow.... and it seems my Turkish friends don't either...  I guess the society is somewhat segmented.

Answer 12

Same way I feel about Turkish deists.

Answer 13

Atheism or agnosticism is not uncommon among urban young people. Most of my Turkish friends are non-believers. Also, a significant portion of self-proclaimed Muslims are, like Matt already noted, Muslims by culture, not necessarily by faith or practice.

The majority of Turks are practically-minded people who see religion as a personal spiritual guide, and they wouldn't want laws or regulations to be based on Islam (or any other religion). Besides, there are widely different interpretations of Islam coexisting within Turkey. There is a huge Alevi-Bektashi population, for example, that tends to interpret Islam much more liberally and flexibly than the dominant Sunni-Hanafi tradition. If someone wanted to mix religion into government affairs, huge fights would break out about whose interpretation is the right one. So the secular system (i.e. no reference to religion in government affairs) works for everyone.