Turkish religious teacher dismissed after defence of atheists stirs controversy

[trotsky]

https://ahvalnews.com/religion/turkish-religious-teacher-dismissed-after-defence-atheists-stirs-controversy

A Turkish theologist has been targeted with legal action and removed from his teaching position at an Istanbul high school after his comments on religion sparked outrage from a fundamentalist newspaper, German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s Turkish language news site reported on Tuesday.

On January 6, Cemil Kılıç, a writer and teacher at the Rami Atatürk Anatolian High School in Istanbul, was interviewed by DW after a poll by the Konda research firm revealed a rise in the number of Turks who identified as atheists from 1 percent to 3 percent.

...

Kılıç went on to say that Turkey’s atheists and deists tended to act more morally and conscientiously than the country’s self-professed Muslims.

Days after the interview was published, columnist Faruk Arslan targeted the theologist in an article for the fundamentalist Islamist newspaper Yeni Akit under the headline, “Why is a religious education teacher who is an enemy of religion being protected?”

A teacher making such mild remark defending non-believers is targeted for being an "enemy of religion." This is why atheists care about religion. This is why many atheists don't want to mince words when discussing religion.

And it's depressing that a consistent reaction - from fundamentalists in Turkey to allegedly progressive believers on DU - is to want to target, attack, and silence the voices they don't like.

[The Genealogist]

1. But that shocking bus sign! n/t

[trotsky]

2. Indeed!

[MineralMan]

3. Turkey is transitioning from being a secular nation to an Islamic state.

It has pretty much always teetered on the edge of that. I was stationed there for a year and a half, in 1967-8 while in the USAF. Religious tolerance was in the laws there, but was honored mostly in the breach of that tolerance, even then. There were Christian Churches in the city of Samsun, near my base, but they were sparsely attended. Islam was everywhere, since most Turks were Muslims.

The tolerance was barely practiced, frankly, even then, although lip service was given it. Today, with the increasing rise of purely Islamic states, Turkey has slipped even farther away from actual tolerance. This story contains no surprises for me. Even at universities in Turkey, Islam has a strong upper hand, and atheism is generally best kept to oneself.

While I was there, I formed a number of acquaintances, all of whom assumed I was a Christian, since I was an American. I did not make my atheism known, generally, because while Christianity might be tolerated by educated Turks, atheism was distinctly not tolerated.

That teacher was very brave to have spoken out in support of atheism and other religions. Sadly, he is now out of a job.