I notice that some people here reveal apparent hostility against Islam and Islamic thoughts showing it like a ghost threatening people´s lives. But this is not true, Islam is not dangerous, it is not harmful. Why are you afraid of Islamic thoughts being spread in Turkey or wherever? Islam doesn´t force anybody to believe or to do what they don´t want to do. I´ve read the article sent by Roswitha www.meforum.org/article/404 that talks about Gülen and his life and I found that he is not racial, or bigot, or dangerous. Instead, he is moderate and every Muslim has the right to support him or not.

can smbdy tell me the true definition of a secular state// from my understanding i dunno if its right or wrong but is it a state that doesn´t mix religion with politics??????i think every where in the world is except like Saudi Arabia and those parts like in Egypt we don´t call ourselves a secular state and i don´t see how we mix politics with religion in anyway at all but were not so ´hot headed´ about it i mean if smbdy comes and talks about religion in turkey hes suddenly a terrorist or an anti kemalist and why cant he be a modern thinker im a muslim my dad´s modern he´s a pharmacology professor in america and he always talks about politics and hes a Muslim is it so hard to piece the 2 together???And anybody whose a Muslim doesnt go preaching ppl around everybody has the right to be and do whatever they want and Islam doesn´t force everybody to embrace it the exact opposite!!so i wonder if i went to turkey would i be a threat to the state or smthg???Smbdy plzz explain!!

thank u

 +1

Zizoo - it´s not that people criticise Islam as a religion of an individual. It is more how Islam is realised by certain groups/countries that worries and scares us. I, like many other users on the site, believe people are free to believe or not anything and worship it by any means provided that it is not harmful to other people. What I strongly object to is policy where you cannot convert to other religion because you´ll be killed, where you are socially expected to obey others only because of their gender and where you´re led to believe that blowing yourself up killing innocent people will grant you heaven.

I agree with you 99%. But also, what would be wrong with criticizing Islam as a religion? Or any other religion for that matter? Those are social ideologies and I think they have to be subject to criticism unless we all want to be stuck in the mentality and practices of the Middle Ages. I can respect somebody´s right to believe what they want if those believes don´t cause harm to others, but I don´t have to respect dogmas and beliefs if I feel they are backward, ridiculous, irrational, etc. How did we ever agree that religions are immune to any criticism? Why? Nobody cares if political views are criticised, do they? Nobody worries about subjecting other -isms to criticism. I think it´s time to stop protecting religions from criticism and it´s time to look at them objectively and question their tenets.

Well to follow on I agree with you 95%!  My only point being that there is a big difference between criticising someone´s religious beliefs and someone´s politics!!!  You CAN cause great offence because religion is a deeply spiritual, personal belief.  I am sure even you make concessions to religion at times - would you walk into a mosque wearing inappropriate clothing?  Would you walk into a Church shouting and swearing while people are praying?

However, what I can´t stand about most religions is the hypocrisy - and I think we have every right to criticise that.  Religion is personal, but if someone chooses to use it for oneupmanship, to dominate or intimidate others or demands respect for one part of their religion, while they do not follow ALL parts, then I believe we have a right to comment.

I will reduce the agreement value abit lower..

In the end, all religions were invented to dominate the masses..

I´ll disagree, but mainly in semantics. When I talk about religion, I´m referring to the whole system of dogmas, tenets, holy books, practices, the institution of it all and I feel that aspect of religion should not be immune to evaluation. To me religion is different from faith - I differentiate it from somebody´s personal beliefs (which usually are quite different from the "official" religion, as we know people pick and choose whatever fits their needs, most don´t follow their religions to a "t") and I agree it can be deeply spiritual, personal, etc. I´m not criticizing that. One´s personal relationship with the "higher power" whatever that is, is none of my business. And yes, I do make concessions, I wouldn´t disrespect mosques and churches, and my goal is not to offend people, but to get to the point where it´s ok to say, hey, let´s look at this, maybe there´s something wrong with this or that dogma here.

Or to reduce fear of the unknown ...