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February 2, 2008
Nutty Professor Asks For Atheist Tyranny
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
I have long used the term “secular fundamentalism” to define the self-styled laïcité of the Turkish Republic. This authoritarian system imposes secularity, a worldview and lifestyle devoid of religion upon its citizens by using state powers. It is the mirror image of religious fundamentalism, which, conversely, imposes religion. In both models, the state has a self-declared ideology, and it tries to shape its citizens according to this dogma. It wants to recreate them in its own image.
In Turkey most secular fundamentalists would shy away from putting this so bluntly. But there are some brave figures who don't mince words.
Professor Celal Şengör, a geologist who has made a name for himself for applauding military coups, and who has recently been nominated for a seat at the all-powerful Higher Education Council (YÖK), is one. The other day the Turkish media was surprised by his recent letter to 219 academics, who are all members of the Universities Council, a body formed by his die-hard secular colleagues.
No God Allowed
What Prof. Şengör suggested in his letter was to “close down universities” rather than allow students to wear headscarves, a freedom that he defined as “an assault on civilization.” The aim of universities is to save students from religious belief, he argued, so how could they open their doors to the very symbol of the thing they want to eradicate?
I am not exaggerating what Prof. Şengör said. His reasoning was beautifully simple: Science cannot be based on religion. Universities are based on science. Therefore religious believers have no place in universities. This is how he put it in his rhetorical questions:
“How will we trust the sincerity of the people who claim to learn science, which denies dogmas, and who at the same time carry a symbol of allegiance to those dogmas? How will we allow this behavior, which is an overt treason against reason, inside our universities? How will give them degrees and diplomas by trusting that they have learned science?”
In short, Prof. Şengör argues that universities should be closed to students who prove to be religious believers. Atheists and agnostics would be ideal students, I guess, yet I am not sure what deism would count for in his list of prohibited creeds. (If I were a smarter atheist, by the way, I would still welcome believers to my atheism-dominated campus in order to convert them. But perhaps that sort of self-confidence is too much of a theistic approach.)
Prof. Şengör's “the-atheist-way-or-the-high-way” ultimatum has offended many people, including reasonable atheists. İsmet Berkan, the editor-in-chief of the daily Radikal and one of the few people who prove that the term “secular democrat” is not an oxymoron in Turkey, quoted Şengör's letter in full in his column last Thursday and expressed strong disapproval. “If universities had given degrees only to people who had proven to have rejected religious dogmas,” Berkan wrote, “we would be living in a much more backward world.” He added that the radical professor's suggestion “must be a joke.”
Unfortunately, it is not. The zeal to exclude religious believers, and especially practicing ones, from Turkey's universities and actually all elite institutions is an ongoing mania. Proponents of this secularist fundamentalism love to label it as an aspect of modernity and “civilization,” but it actually corresponds to only a faction among modern political phenomena, which are all anti-democratic in nature. Actually the ideal state according to Prof. Şengör's principles would be the one of the most repressive of all communist regimes, the Albania of Enver Hoxha, who in 1967 triumphantly declared his nation to be the first and only officially atheist state in history. Under Hoxha's rule, religious observance was considered criminal. You would be sent to jail if caught with a copy of the Koran or the Bible. They were considered “dogmatic books” that halted “progress.”
'Reason Nuts' At Work
All such secular tyrannies are based on the belief that “science and reason” will guide humanity to truth – which is a dogma in itself. Both science and reason are undoubtedly important, but in the past century we have seen that a zeal for them, especially at the expense of tradition and religion, can create horrific results such as gas chambers and gulags.
That's probably why Walter Russell Mead, “America's premier archeologist of ideas” argues that “reasonableness” might be a better common value then “reason” in the creation of an open society. In such a society, neither “religion and tradition” nor “science and reason” would be regarded as the only source of wisdom. “There will always be nuts in society,” reminds Mead, “Bible nuts, tradition nuts and reason nuts.” But they will balance each other within the mechanisms of democracy.
The problem in Turkey is that “reason nuts” dominate the state, and, let alone reasonableness, they even lack a real sense of reason that you can rationally engage with. In such a country, the emergence of nutty professors who call for purges against religious believers is no surprise. This is Turkish secularism as usual.
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at February 2, 2008 11:03 AM
I think the reason they are so aggresively secular isn't in the name of atheism- it is the fear of Islam. Given what happens when muslims run a democracy (see Afghanistan and Iran- they just sentanced another person to death in Afghanistan for a thought-crime) I think the secularists are attempting to push back religious believers because they don't want to live under Shira law.
Once again people claim reason and science leads to genocide and communism. As a person with a working brain I can assure you that neither view was based on reason or science (seriously take a look at Marxism andthe Mein Kamf if you don't believe me). Tradition and religion are always exhorted as a bulwark against them- even though they contain the same elements as the insanity they are supposed to be guarding against. Facism exhorted feeling over thinking and belief over reasonas does religion and tradition. Marxism followed a mindless obedience to authority and studying of sacred texts to discern their meaning.
The simple fact is religion is wrong and that tradition, although a good reason to continue as you are, isn't good enough an excuse when people point out problems.
Posted by: Samuel Skinner at February 3, 2008 10:01 PM
Samuel, nobody is saying reason and science lead to genocide and communism. It's also pretty obnoxious of you to say Muslims can't run a democracy because of their religion. I can just as easily pick out some atheist states and say atheists can't run democracies, or pick some Christian states and say Christians can't run democracies. Or I could mention how many people the vibrant democratic states of the modern world have bombed and killed in the past 50 years, and conclude democracy is a farce all together. The fact is you can't solely blame a single ideology for the faults of society. That wouldn't make any sense. People just use religion and philosophies like democracy for their own gain, and usually end up killing innocent people in the process.
It's amazes me that even in 2008 people talk about Muslims as if they're all one big homogeneous sub-human race. You shouldn't compare Turkey to Iran and Afghanistan in the arena of fundamentalism and religion. It's like comparing the French and Armenians, just because they're both mostly Christian they have to have the same culture and politics?
As for this idiot professor, who cares what the students believe or don't believe?
“How will we trust the sincerity of the people who claim to learn science, which denies dogmas, and who at the same time carry a symbol of allegiance to those dogmas? How will give them degrees and diplomas by trusting that they have learned science?”
Well for starters, if they pass the tests and get the grades, they get the degrees! There's no such thing as "claiming to learn" in school, only "claiming to teach". What a moron, at my university I can take exams in a monkey suit if I wanted to. They're not going to flunk me for not meeting their ideas of rational behavior.
Posted by: Kerim at February 5, 2008 7:34 PM
I was vague. People who literally believe in the Koran are incapable of running a constitutional republic (what we refer to as democracy). Basically a country like any in the Western world. Evidence of this is best seen in Afghanistan. I don't mean they fail at politics- it is the rights of the minority they can't do. This leads to... problems- it isn't a republic anymore; it is a democracy like Athens. Which is bad.
People who are Christian fundamentalists can't run democracies either, and for the same reason.
The only people who can do it are people who compartimentalize their beliefs.
Democracy is for the benefit of its citizens, not foreigners. So war doesn't discredit the idea of democracy- just consistantly losing.
Can't blame a single ideology? Err... that's like saying we can't blame communism for communism for the Soviet Union and China's actions- yes we can. I see no reason why not to blame Islam for actions that Only make sense in context of the belief.
The French Christianity is fundamentally the same as the Armenian Christianity- they both believe Jesus is the Son of God. The specifics may vary, but they have one other major comminality- they are both based on faith and are both wrong.
He cares because he can't teach people who insist what he is teaching is false because "the Koran says so". It is hard to teach those who refuse to learn.
Science is more than learning facts. It is about learning a way of thinking that is fundamentally opposed to religious belief- the idea that things must be proven and understood. If you are a fundy, you, by default don;t believe this. So you can't be a scientist. It is like being a physics major who doesn't believe in gravity, a biologist who doesn't believe in evolution or a doctor who doesn't believe in hanwashing.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/1706
Posted by: Samuel Skinner at February 24, 2008 12:56 AM
Greetings from one who admires your tenacity for creation truth. My "calling" is to bring Israel out of Atheistic Evolution back to Genesis One. I am now starting to succeed. Israeli Biologists have recently accepted new scientific facts proving creation. I am moving slowly with final scientific truths regarding botany that prove very excitedingly EVOLUTION NEVER HAPPENED! You are definitely the kind of writer who can do much good for not only Turkey; but everywhere your precise and factual statements reach. If you are interested in correspondence related to this material please contact me. Douglas Clarke
Posted by: Dr. Douglas Clarke at February 28, 2008 6:54 PM
Outstanding article exceeds all expectations. As quick as Turkey get rid of Ata-Turk or Ata-X dogmas as quick it will liberate its spirit from evil. The secular fanatics want complete monopoly of their evil ideas.
Posted by: sharry333 at March 20, 2008 3:21 AM