Hypocrisy is such a strong word

The first three words that came to mind when I used to think about Turkey were Muslim, conservative, and dictator. During my time here, all three words have been challenged and found to be, for the most part, absolutely false. All three have had a place in Turkish society at one point, true. All three are occasionally a part of current Turkish society, true. But the extent at which people think they are present is incredibly distorted.

During a guest lecture today, the concept of secularism was addressed numerous times. The short and short of it is Turkey, like many countries, has struggled with the separation of church and state for years. There are currently parties for and against the continued secularism Turkey now embraces and the possibility that the country could shift towards an Islamic rule. While some of this was over my head, something that was brought up definitely got me thinking.

People in the United States stereotype Turkey and other Middle Eastern regions as fanatical Islamic states. They are quick to assume that religion is the central focus of all governments and, from everything I’ve seen and heard, that’s simply not the case. In fact, at this point in time, I would consider Turkey to be more secular than the United States. Obviously this is not an in-depth opinion and based only on what I currently know, so I could certainly be misguided in asserting this. But, all things considered, it is definitely something to ponder.

The elected president always comes from an accepted religion. I cannot think of a time when an Atheist, Buddhist, or Wiccan ran for office and was even somewhat well-received. The pledge of allegiance addresses “one nation under God”, the national anthem stems from a poem containing the lines “May the heav'n rescued land/ Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation/…and this be our motto: “In God is our trust’”, and our currency states “In God we trust”. Like it or not, the United States was built on religious principles and has maintained them. As a country, we struggle to truly separate church from state, but hold fast to our secular label.