Studying the Nonreligious Quests in Turkey: A Conceptual Framework for the Tendencies of Disengagement and Departure from Religion

Öz

Recent sociology of religion studies focusing on the issue of disengagement from religion argue that in Western societies (i.e. UK, Germany and Canada) secularism is an ordinary phenomenon that everyone accepts without thinking and/or they are born into. This ordinary phenomenon has even created a subculture of its own. However, the move away from religion has its own taste and behavior patterns and rituals similar to religion. In the last two decades, there has been a scholarly interest to explore the newly emerged concept of nonreligion (Alexander, 2021; Cotter et al., 2012; Quack, 2014). In this article, first, we attempt to examine the conceptual framework of nonreligious beliefs, practices and experiences which is studied in the Western literature under the concept of nonreligion, and which we propose to call “lâdînîlik” in Turkish. Then we discuss what kind of approach can be adopted to understand the developments in Turkey with this concept. We begin with explaining why we have chosen the term 'lâdinî' and what we mean by this term. Then, after reviewing the discussions on “lâdînîlik” in the literature under two headings "negative" and "positive", we argue that approaching the issue from a "relational" perspective is the most appropriate way to understand this complex issue.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Atheist
• nonreligion
• laïcité
• secular
• deism

Türkiye’de Lâdinî (nonreligious) Arayışları Çalışmak: Dinden Uzaklaşma ve Ayrılma Eğilimlerine Dair Kavramsal Bir Çerçeve Önerisi

Öz

Dinden uzaklaşma meselesine odaklanan bazı yeni din sosyolojisi çalışmaları, İngiltere, Almanya, Kanada gibi Batı toplumlarında sekülerizmin nüfusun çoğunluğunun içine doğduğu, düşünmeden kabul ettiği, sıradan bir olgu haline geldiğini; hatta bu durumun kendine has bir alt kültür yarattığını; dinden uzaklaşmanın özgül beğeni ve davranış kalıplarının ve dine benzer ritüellerinin ortaya çıktığını iddia ediyorlar (Alexander, 2021; Cotter ve diğerleri., 2012; Quack, 2014). Bu makalede önce Batı literatüründe nonreligion kavramı altında çalışılan ve bizim lâdînîlik olarak adlandırmayı önerdiğimiz din dışı arayışlar olgusunun kavramsal içeriğini, sonrasında ise Türkiye’deki gelişmeleri anlamak için bu kavrama ilişkin nasıl bir yaklaşım benimsenebileceğini tartışacağız. İşe neden lâdinî kavramını seçtiğimizi ve bu kavramı ne anlamda kullandığımızı söyleyerek başlayacak; literatürdeki lâdinîlik tartışmasını “negatif” ve “pozitif” olarak iki başlık altında ele aldıktan sonra meseleye “ilişkisel” açıdan yaklaşmanın en uygun yol olduğunu iddia edeceğiz.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• ateist
• deist
• dinsizlik
• lâdini
• laiklik

Kaynakça

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