Turkish Philosophy Classes Used for Religious Indoctrination
Turkish philosophy teachers came to the conclusion last year that their classes needed an upgrade. So they appealed to the central government to help them out. The course had to be improved, money had to be invested, a new approach was required.
But then the AK Parti led government did something teachers did not expect; the government came up with a bill that would change the quality of philosophy classes for the worse. The classes were, teachers said, turned into a pro-Islam course, bent on indoctrinating students about the ideas of Islam.
For instance, one of the teachers explained, ontology normally dealt with three subjects. “God exists and man can prove it,” “God does not exist and man can prove it” and, lastly, “it cannot be proven whether God exists or not.” All three are, of course, good material for philosophy classes.
Ankara disagreed, however, considering the last two questions irrelevant. The only statement to be dealt with from now onwards is “God exists and man can prove it.” Other views will not be dealt with, they will receive zero attention. Students will be taught to believe and defend the statement that God exists, and they will be taught what arguments to use (many undoubtedly based, among others, on ‘scientists’ who abuse the Koran and Science to further their Islamist goals) to defend this thesis.
The AKP continues its project to Islamize Turkey. It is interesting for this observer that a large part of the Turkish population do not seem to care about this project as much as they do about corruption. This does not bode well at all for the secular nature of Turkey in the coming years; after all, at the moment another Islamist party stands up that embraces a liberal economic policy, it is likely to win elections and to form a new government. They will then be able to do what the AK Parti desperately tried to do as well.
