A Comparative Exploration of the Experience of Catholics in the United States and Sunni Muslims in Turkey

1 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XL, No.1, Fall 2016 A Comparative Exploration of the Experience of Catholics in the United States and Sunni Muslims in Turkey Kate Mroz* In contemporary political discourse, it is often argued that Christianity is inherently more compatible with democratic governance and human rights than is Islam. According to historian Bernard Lewis, Christianity, from its very beginnings, had the foundation for a separation of church and state in the famous New Testament passage “render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.”1 In Islam, by contrast, “religion and the state are one and the same.”2 Lewis claims that for most Muslims, Islam is perceived as the main basis of identity and therefore, “it necessarily constitutes the main claim to loyalty, to allegiance.”3 Furthermore, “traditional Islam has no doctrine of human rights, the very notion of which might seem an impiety.”4 In asserting the existence of a “clash of civilizations” between Islam and the West, conservative political scientist Samuel Huntington warns, “The underlying problem for the West is not Islamic fundamentalism. It is Islam.”5 *Kate Mroz is a doctoral candidate in Systematic Theology at Boston College. Her main areas of interest are theological anthropology, feminist theology, comparative theology, and Muslim-Christian dialogue. She received her MTS from Harvard Divinity School in 2013, and BA in theology and political science from Fordham University in 2011 1 Matthew 22:21 2 Bernard Lewis, Faith and Power (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), xiii. 3 Ibid, xvi. 4 Ibid, 71. 5 Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996), 70. 2 Is this true? Turkey presents an interesting phenomenon with regard to the question of whether an Islamic democracy is possible. Huntington refers to Turkey as a “torn country,” a country with a predominantly Muslim culture whose leaders want to shift it to the West, a task Huntington believes is impossible. It appears as though Huntington wishes to see Turkey transformed into a strictly Muslim state, as this would prove his clash of civilizations thesis to be correct. Huntington writes, “At some point, Turkey could be ready to give up its frustrating and humiliating role as a beggar pleading for membership in the West and to resume its much more impressive and elevated historical role as principal Islamic interlocutor and antagonist of the West.”6 Turkish political economist Ziya Onis observes that after its landslide victory in 2002, Turkey is more influenced by the AKP.7 Turkey today is less committed to the West today than it was at the time of the party’s first electoral victory in November 2002. Terms like “illiberal democracy” and “competitive authoritarianism” are frequently used to describe Turkey under AKP rule.8 As will be discussed later, this does not mean a case for optimism toward the future of Turkey cannot be made. Indeed, however, Turkey is a country in which Muslim identity and the role of Islam in politics are continuously being tested and negotiated. Yet, feeling tension between religious and national identity is not unique to Turkish Sunni Muslims, nor is Islam the only religion, which has been accused of being incompatible with democracy and human rights. According to sociologist Jose Casanova, “the contemporary global discourse on Islam as a fundamentalist anti-modern, un-democratic religion shows striking similarities with the old discourse on Catholicism that predominated in Anglo-Protestant societies, particularly in the United States, from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century.”9 The Catholic experience in the United States disproves the hypotheses of Lewis and Huntington. While the experience of Catholics in America and that of Muslims in Turkey is certainly not the same, an examination and comparison of the two may prove helpful for considering how one can be both religious and committed to democracy. This may entail an expansion 6 Ibid, 178. 7 In Turkish, Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi. In English, the Justice and Development Party. Its leader, Ahmet Davutoglu, is Prime Minister, while former leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is President. The AKP is...