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kerry · #14 06-08-2008, 01:06 AM

On of the big benefits of this trip is that we are traveling with Gulen's followers and meeting with them in their homes and businesses. It is also the downside of the trip. We are not meeting with Turks opposed to the Gulen movement. I was aware of this problem going in and tried to arrange a meeting with a Turkish immigrant in Denver who is not a Gulen follower. It's also clear that the movement, if it has political intentions, would not be interested in revealing those to people like myself. In fact, it would reveal it to no one since it is a crime in Turkey to argue for Sharia law.
All that being said, my experience with Gulen's followers, is that their version of religion is at its core a personal internal religious transformation. It is a religion of the heart, not of politics and law (as far as this is possible in Islam). I think this is largely because it is a Sufi movement. Sufism has a long history in Turkey, unlike in Saudi Arabia where Sufism is rejected.
The whole issue is complicated by the fact that Turkey is arguably the most secular country on the planet when looked at thru its constitution, so the state/religion debate here is different than the state/religion debate in the US. For instance, the military in Turkey carries the moral burden of assuring that Turkey remains a secular country. I think few US generals feel any duty to assure the secularity of the USA.
This is compouinded by the sexism of the Gulen movement and Islam in general. I've only met one Gulen female follower who wasn't wearing the headscarf. I can't imagine any reasonably enlightened 'western' or 'westernized' woman being very happy at the gender roles in Gulen's movement. It's been a fairly frequent topic of discussion on the trip since we have a female Mennonite minister with us.