word.

I wrote about trends in Turkey as mainstream religion declines:

No they definitely should take this seriously. I wouldn't be surprised if they get better very quickly.

I agree, but also think that it's been a little funny how inept they've been at this.

@amberinzaman.bsky.social you may find this especially interesting.

this sounds like the kind of thing where the novelist picks up a few bits of color during his travels and weaves together a tale of oriental adventure :)

it could, but secular democracies are hard to find in the wild

yeah, Christian morality working against Christian doctrine.

I increasingly find myself wishing that there could be decent forms of institutionalized religion that aren't used as devices of political control.
Wouldn't it be nice if these institutions were as independent and competent as central banks ca. 1990s?

yeah, similar things are happening here. That'll be the subject of future blog posts.

Thanks. We might still be underestimating just how quickly this stuff is happening.

Great read; reminded me of this data from Iran in the early 2000s

I don't know about Iran, but oh my god, the amount of astrology and new age bullshit in Turkey is through the roof. Atheism is also very clearly on the rise.

et-tekraru ahsen velev kane yüz seksen

I just ordered his 2010 book on this.

also his age. He got into the game much too late.

There's so much good stuff here though. Might make a full post of it.