[The Drowning Witch]

WOW.

I am Humbled in the face of the bravery of those in Turkey.

[jimtorr]

I bow to them myself. They know that they are taking a risk to support the principle of secular government. The Islamists are best known for killing anyone who disagrees with them.

[Tolsti]

If they’d just dump islam entirely, then I’ll really be thankful.

[James W. Fannin]

They want neither Sharia, nor a coup, but a fully democratic Turkey.

The history of Turkey's "secular democracy" is neither democratic nor free of violence and oppression. The secular military has had to assert its control numerous times since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk took power in 1923. Furthermore, Kemal was involved with the the Armenian genocide.

The point I'm making is that this situation is not an automatic validation of the current administration's efforts to "democratize" the region. If Turkey is any sort of precedent, we should forget that naive notion and accept the requirement that force is the only thing that will keep the islamists from holding power in any Islamic country.

The brave secularists in Turkey know they need more than demonstrations to restrain the islamists. They're right.

[BuddhaBrown]

Maybe just semantics here, but...

I don't see 'secularism' as something for which people should be proud to fight. Freedom is something for which I would fight, not secularism.

With freedom comes the option for individuals and organizations to be secular or to be devoted to any one of several religions.

I have no problem with a government which is proud of and respectful towards the religion(s) of its people.

America was founded on Judaeo-Christian principles but with freedom for believers and secularists alike - for which the Father in heaven has greatly blessed and protected our nation above any in history now two centuries and counting.

The modern pursuit of secularism has been a serious plague upon this great land. Blind devotion to secular concepts paves the way for evil to prosper.

Removing God from our history (ala Jamestown), from our public institutions, from our political discourse, from our collective and individual decision-making has resulted in no additional freedom for anyone and much additional decay for our moral standing before God and the world.

It has lead to a devaluation of life to the point that one whole political party is devoted to maintaining such evils as abortion and embryo-destructive research and promoting new evils such as euthanasia.

It has lead to perversions of the family structure to the point where one can be punished not for actually harming homosexuals but simply for disagreeing with the morality of their sinful lifestyle.

It has lead to distortions in logic to the point that a 'balanced' playing field means officially sanctioned favoritism is shown to people based on race and sexual orientation, that sloth is rewarded, that promiscuity is encouraged, that charity is replaced by socialism and that fame and even infamy are now goals rather than results of honest pursuit.


The righteous pursue freedom, but merely tolerate secularism.


(Then again, maybe it's not just semantics.)

[AdmSmith]

Here is a link to a background thread http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1824861/posts

[Cacique]

bump for later reead

[Mashood]

I, too, bow to the Turkish people for supporting their Constitution!!