A sociological research on the reconciliation of alternative therapy practices with religion

Alternative treatment practices, which are an extension of new age beliefs, are becoming more common day by day in Türkiye. In this research, it has been tried to clarify the alternative treatment practices, how practitioners reconcile with religion, the transformation they went through in this process and its impact on society. In this research, in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 person working groups about how the practices called EFT, ThetaHealing, Access Bars, which promise individuals to be a "new you", are reconciled with religion by religious practitioners. According to the research findings, the research group was grouped under three categories as those who keep religion and technique separate from each other, those who do not apply the part that they think the technique is contrary to religion, and those who accept and interpret the technique. As a result, after the alternative treatment practices, it is seen that there is a change in the perspective of most practitioners and that many of them try to reconcile the technique with religion. When I look at the content of the technique applied by the practitioners and the change in their perspectives, I revealed that there is a strong connection between them and the new age beliefs. Practitioners, who are seen as the spiritual guide of the modern era, also affect the world of thought of the whole society with their transforming perspectives.