An analysis of Diyanet Monthly Journal in terms of exclusivisim, inclusivism and pluralism

The phenomenon of religion has always existed throughout human history. Today, in our globalized world, people of various races, languages and religions live together. These differences necessitate close communication between people and sometimes lead to negative consequences. In this study, a research was conducted on the aspect of these problems that concerns the philosophy of religion, namely religious pluralism. Although the issue has a social meaning, the philosophy of religion examines this problem in terms of the absolute truth and savior claims of different competing religious traditions. In doing so, Diyanet Monthly Journal was chosen as the field of study because the Presidency of Religious Affairs is the only official institution that has been serving in the field of religion since the establishment of the Republic. The aim of our study will be to investigate and analyze the way such an institution approaches issues in the plan of thought and ideas, especially the perspective that emerges when it comes to different beliefs and cultures, with the formation of philosophy of religion. In order to achieve this aim, while examining the adventure of the issue of religious pluralism, which is a sociological, philosophical and theological problem caused by globalization, from past to present, in the context of Diyanet Monthly Journal in terms of our country, it has been tried to understand how the Presidency of Religious Affairs approaches the problem of religious pluralism. Case study design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. In this context, it was tried to determine how the issues of Diyanet Monthly Journal, one of the periodicals of the Presidency of Religious Affairs, addressed the issues of exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism in 1999 and 2016 with the document analysis technique and the relevant issues were subjected to content analysis. The study consists of two main parts. In the first part, the problem of plurality of religions is examined from a sociological and philosophical perspective and three philosophical perspectives on other religions, namely religious exclusivism, religious inclusivism and religious pluralism, are discussed. In the second part, the Presidency of Religious Affairs is briefly introduced and a brief information about the main material, Diyanet Monthly Journal, is given. Then, the journals were analyzed in terms of content. As a result of the study, it was found that all exclusionary, inclusive and pluralist approaches were encountered in the journals, but an inclusive attitude was predominantly adopted. In addition, it was observed that the influence of current events on the attitude towards the "other" in the journals was clearly felt.