The effect of religious education policies on university students' perception of religiosity during the AK Party period

Religious education policies are among the hottest topics in our country. In line with the needs of the society and that of the state, the education of individuals via schooling is generally determined through religious education policies. There is no doubt that states demand to raise individuals they like to mould, and they implement education policies to that end. Accordingly, religion and state relations are regarded as inseparable. In this study, firstly, in order to understand the concepts and end the confusion, the conceptual framework will be mentioned, and then the history of the religious education policies will be discussed. In this context, the religious education policies during the Ottoman and Republican period will be briefly examined. Then, the religious education policies of the AK Party period will be examined. Social change reports and religiosity studies prepared by research companies have led us to conduct the research on the effects of religious education policies on religiosity. As a matter of fact, it was expected that the religious propaganda and education carried out by the state would affect the religiosity of the citizens in the desired way. For example, with the 4 + 4 + 4 education system implemented in 2012, the number of secondary religous schools increased significantly. However, many studies have revealed that the situation proves to be the opposite and directed us to study this area. Within the scope of our study, 12 region-based interviews were conducted across Turkey and in line with Level 1 of Statistical Region Units (SRU). In this context, open-ended questions were asked to the participants. In addition, the process tracing method was used in this study. In this method, periods were written in the number line column, signifying a historical process. Presidents, prime ministers, and the religious education policies in practice were placed in the number line column. Finally, the religiousness graph was compared with these periods. This made it possible to comment on how religionization differs according to the president, prime minister, government of the period and the policies implemented. This research aims to answer such questions as: Do religious education policies affect religiosity? Have people questioned their religious beliefs more in recent years? Can religious education policies direct the rate of the increase and decrease in religiosity? Do religious discourses increase devotion, or drive people away from religion or lead to the corruption of the sacred? Have the policies implemented by the AK Party has increased or decreased religiosity? If so, is the policy problem implemented, or is a rapidly decreasing religiosity decreasing with these policies? Do the changing perceptions on religiosity reflect global changes in our country or is it due to the developments in Turkey?