Divorce process and religion: A qualitative study

In the study, which examines the relationship between the views of divorced individuals about the divorce process and their religious understanding, these research topics investigated: Pre-marriage, marriage process, divorce process, post-divorce process, religiosity, religious individual, the effects of religious understanding on divorce and the effects of divorce on religious understanding Eighteen divorced individuals, seven men and eleven women, residing in Ankara, participated in this study, in which the study group was determined by criterion sampling method. In the study, a 21-question interview form developed by the researcher was used for data collection. Descriptive and content analyzes were made on the findings obtained from the interviews. The views of the participants were examined according to the categories of religious inclination and distance to religion. In the study, it was observed that divorce had an effect on religious understanding rather than the effect of religious understanding on divorce. Regardless of whether the participants were religious or not, it was observed that all participants suffered a concussion in terms of religious understanding at the end of the divorce process, some recovered after a while and repaired the damage in their religious understanding, while others moved the questioning beyond their social and cultural context to criticize religion itself. In this context, it has been evaluated that each individual is affected differently from the divorce process. The opinions of the participants who stated that they had religious inclinations were in different directions. It can be said that the views of these participants on the gains that can be obtained from the divorce process can be summarized as follows: Gaining experience, being protected from extremes, realizing that a non-human cannot be religious either, understanding the difference between appearing religious and being religious, understanding that religion is the greatest consolation, developing the ability to pray. To approach Allah, to develop a sense of trust, not to judge people by religion, to understand the importance of religious education, to understand the importance of looking at the sources of religion, to learn to be patient, to live life with the consciousness of testing and not to focus on appearance. It has been evaluated that various gains obtained after the divorce process are important in terms of contributing to the relevant literature. Although the search for consolation after divorce is seen as a feature of the Turkish family structure, it can be said that a detailed examination of the post-divorce gains reached by the participants in this study will make significant contributions to the relevant literature. All results show that this study will make an important contribution to the related literature.