Socialist thought and religion in Turkey: A comparison of birikimand bilim ve ütopya circles

The purpose of this study is to reveal the view of socialist thought on religion in Turkey through Birikim and Bilim ve Ütopya. These two journals were analyzed because they have a wider readership and have been in publication for many years. Orthodoks Marxist circles that do not include ideas on religion are excluded from the scope of the study. Due to the breadth and diversity of the historical development process of socialist thought in Turkey, the concepts, periods, people and processes that would be relevant to the focus of the study were addressed. For this purpose, the people and circles that are considered to have influenced the development of socialist thought in Turkey in the context of religion are briefly mentioned. In addition, the views of thinkers who influenced the process in Turkey through the relati-onship between Islam and socialism are also included. The concept of religion, on the other hand, pri-marily represents Islam, but also includes deism, theism and even atheism. The research is based on a qualitative data design and a theoretical method is adopted. According to the findings, socialist circles publishing on religion in Turkey develop an oppositional understanding of religion. This understanding is constructed through the criticism of government in Birikim Journal and through religion itself in Bilim ve Ütopya. In this context, Birikim Circle is more eager to paradigmatic changes in its approach to reli-gion than Bilim ve Ütopya. Both journal circles conceptualize the view of religion of their socialist thought with hybrid terms such as sol ilahiyat and sol tanrıbilim. As a result, while sol ilahiyat is shaped around a heterox conception of religion, sol tanrıbilim is a manifestation of the Enlightenment and Kemalist understanding.