Approach of Turkish intellectual to religion with the sample of Ziya Gökalp, Hilmi Ziya Ülken and Erol Güngör

This study explores the faculty of Turkish intellectual in the society and their attitude to religion in line with some examples. It is a fact that in order to determine the current understanding of religion, we have to examine the approach of such intellectual who have impact on the society during its reform and transformation period. In this framework, Ziya Gökalp, Hilmi Ziya Ülken and Erol Güngör have been searched in terms of their understanding of religion.The study finds out the relation between the intellectual and religion as a social institution after said intellectual?s opinion on religion. This relation shows itself either in form of religion?s leading role on the intellectual or vice versa. Furthermore, historical process has been examined to understand the basis of that relation.Keywords: Intellectual, Religion, Erol Güngör, Hilmi Ziya Ülken, Turkish Intellectual, Ziya Gökalp.