"Which religion?" - "Whose religion?"

The distribution of the world population among religions reveals that nearly 56% consists of believers in Abrahamic religions. (Christianity 30%, Islam 25%, Judaism 0.2%). Hinduism ranks third with 15.5% due to India's rapidly increasing population, while Buddhism ranks fourth with 6.5%.

However, a striking development is that "Irreligion" shares third place with Hinduism at 15.5%.

It is useful to evaluate the uncompromising struggles of believers regarding "My Religion" through the dimension of sects and cults.

Sects generally emerged from differences in belief and practice, as well as for political reasons.

For example, in Judaism, there are various sects such as Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Orthodox, Neo-Orthodox, Hasidism, Kabbalah, Neturei Karta, Zionism, etc. These sects contain significant differences in many areas, including interpretations of the Holy Scripture and the Jewish faith itself, and they diverge in their lifestyles and political goals.

In Christianity, the three major known denominations—Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism—have different churches, historical interpretations, beliefs, and practices. Nestorianism continues to exist as a Christological doctrine.

Protestantism is divided into sub-groups such as Lutheranism, Calvinism, Presbyterianism, Congregationalism, Anglicanism, Baptism, Methodism, Adventism, Pentecostalism, Evangelicalism, etc., and Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses have also taken their places within the sub-groups of Protestantism.

Each of these groups has further branched out, and it has been stated by the Hartford Institute that there are currently 150 branches of Protestantism and 350,000 religious groups in the USA.

Each of these groups believes that those outside their own circle will not attain salvation, and that those who do not think like them should even be excommunicated.

For example, while a Jehovah's Witness family sends their child to death by opposing a blood transfusion required for their child due to their beliefs, another strongly opposes this, yet all of them fall under the umbrella of the same religion.

Then one must ask; "Which religion?" "Whose religion?"

In the Islamic religion, the sectarian divisions that also closely concern the Middle East geography are no different from other religions.

Let us take a look at the sectarian distribution of those who believe in the Islamic religion.

In terms of belief, sects are divided into Sunni and Shia (Shi'ism), but there are also the Kharijites.

The Kharijites also define themselves with an Islamic identity. These are those who left the army of Ali ibn Abi Talib, rebelled against the Caliph, and broke away from the community. Today, they continue their existence in Oman, Algeria, some regions of Tunisia, and in Africa. They have split into 9-10 sub-branches and have different interpretations of belief.

The largest sect is SUNNISM.

Sunnism is divided into two separate groups in terms of belief: Maturidism and Ash'arism. There are those who favor mentioning Salafism in this group in Islamic publications. Salafism itself is divided into three branches: Saudi Wahhabism, Jihadi Salafism (Al-Qaeda - ISIS - DAESH), and Political Salafism. Each of these also has sub-branches.

In terms of Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), Sunnism is divided and separated into Hanafism, Shafi'ism, Malikism, and Hanbalism. In other words, interpretations regarding Islamic Law also affect the lifestyle.

The second sect is SHI'ISM:

Shi'ism has three different interpretations of jurisprudence: Ja'fari, Isma'ili, and Zaydi.

Isma'ilism has sub-branches (Shia, Batiniyya, Sabbahiyya, Qarmatians, Musta'li, Druze). These have further divided into sub-groups within themselves.

Why did they separate? Each has practically invented a new religion. The sacred(!) person at the head of each has interpreted religion according to themselves and set new rules. Each has started fighting with the other.

Yet they are all Muslims, and they all have the same holy book and prophet. But all have competed in producing their own religion to consolidate their own power.

Let us come to the cults (tarikats); there are 88 known cults in Turkey. All of them are unconstitutional. They feed on the army of disciples they have gathered by using ignorance and fear.

They are against the Diyanet (Presidency of Religious Affairs), Imam Hatip schools, and Faculties of Theology. The Sheikhs at their head possess extraordinary powers. They know the unseen, rule over the air and land, can show miracles to resurrect the dead, and never make mistakes. From the perspective of their disciples, the position of the Sheikhs is accepted as a station even higher than God. For this reason, disciples surrender themselves to them just as a corpse surrenders to the corpse washer.

What is experienced in the cults is a complete Middle Ages scene. The exploitation carried out in the name of religion is a practice of Polytheism. Because the sheikhs equate themselves with God, which is called "Shirk" (idolatry) in Islam...

Each of them has their own religion. Whose religion, which religion? The Sheikh's religion...

However, politics does not just watch them; it kisses their hands and hems, and declares them a requirement of democracy for the sake of getting votes.

If you examine religions like Hinduism, Shintoism, and Buddhism, you will see that similar sectarian and interpretive differences exist in them as well.

It is impossible not to see that RELIGION has suffered the greatest loss in a geography of faith composed of those who declare "Their Own Religion" by gathering a group of people around them. In a socio-cultural order where faith groups are turned into enemies of each other and each labels the other as deviant, one must accept the rapid rise of irreligion as normal.

Let us come to the Great Person who brought Turkey together with the light of the Enlightenment...

Current research reveals that 74% of the population in Turkey is Sunni, 12.5% is Alevi, and 3% is Ja'fari, Nusayri, and Twelver, and that other faith groups such as Christians, Jews, Chaldeans, Mormons, Baha'is, Buddhists, etc., live in the remaining 10.5% segment.

While secularism paved the way for every religious group to live their own faith freely, it also ensured that people, the majority of whom are Sunni, attained a correctly interpreted understanding of religion.

To put it more accurately, it brought a clean Islamic teaching to the public by saving it from ignorant and opportunistic so-called religious men who use religion for their own interests.

Shouldn't one think about the reasons why those who do not speak out against the interpretations of different sects and cults that are contrary to the essence of religion raise hell because religion has been secured by the secular state understanding?

Whose dirty consciences does it serve to curse those who ensure that society learns their religion by having the Quran, the holy book of Islam, and the "Hadiths," which are the words of the Prophet, translated into Turkish from the most accurate and clean sources, while remaining silent about the cults that commit shirk against God?

Is Atatürk being accused only because he saved not only the homeland's soil but also religion from occupation?

Is he being mentioned with curses by the President of Religious Affairs because he protected religion from degeneration with the Presidency of Religious Affairs he established?

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who saved religion from the personal power sphere of politics and the dark-conscienced people who attribute the identity of a religious man to themselves, has opened a path ahead of many Islamic countries with this great revolution that saved his nation from the current chaos of faith.

Let us give examples from two countries; Afghanistan, which has turned into the homeland of fundamentalism today, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Afghanistan took Atatürk, whom he called "My Elder Brother," as an example during the Amanullah Khan era. With the new Constitution he adopted in 1923, he wanted to make his country a secular and modern country. He introduced modern clothing norms. He made wearing hats and ties mandatory. He banned the chador and the veil. He paved the way for women's participation in working life and even entering politics. However, it was overthrown by rebellions started by British imperialism, which saw secularism as a threat to Islamic countries.

The other example is Iran. Reza Shah was crowned in 1925. He changed state policy. He declared the display of religious belief in public places, including women wearing chadors and men growing beards, illegal. He aimed to eliminate the influence of Shia religious men on the government and society. He envisioned secularization. He was dethroned and sent into exile by British and Soviet forces. The secular period in Iran ended. Although the second attempt was started by his son Shah Reza Pahlavi, the extremely authoritarian administration displayed brought about his end as well.

None of his successors managed to make a secular state permanent like Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

The Turkish Islam, which was saved from occupation during the Republican era, still protects itself despite all primitive and dark attempts and continues to provide a cultural integration to the country's sociology.

Fundamentalism, which has emerged from bottomless pits and is dressed in sheep's clothing, does not have the power to reformat the young minds of the 21st century.

The Turkish Nation received the answer to the question "whose religion and which religion?" from Atatürk 100 years ago because...