Bernard Lewis Quotes
Turkey alone [among the Moslem nations] has formally enacted the separation of church and the state.
Bernard Lewis, Historian, Quoted in WQ, Fall 2000
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This is a very Jeffersonian type statement.
This quotation is one of the first to make the critical observation that the only time that tolerance of a religion is necessary is when there is an established church and others that deviate from it. If there is no established church, as the Founding Fathers envisioned, there is no preeminent church to do the tolerating. All are equal. In practice, Protestant churches were proportionately dominant in early America and up through the 20th century. So most of the issue of tolerance problems in America were cultural. And there is still a minority of Christians who believe that America should be a Christian country and other religions should be “tolerated.” However, Clinton and most of the founders did not want to see even general Christianity established as the national religion even they it was the majority religion.
Turkey under its great leader, Ataturk, underwent a major cultural revolution. Although Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim, its constitution provides that it be a secular state with compulsory public non-sectarian education. They adopted a European style law and prohibited Sharia (Islamic law). The nation thrived as no other Muslim country has. Muslims, the world over, are divided on Turkey. For this Sheikh its secular government is an insult to Islam because there is complete separation of mosque and state. For others it is the model which all Muslim countries should emulate.
In 1858 the Catholic Church virtually controlled much of the Mexican state, owned much of the land, and was opposed to all notions of separation of church and state. At that time in the “War of Reform” vast changes began abolishing ecclesiastical courts, barring church land ownership, and eventually prohibiting churches from running schools and clerics from criticizing the government.
Responding to criticisms by Rev. Jerry Falwell about America's moral decline: See also, Mark Russell
Bernard Lewis, FBA was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Lewis' expertise was in the history of Islam and the interaction between Islam and the West.
