5.29.06 Istanbul, Turkey

We re-met the group at breakfast. Everyone was very solicitous about the health of Linda and me.

Our first stop was Topkapi Palace, which our guide told us is the largest palace land area in the world, but appeared to me to be considerably smaller (and less ostentatious) than those of Versailles, Schönbrunn in Vienna, and Peterhof outside St. Petersburg. Built by Sultan Mehmet II shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the palace is impressive, especially considering that it far antedates those French, Hapsburg, and Russian palaces. Sabri told us how humble, caring for the poor, and all-around wonderful all of the sultans had been. One wonders, then, why most of the food tasters of the sultans died of poisoning—and how much the soaking up of the wealth of ordinary people to pay for such extraordinary opulence was appreciated.

In the afternoon, we were scheduled to meet with the Journalists and Writers Institute. I was not looking forward to the experience. I thought I would have much preferred to see some of Istanbul’s sights. But it turned out to be a time of great inspiration. What these followers of Fethullah Gülen are trying to do to find common ground beneath religions and to promote understanding to stop conflict is very much along the lines of what I have been developing and trying to publicize. The movement is open to internal disagreement and is so open to different religious outlooks that its current president is an agnostic. Of course those who are most hostile to them are the so-called fundamentalists of the various religions: that is, those who ignore the fundamentals of their own religions. Atheists are more likely to agree with their goals than are people of “religion.” The people running the Writers and Journalists Institute, Harun Tokak, the President of the Foundation, and Cemal Uşak, the Secretary General of the Intercultural Dialogue Platform, liked what I had to say and seem eager to work with me. They said they would publish “ChristianityLite” in Turkish after it is published in English. I look forward to opportunities to work to make religion the force for good that the founders of the religions intended them to be, not the forces of division and evil that they have been throughout history.

The group went to Fatih University for dinner. Along the way, we stopped at a mosque so Sabri, Can, Serdal, and Suphan could pray. The Istoc Mosque was built only ten years ago, but it imitates the old Ottoman style and is spectacularly beautiful on the inside. We also learned that it is heated by geothermal energy.

At Fatih University we were greeted by background music when we entered the building. It was “Just a Girl” by No Doubt, Brett’s favorite group. We had excellent dinner conversation with Gökhan Bacik, assistant professor of international relations. He answered numerous questions we had about many aspects of Turkish society, politics, religion, and so forth. While we discussing Christian as well as Islamic “fundamentalists” (who are actually anti-fundamentalists in terms of the fundamentals that are the foundations of religions), I recalled in this city founded by Constantine a term I have come up with to call these people. In standing Jesus on his head, they follow a long tradition that dates back to some of the early Christians. But the person who had the greatest impact in overturning the teaching of Jesus was Constantine. He transformed the Prince of Peace into the Prince of War that Bush and so many self-identified “Christians” see him as today. So let’s call these people by an appropriate name: They are not Christians; they are Constantinians.

It was another exhausting, but very rewarding and invigorating day.

-RSM