A Flickr Page from contributers to the Pope and Patriarch Blog
It is unlikely that Turkey will have a warm-and-fuzzy attitude towards Christianity in our lifetime; or at least not for a while in our lifetimes. There is, however, an attitude of staunch secularism that, if not outright tolerant, sees Islamist religious intolerance as backwards and un-Turkish. (By golly, it’s not what Ataturk would do!)
(Random aside – Turks feel either the most minimal or no connection or bond at all with Arab Muslims. When the Dubai Ports World controversy was brewing, the reaction of two of my Turkish friends was, "Well, anti-Muslim bias is wrong. It’s discrimination. But anti-Arab bias… man, that’s just common sense! I wouldn’t let one of those Arab lunatics run my country’s port!")
So I guess I’m hoping Western observers don’t look at Turkey and dismiss it as no better than Saudi Arabia, or Iran, or the mobs in Afghanistan who wanted to kill the Christian convert Abdul Rahman, etc. Yes, there are powerful forces at work here who rail against imaginary plots of Christian conversions, and who like to target the few remaining Christians in the country as scapegoats. Conspiracy theories are the coin of the realm, sad to say. But there are Turkish, and in fact Muslim allies against intolerance and hate in this country, and I think the West would be foolish to ignore or alienate these folks.
Aside from the already-mentioned Vatican TV and EWTN broadcasts, the website of the Ecumenical Patriarchate will be live streaming events over the next few days and has some podcats – on the history of Orthodox Christianity – available.
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