"....The ongoing, apparently never-ending struggle that we call civilisation is the battle between superstition and reason. Superstition can't be moderate or radical, it is always and everywhere delusion. In any pantheon of the great, radical reformers of the 20th century there has to be a spot near the top for Kemal Ataturk. Faced with the task of modernising the Islamic state of Turkey, he didn't pussyfoot around looking for moderate Muslims to run the government and establish licensed seminaries. He abolished the Caliphate, disestablished Islam as the state religion and replaced Sharia law with secular law. He discouraged women from wearing the veil, enfranchised women, European-ised the alphabet and made Sunday the day of rest. That last is a small point but important if Turkey was to take its place as the most easterly European nation rather than the western edge of the Orient."
More:God save us from state-backed theology - Opinion - theage.com.au
