Abstract:

Since the birth of nationalism, religion and nationalism have been a subject of debates in which they intertwine. Nationalists have either positioned themselves against religion or used religion as a tool in order to gain power throughout history. It is aimed, in this study, to discuss the relationship between religion and nationalism focusing on historical and contemporary cases. In this regard, the examples in which religion feed nationalism and nationalism replaces religion are reviewed. In addition to that, the instances, which reveal that religion sometimes hinders creation of national identity, is examined in this study, while, on the other hand, it is also shown that there are experiences in which religion becomes a bearing factor for development of ethnic identity and appearance of fractions within the society. By taking into consideration the occurrences in question, we can infer that there is not just one type of relationship between religion and nationalism, by contrast with the common acceptance which is a result of the generation of the perspective of the progressivists. Counter to the modern era Enlightenment theses, religion is able to continue to exist in a nationalist ideology as a strong core. In this sense, the relation of nationalism with religion plays a founding role. Religion is indispensable for nationalism. That’s the way it goes in the cases either when religion is depicted as archaic, reactionary and seen as an obstacle to nationalism, or where nationalism is fed by religion.

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