Prof. Doğu Ergil: Can People with Different Sacred Beliefs Trust the Same System of Law?

Prof. Doğu Ergil: Can People with Different Sacred Beliefs Trust the Same System of Law?
Liberal TR Haber Merkezi
Publish: 09.11.2026
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Can People with Different Sacred Beliefs Trust the Same System of Law?

If the answer to this question is yes, that society has achieved more than simply establishing the rule of law; it has also crossed an important threshold on the path to civilization. Because trust is built not on shared sacred beliefs, but on shared rules.

People may not share one another’s religious beliefs.

They may have different interpretations of history.

They may not subscribe to the same ideology.

Yet if they can trust the same courts, accept the same election results as legitimate, and feel that they are equal citizens under the same constitutional framework, that is where genuine political maturity begins.

The relationship between rules and sacred values should not be viewed as a struggle for supremacy.

Rules do not have to eliminate sacred beliefs, nor should sacred beliefs take the place of common rules.

Enduring civilizations are built by societies capable of drawing clear boundaries between these two spheres.

Sacred values nourish the human conscience.

Rules safeguard life in common.

Law without conscience becomes mechanical.

Conscience without rules, on the other hand, becomes arbitrary.

Civilization advances when these two elements are made complementary rather than treated as rivals. Perhaps this is the truth we need to remember today:

The state’s responsibility is not to govern sacred beliefs, but to ensure that no sacred belief is allowed to govern the common system of law.

True civilization does not mean that everyone believes in the same sacred values.

True civilization means that people with different sacred beliefs can place their trust in the same justice system.

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Liberal TR Haber Merkezi
Liberal TR Haber Merkezi
A digital news platform delivering developments in Türkiye and the world to its readers with an objective and principled perspective. Liberal TR Haber Merkezi.
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