What is Fethullah Gülen’s attitude to conflictual action?
A conflict is a struggle between two actors seeking to appropriate or control resources that are regarded as valuable by both. Fethullah Gülen takes no part in such conflicts. He argues that “for a better world, the most effective path must be to avoid argument and conflict, and always to act positively and constructively,” and, “in the modern world, the only way to get others to accept your ideas is by persuasion”; “those who resort to force [are] intellectually bankrupt; for people will always demand freedom of choice in the way they run their affairs and in their expression of spiritual and religious values.” While it still needs to be improved, “democracy is now the only viable political system, and people should strive to modernize and consolidate democratic institutions in order to build a society where individual rights and freedoms are respected and protected, where equal opportunity for all is more than a dream.” Fethullah Gülen asserts that conflictual or reactionary action cannot reach its goals precisely because it typically offers extremism and violence and begets counter-extremism and counter-violence.
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