Handling Doubt in Teaching Religion: A Turkish Case Study

Abstract. This study ventures to sketch the dimensions of stress in religious thinking among young Muslims studying theology in Turkish universities and the ways in which these tensions are handled in educational institutions. As a result of a review of related literature, together with the use of a questionnaire with 382 respondents and interviews with 15 participants, the extent of experienced intense religious stress, the source, the content, the ways of resolution, the duration, and the period of religious stress were identified. Finally, the cognitive, educational, theological, and socio‐cultural challenges to which young Muslims were exposed were delineated and possible ways to overcome these problems were outlined, with some suggestions for educational settings. (The questionnaire mentioned in this essay can be found on the Wabash Center Web site < http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/journal/ok.html >.)