Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
KOCATEPE ISLAMI ILIMLER DERGISI, sa.1, ss.121-144, 2024 (ESCI)
It is a psychological tendency for people to believe in and adherence to a sacred being. Based on its own theology, every religion has a perception of God. The image of God has a multidimensional structure and can be expressed with different features. It is known that the image of God is formed by being influenced by the individual's upbringing, religious beliefs and traditions. We create a perception of God in our own minds based on factors such as education, family life, environment and personal interest. This perception is discussed in our study as positive and negative perception of God. In order to understand a society, it is necessary to know the socio-cultural structure and perception of God that prevail in that society. Gypsies are a community that attracts attention with their unique characteristics within the society they live in. Education, employment, participation in decision -making mechanisms and exclusion are among the main problems of gypsies. It is a known fact that there are religious and moral prejudices against gypsies. Unfortunately, discrimination and racism against gypsies continued in every geography. Gypsies have lived in many parts of the world and migrated to different regions. Most societies lose their own characteristics and assimilate by adopting the cultural structure that prevails in places they have migrated to. Gypsies are a community that adapts to the places where they migrated to and manages to maintain their own culture. Tü rkiye has a very rich geography in terms of religious groups and ethnic identity. Gypsy culture forms a part of our social mosaic. Existing information about gypsies that are an important part of our society is generally based on rumors and superstitions. Our research examines the meaning they attribute to God and religion by making visible the socio-demographic structure of Muslim gypsies living in Yildirim district of Bursa city. The idea of God has preserved its existence in every society, in every period, in every person, which means in every time and place. One of the aims of our research is to determine the perception of God of gypsy individuals and reveal this perception of God in line with demographic data. In our research, we tried to reveal which of the emotions love or fear is dominant in the perception of God. A total of 122 gypsy individuals aged 18 and over, residing in Beyazit and Selimzade neighborhoods of Yildirim district of Bursa city , participated in the study. Gypsies live collectively in the center of the city, both intertwined with and distinctly different from the local people. In the introduction part of the study, information is given about studies carried out in the field, and the theoretical framework is presented in the first section. In addition, the historical course and socio-cultural characteristics of gypsies are mentioned. In the second section, information on the problem, purpose, importance, sample and method of the research is given. The third section consists of the data obtained from the sample group's answers to the God Perception Scale and sociodemographic information form. In the conclusion section, the data obtained from the scale results are presented. As a result of our study, it was determined that the gypsy individuals in our sample group had a love -oriented perception of God. No statistically significant relationship was found between the age and economic levels of Gypsy individuals and their Perception of God. A statistically significant and positive relationship was determined between education level and Perception of God. There was no significant difference between the gender and marital status of Gypsy individuals and their Perception of God. It is thought that the results obtained will benefit literature studies on gypsy individuals are their perception of God.