In today's Turkey, a single issue dominates the public agenda: the political battle between the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the religious community of Fethullah Gulen. Every recent dispute — the corruption probe against the government, an investigation of an alleged arms-carrying truck crossing the Syrian border, the raid on al-Qaeda — is interpreted as being a part of that big war. Many seem to agree — but not able to prove — that the prosecutors who play an active role in these probes are motivated by their membership in the Gulen movement. They passionately disagree, though, on whether this political motivation should delegitimize the investigations as “coup attempts,” or whether the evidence for corruption and other misdeeds should be the real focus.

For sure, all this is politics — and politics by other means. However, the religious commitments of both sides also bring a theological element to the fore. Both sides believe they are on the right path, not just politically but religiously. Both sides, in other words, seem to believe that God is on their side.

This is somewhat visible in the rhetoric of Gulen — and perhaps not too surprisingly considering he's a religious leader. During the heat of the political tension, for example, he gave an emotional sermon in which he called on God to punish the unjust in this drama. “Those who don’t see the thief but go after those who chase the thief ... may God bring fire to their homes,” he said in a video message to followers that was widely broadcast on Turkish TV. And when Erdogan vowed to go after Gulen movement members in their judiciary “lairs” — likening them to wild predators — Gulen responded, “God sees who is in a lair.”

To be fair, Gulen has never explicitly said “God is on our side,” but some of his followers seem to believe as much. A common argument is that the attacks on the Gulen movement will inevitably “touch Gayretullah,” literally meaning “effort of God” and implying that God can interfere in human affairs to prevent or punish wrongdoings. For example, when the 1999 earthquake shook the headquarters of Turkey’s ultrasecularist military, it was rumored among conservatives that “Gayretullah” might have targeted the anti-Islamic generals.