Battle around secularism in the Arab world?

[kılıç_mehmet]

Any control of the clergy is good.

Ataturk was a long time ago - and he was a general too - and there are still islamic problems in Turkey. For some reason invoking 'god' works well with the ignorant. Happens all the time over here.

Well, Atatürk was not a *secularist*, he didn't seperate the church and state. Instead of putting religion in charge of the state, he used the state to regulate religion. Indeed, religion was not able to mingle into state affairs, but the state was able to do the opposite, mingle into religious affairs.
Invoking "god" is nothing. The Ottoman government invoked "god" by the proxy of the Caliphate in the aftermath of WWI, in order to stop Turks from joining the nationalist forces. It certainly did not work.

And most of the Turkish peasantry who were the main source of manpower in the war of independence were quite iliterate.
Yet they understood one thing. Sovereignity, liberty and independence.

This is what really motivates people. Invoking God is useless unless your enemies are of another religion. But why really invoke religion in order to fight your own people?
The Salafists and Wahabis are the kind of people who even declare other sunnis to be heretics just because we have shrines to famous moslem saints in our lands. Their beliefs are the kind of beliefs that pit brother against the brother. A government with a firm hand on religion is required.