Because there is no one definition on what exactly constitutes ‘religion’ or ‘spirituality’, we loosely define them as ways of faith, worship, and relating to the sacred. Our organisation holds absolutely no hostility to either religion or spirituality, and does not regard either as inherently problematic. We welcome members of all faiths and none.
The liberation theology movements of Latin America (amongst other places), the Sufi-led resistances against western colonisation in North Africa and elsewhere across the Islamic world, are examples that show how religion has played a large part in peoples struggles. For many First Nations in Australia, spirituality also exists in their struggles for Country, as all life on Earth is interrelated, and interconnected with their ancestors and creator spirits. On the other side of the coin, religion and spirituality are exploited to further capitalist, colonial and imperialist projects. For example, many so-called ‘missionary’ movements are active across the Global South that engage in oppressive practices, such as enforcing their own foreign education, exploitative NGO and charity work, even promoting violence against queer and trans people.
We oppose theocracy, which we define as methods and structures of governance that, in the name of a particular religion or religious elite, use violent and coercive measures to oppress and control people. In simple terms, a theocracy is a state that justifies itself via religion — and of course, states are inherently oppressive. We do not conflate theocracy with ‘authentic’, ‘pure’ or ‘traditional’ manifestations of religion. Theocracy should not be confused with participation of religious people in politics, or forms of politics that arise from religious practice or are informed by religious principles. However, we acknowledge that in many parts of the world Anarchists suffer severe repression by theocratic states for their beliefs and are in-turn often more strictly anti-religion. We stand in absolute solidarity with our comrades facing repression and acknowledge that our position stems from the conditions within our society.
Similarly, we are opposed to cults, defined as any group that (usually, but not always) styles itself as religious, spiritual or even as a social, lifestyle or political organisation, but whose activities are centred around benefiting one leader or leadership elite. This includes the use of manipulation, deception, exploitation, coercion, and violence against group members (or the general public) in order to generate profit or some other benefit (such as power, control, or sexual gain) for the group’s leader/leadership. We understand that the word ‘cult’ is often used as an insult to delegitimise religions that one doesn’t like. We recognize that there are some groups regarded as cults that are still routinely persecuted by states. Our general position towards such groups is that we oppose the state persecution that they face, but reserve the right to condemn their beliefs and/or practices.
We oppose movements like New Atheism that advocate all religion as ‘irrational’ and push to worship ‘science’ instead. Although people are free to oppose religion, we have absolutely no tolerance for reactionary behaviours and actions that stem from the belief that religion and spirituality are inherently unsuited to leftist politics. We likewise reject attempts to exclude religious people from revolutionary struggle, or undertake struggle which seeks to destroy or de-legitimise religion or spirituality. We recognise that similar to theocracy, secularism is ultimately a Statist discourse that has also been used for oppressive purposes.
