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Title: Anarchism and Religion
Author: Workers’ Solidarity Movement
Date: November 2010
Language: en
Topics: anti-religion, anti-christian, religion, position paper
Source: Retrieved on 15th October 2021 from http://www.wsm.ie/c/anarchism-religion-wsm
Notes: Workers Solidarity Movement position paper on Anarchism and Religion as ratified at November 2010 National Conference.

Workers’ Solidarity Movement

Anarchism and Religion

Anarchists are materialists. We understand that there is a real and

concrete basis for the way society is organised right now:why here are

rich and poor, why there are order-givers and order-takers, why there is

starvation and misery on a massive scale — and we understand how this

can be changed. Religion sees such things as “God given” and acceptable,

the poor being rewarded in the afterlife for accepting “their lot” in

this one. This means that anarchism and religion stand diametrically

opposed to each other.

Religion, by its nature, must be authoritarian — whether to a greater

or lesser extent. It must be based on “faith”, on obedience. The reality

we face is of churches that play a particular role in the oppression of

women, of gays and of all who seek to change the traditional

authoritarian family. They play a very real role in the repression of

sexuality. It is no coincidence that fundamentalists of all religions,

from Iran to Ireland, are in the vanguard of the movement to push back

the the gains made by women in the workplace and in the “sexual

revolution”.

The strong hold religion has in Ireland cannot be seen just as a

result of historical factors, today it offers something that many people

want. It “explains” all sorts of natural and personal disasters as the

“will of God”. It offers hope in a world of misery, ignorance, ‘poverty,

frustration and alienation — the promise of a better world in the

hereafter is a powerful addition. The way to take away this basis for

religion is to provide a much better life, not in any “hereafter” but

now.

To break the power of the churches we need a strategy that combines

our vision of a better world in the here and now with struggles that

bring people into conflict with clerical power and show up religion as a

prop for the status quo that stands in the way of their needs and

desires. The authoritarianism and hypocrisy of the churches have to be

confronted.

We support the demand for separation of Church and State. It is wrong

to say “....but we oppose the State as well”. Of course we do. It is a

tactical question dictated by the sort of society we are living in right

now. We oppose the wages system but that doesn’t stop us fighting for

higher wages. This means fighting against clerical control of hospitals,

schools, youth clubs funded by the taxpayer, community groups, etc. It

means fighting for the best possible secular laws in the areas of

divorce, contraception, sterilisation, abortion, etc. These struggles

force the churches to come out openly against what many people

desperately want, and so weaken their support. A victory on any of these

issues both lessens church influence and proves that the clerics can be

beaten; which in turn creates the possibility of involving more people

in the next battle.

We regard religion as a private matter, within society s a whole. It

should enjoy no special privileges, tax reliefs, powers, influence, etc.

Membership of a church should carry no more of the above than would

membership of a sports or drama club. We stand for equal rights for

religious, non-religious and anti-religious views.

Within the revolutionary organisation — which is a specifically

materialist body — it is not a private matter. It is part of our

programme to take up the battle against the power and influence of the

churches. This does not mean that we deny membership to religious

believers. We do not. But they must understand that our politics will

inevitably bring them into conflict the clerics. They will, for example,

be publicly selling our paper which calls for divorce, abortion, an end

to religious control of education, etc.

In short, we fight religious ideas by attacking their root causes. we

fight for an anarchist society where people will come to find they have

no need for religion, or any other authoritarian or mystical ideas. We

challenge religion in a concrete way — by showing where it obstructs

social progress and by leading the opposition to it at every

opportunity.