I feel like this question strongly depends on the religion – I could see an anarchist believing in Buddhism or something of that nature quite easily, but I’d have a hard time trying to figure out a so-called anarchist that devoutly followed one of the Abrahamic religions. That would seem more than a bit peculiar, to me.
Buddhism is not especially peaceful. The Sihalese Buddhist monk caste in Sri Lanka is known for encouraging violence in service of ethnically cleansing the Tamil minority in the north. In Myanmar the Theravda Buddhist clerics largely aligned themselves with the military dictatorship. The Buddhist theocracy in Tibet violently enforced serfdom. The conception of Buddhism as a harmless and peaceful meditation-religion exists only in the west.
Any religion is, ultimately, a tool of social control.
Consent, if you consent to live by certain rules and restrictions. That’s your bag, and it’s fine. The moment you decide that you must force others to participate is the moment it becomes an issue.
Isn’t the point of anarchism to not be controlled? Genuine question.
I feel like this question strongly depends on the religion – I could see an anarchist believing in Buddhism or something of that nature quite easily, but I’d have a hard time trying to figure out a so-called anarchist that devoutly followed one of the Abrahamic religions. That would seem more than a bit peculiar, to me.
Buddhism is not especially peaceful. The Sihalese Buddhist monk caste in Sri Lanka is known for encouraging violence in service of ethnically cleansing the Tamil minority in the north. In Myanmar the Theravda Buddhist clerics largely aligned themselves with the military dictatorship. The Buddhist theocracy in Tibet violently enforced serfdom. The conception of Buddhism as a harmless and peaceful meditation-religion exists only in the west.
Any religion is, ultimately, a tool of social control.
Consent, if you consent to live by certain rules and restrictions. That’s your bag, and it’s fine. The moment you decide that you must force others to participate is the moment it becomes an issue.
Folk religions aren’t necessarily controlling, for example, so I don’t see why religions as a general concept need to be excluded.
We can get down to the details about certain varieties that promote power structures and prop up systemic inequalities, but religion ≠ authoritarian