Fédération anarchiste — Statement on religion
Article mis en ligne le 22 septembre 2014

par Eric Vilain

Fédération anarchiste

http://www.federation-anarchiste.org/
Le Monde libertaire http://www.monde-libertaire.fr/
Radio libertaire http://rl.federation-anarchiste.org/

“Neither Religion nor racism nor xenophobia”

Motion adopted at the 67th Congress of the Fédération anarchiste,
Rennes 22-23-24 may 2010

The struggle against religion is more than ever necessary. We are confronted with the
strong revival of religious communitarianism, with the demand for an “open secularism” or
“positive secularism” in which hierarchies and religious apparatus directly intervene in the institutions. Religious lobbies orchestrate attacks against the right to abortion, demand public funding of religious institutions, especially in Education… The religions make a strong comeback in French political life.

In addition, while the fight in favor of secularism prevents religions from acting in an
obscurantist and irrational way, especially with the younger ones, the government takes advantage of it to make xenophobic amalgams against persons of different religions and more often of different cultures.

On the one hand, the State exploits the religious fundamentalists in order to establish its security policy, on the other hand, it wants to make believe that these same religions are, in their "soft" versions, necessary to society. We believe that the comeback of religion mostly reveals the increasing exclusion of a significant part of society.

Therefore the Anarchist Federation recalls that it fought, and will always fight all religions whatsoever ; that religions have never, and will never be factors of emancipation ; that they establish a relationship of political, sexual, economic and nationalistic domination.

For that same reason, we reject any confusion between origin and religion. We affirm that the prohibitions and repressions perpetrated by the State against certain religions, which are often the pretext for xenophobic policies, cannot be the appropriate way to fight religion.

Those who, under the pretext of a necessary fight against religions, convey racist,
xenophobic and sickening ideas, will always be the enemies of the Anarchist Federation

Fédération anarchiste