Buddhagems Mailbox V

Fellow You Tube user Camtho asks about Anarchism in relation to religion and free speech. A few links worth checking out:

Christian Anarchism at Wikipedia (be sure to check out the Catholic Worker Movement:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_anarchism

Emma Goldman's Arrest record:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/sfeature/sf_arrests.html

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• Tolstoy
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• religion

[josealonsoleon]

If anarchism is "absence of authority" in its most simplified state, how can one be a religious anarchist when all religions are founded on a supreme authority? There is no free speech in religion! Great Budha, aren't you trying to be just a tad to nice to all?

[buddhagem]

I don't think so. A new bood by Alexandre Christoyannopoulos looks specifically at "Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel (Imprint Academic, 2010), and there's no short list of Anarchists from the world's major religious traditions. Whether I'm being nice or not, there are a lot of people out there who see religion and anarchism and naturally reenforcing. The Catholic Worker is probably one of the best known groups.

[fleontrotsky]

good vid, being Irish I have some understanding of the power of the church in state affairs, and the anger it can stir. Unfortunately living in one of the most neoliberal and nouveau-rich (nouveau-bust) countries in Europe, we just like to moan into our pints and then talk about what shit we will buy this weekend. Lastly can I just point out that 'primer' in this context is pronounced 'primmer', not like the primer you would paint on your walls. Sorry, word pedantry is one of my character flaws

[buddhagem]

Thanks for the tip on primmer. Always appreciate any help.

[TheLeftLibertarian]

Con.

Some intellectually bankrupt people try to pull a couple of quotes to act like the CNT was behind the whole thing. It's funny because you always see the same quotes over and over again. It actually gets boring. These same quotes can be found in Bookchin's books but in context to how brutal the government was. If somebody killed my family or shot my friend in the back or tortured and raped my wife, I too would want payback. Great video!

[TheLeftLibertarian]

I would like to add that Protestant churches were not burned during the Spanish Civil War. It was only the Catholic Church because they always supported and praised every depot who came to power including Franco. 

I agree with you that we should never condone the acts committed by individual anarchist during the Spanish Civil War. In fact, I would say anarchist have been the most critical of revenge killings.

[InvincibleNumanist]

Very well made video. Good job!

[abortionasiaCOCKROCK]

All christians are pretty damn stupid. if morons stopped electing them, the world would be much better and everyone could just get wasted and laid all the time.

[redlinetri]

I disagree with the comments.

[RadioFreeWisconsin]

The fact that the Catholic Church abused its power is not a justification for killing every priest without a trial. You have to make a distinction between the individual and the organization, the CNT did not do that. They practiced mass summary executions of more civillians than Pinochet. Looks like you finally got a chance to read Beevor's book, why not read the pages I recomended for you?

[mrtyles]

nice beard.

[comradshaw]

to be as reductionistic as an anti-statist who thinks wage slavery as OK. I mean, a literal interpretation of ANY of the world religions would reveal them as reactionary, laced with moral prudishness, oppressive.

[comradshaw]

who identify with certain spirtual traditions have nuanced and non-rigid interpretations of those traditions, eg-Christian mysticism (see Tolstoy), or the Sufi tradition within Islam. There are also people like myself who simply say that there are truisms in every religion, and a lot of terrible shit. We can take the good and throw the garbage over the boat, as we can do with philosophy. I would be concerned with an anarchism that follows a religious dogma ver Batum, as this seems...

[comradshaw]

I would agree that there are highly reactionary, authoritarian traditions and doctrines within ALL world religions. I know that certainly there have been consistent anti-authoritarians who've identified as Christian anarchists (eg-Dorothy Day, Daniel Berrigan, etc.), but I do think the "No authority but God" thing is problematic. I think anarchism is also a spirtual tradition, i.e., a liberation of the human spirit from the chains of organized religion. That said, many individuals...

[TheAssholearchist]

By the way, jose, apologies if your comment is "marked as spam" I accidentally hit the spam button when I was going to reply to your comment.