Finding God in Punk Anarchism

But the fundamental contradiction of anarchism is that for all its alleged atheism, it relies on moral, spiritual, and religious impulses to gain traction. In that way it is unlike Marxism, which, in its orthodox form, isn’t intended to inflame your emotions—it’s “scientific” and attempts to appeal to data and economic facts. I began to notice how eaten through anarchism and punk were with religious themes, most of them just turned upside down to appear secular—martyrdom, asceticism, purity, beloved community, moral righteousness. Even the names of the bands and labels hark back ironically to Christian history—Profane Existence, Gehenna, Azazel, Undying, Society of Jesus.