Religion, the secular and the left

Abstract

This article outlines four common ways that religion and faith are managed within left-wing organising. The first (indifference) sees 'religion' and 'faith' as a set of traditional practices that will naturally disappear as modernity prevails. The second (hostility) sees religion in terms of oppressive institutions which need to be excised from public life. The third (limited welcome) takes religion as a racial category, highlighting links between Christian-Secular supremacy and colonial domination, but does not engage with religious content. The fourth (incorporation) recognises that spiritual practices can sustain collectives in effectively challenging oppression. These approaches are discussed through two contrasting examples of leftist organising. The first is Southall Black Sisters, for whom challenging patriarchy includes challenging its expression in religious institutions, and secular spaces are seen as a necessary part of creating collectives. The second is the role of spirituality and religion in community responses to the Grenfell fire – in particular the shared walking in silence; this has been crucial to the community's ability to maintain strength and experience solidarity in the face of incredible and ongoing injustice. In trying to understand how the left should go about building solidarities and alliances, the authors assert the value of localised and contingent readings of 'religion' and 'the secular'.