I want to say something as a member of the punk community (WARNING: THIS RANT IS LONG AS FUCK.)
Punk is a beautiful genre and subculture that needs to be diverse and accepting to everyone. At this time there shouldn’t be a place for hate in our community, and we need to stand up to any fascism we see around us, which I think we do pretty well. But I also want to address that I see many people who are absolutely true punks being ostricized by other punks around them because of something that they might wear, a band that they might like, or even something they believe in. Ive seen people be told that they don’t belong in the scene for stupid reasons. It’s a disease that we need to fight. Really. Now, it’s one thing to not want skinheads and fascists in the scene, because we shouldn’t promote hate or let it become a real part of our scene, but it’s another thing to shun other punks for other reasons.
Something I see all the time is punks who happen to also be Christians being told that they don’t belong here. But that’s just bullshit. Punk is for anyone who believes in equality and ending the world’s problems. I know many punks who are Christians, and they are some of the greatest people ever. They will treat anyone with respect and not judge a single person, many of them are also strongly anarchist, feminist, and pro LGBTQ+. They are just like you and me, and they love the scene and the music and what it all stands for. They just also happen to believe in a creator. There’s no harm in that. Now I know many will say that Christianity is a problem and can’t be promoted, but Christianity honestly isn’t the problem, it’s really the organization and how governments get in the mix. The Bible actually opposes pretty much all of the things that punk opposes, such as discrimination, hate, war, governments, oppression, and even opposes capitalism and the love of money. What we should hate is when governments distort something good and use it for their own terrible agendas. Instead of hating something that isn’t bad and that people happen believe in. instead, hate the actual evil in the world: governments and the violence they bring.
And it’s the same thing with anything else, such as Muslim people, Buddist people, Jewish people, pagan people, ect. The keyword here is PEOPLE. There are enough things to actually oppose rather than groups of people that don’t do any harm to anyone around them. If a punk happens to have a religion, it only means that they have two things in their lives that keep them going. Those two things are the punk scene and whatever religion they believe in. I urge all punks who read this, that unless a person has the direct intentions to be hateful and violent, then to we all need to just treat everyone with kindness and respect. That’s what the world needs right now, so let’s all be punks who make a difference.
Spread peace, love, and anarchy!