Religion Watch Archives

Monitoring Trends in Religion - From February 1990 to January 2016

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Archives
    • By Issue
    • By Article
    • By PDF (2008-14)
    • By PDF (1985-97)
    • All Articles
  • Sections
    • Current Research
    • Findings & Footnotes
    • On/File
  • Google Search
You are here: Home / Archive / Straight Edge punks adopt ascetic,non-institutional spirituality

Straight Edge punks adopt ascetic,non-institutional spirituality

March 1, 2013 by Richard Cimino

Print-friendly

The Straight Edge movement, a subset of punk rock that stresses abstinence from drugs, alcohol and casual sex, may appear decidedly secular with an antagonistic view towards organized religion, but religious symbols and, on a lesser level, ideas “have remained rife within the subculture,” writes Francis Stewart in the journal Implicit Religion (Volume 15, Number 3).

The spiritual interest in the Straight Edge subculture can be seen in the songs and album covers of such bands as Throwdown, Good Clean Fun, and Stretch Arm Band, as well as in graffiti and tattoos. When interviewing 83 Straight Edge punks in the U.S. and UK, Stewart found numerous arguments and discussions about religion and spirituality. He notes that religion has become more pronounced since the 1990s with the influx of Christianity and Hare Krishna bands and ideology into Straight Edge circles, with some adherents mixing and matching different teachings.

Only two of the respondents from Stewart’s interviews identified as atheist, and five belonged to a traditional religion. Almost 30 percent of participants were involved in explicit religious practices, often including Dharma Punx, Krishnacore (variants of Buddhism and Hare Krishna), while a similar group of Straight Edgers embrace Taqwacore, which blends Islam with a punk rock sensibility. Krishnacore, founded by Straight Edge band leader Ray Cappo, was appealing because of its ascetic demands (especially for those accepting vegetarianism and veganism)—which became so popular that many worried that Hare Krishna was proselytizing Straight Edgers.

While Krishnacore’s appeal has waned in recent years, Dharma Punx, founded in the early 2000s by Noah Levine, has gained a following and tends to mix various strands of Buddhism with aspects of Hinduism, Sufism, paganism and liberal Christianity. Dharma Punx groups exist in a number of states, running meditation sessions and retreats. Others see Straight Edge itself as an implicit religion or spiritual path that might include going to concerts and the devotion of fans to their favorite bands, and the commitment to a selfdenying lifestyle (once they “break edge” and leave the lifestyle, they are never accepted back).

(Implicit Religion, http://www.equinoxpub.com)

Print-friendly

Filed Under: Archive

Also in this issue

  • Representing or monopolizing Poland’s Jewish community?
  • Virtual classrooms gain ground among American seminaries, with evangelicals leading the way
  • A pope of the new evangelization
  • On/File: March/April 2013
  • Findings & Footnotes: March/April 2013
  • ‘Off the books’ secularization in Israel?
  • Poland: still a high level of religious practice, but shows a more affirmative secular camp
  • Religion and values still related in Europe
  • Secularization and culture wars gain currency in Latin America
  • Current Research: March/April 2013
  • Christians borrow bar mitzvahs as new rite-of-passage
  • Orthodox outreach creating new bridge between American Judaism’s conflicting camps?
  • Evangelicals recycle mainline churches while keeping their ‘authenticity’
  • Cable television cashing in on religion and its controversies

Search the Site

Download the first issue of RELIGION WATCH (1980)

Download the first issue of RELIGION WATCH (1980)

Click on the image for downloading

© 2016-2023 Richard Cimino / Religioscope
·News Pro Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress