Editing Left-wing politics (section)

=== Religion ===
{{see also|Anarchism and religion|Buddhist socialism|Christian anarchism|Christian communism|Christian left|Christian socialism|Jewish left|Islamic socialism}}
The original [[French Left]] was firmly [[anti-clerical]], strongly opposing the influence of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and supporting [[atheism]] and the [[separation of church and state]], ushering in a policy known as ''[[laïcité]]''.<ref name="Knapp" /> [[Karl Marx]] asserted that "religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the [[opium of the people]]".<ref>Marx, Karl. 1976. ''Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right''. Collected Works, vol. 3. New York.</ref> In Soviet Russia, the [[Bolsheviks]] under [[Vladimir Lenin]] originally embraced an ideological principle which professed that all religion would eventually atrophy and resolved to eradicate organized [[Christianity]] and other religious institutions. In 1918, 10 [[Russian Orthodox]] hierarchs were summarily executed by a firing squad, and children were deprived of any religious education outside of the home.<ref>[[Michael Burleigh]], ''Sacred Causes'' HarperCollins (2006), p. 41–43.</ref>

Today in the [[Western world]], those on the Left generally support [[secularization]] and the separation of church and state. However, religious beliefs have also been associated with many left-wing movements such as the [[progressive movement]], the [[Social Gospel]] movement, the [[civil rights movement]], the [[anti-war movement]], the anti-[[capital punishment]] movement and [[Liberation Theology]]. Early [[utopian socialist]] thinkers such as [[Robert Owen]], [[Charles Fourier]] and the [[Comte de Saint-Simon]] based their theories of socialism upon Christian principles. Other common leftist concerns such as [[pacifism]], [[social justice]], [[racial equality]], [[human rights]] and the rejection of capitalism and excessive [[wealth]] can be found in the [[Bible]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1533448,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070112223942/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1533448,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 January 2007 |title=Does God Want You To Be Rich? |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |author-first1=David van |author-last1=Biema |author-first2=Jeff |author-last2=Chu |date=10 September 2006 |access-date=20 April 2011}}</ref>

In the late 19th century, the [[Protestant]] Social Gospel movement arose in the United States which integrated [[Progressivism|progressive]] and [[socialist]] thought with [[Christianity]] through faith-based social activism. Other left-wing religious movements include Buddhist socialism, Jewish socialism and Islamic socialism. There have been alliances between the left and anti-war [[Muslims]], such as the [[Respect Party]] and the [[Stop the War Coalition]] in Britain. In France, the left has been divided over moves to ban the [[hijab]] from schools, with some leftists supporting a ban based on the separation of church and state in accordance with the principle of ''[[laïcité]]'' and other leftists opposing the prohibition based on personal and religious freedom.