[RC] Open-source religion

[BILROJ via Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community]

 
Open-source religion
 
>From Wikipedia
 
Open-source religions employ _open-source_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source)  methods for the  sharing, 
construction, and adaptation of 
religious belief systems, content, and  practice._[1]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-LATimes-1)
  
In comparison to religions  utilizing proprietary, authoritarian, 
hierarchical, and change-resistant  structures, open-source religions emphasize 
sharing 
in a cultural _Commons_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commons) ,  
participation, self-determination, decentralization, and evolution. They apply  
principles used in organizing communities developing open-source software for  
organizing group efforts innovating with human culture. New open-source  
religions may develop their systems of beliefs through a continuous process of  
refinement and dialogue among participating practitioners. Organizers and  
participants often see themselves as part of a more generalized _open-source 
and  free-culture movement_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_culture_movement) ._[2]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-2)
 


 
 
Origin
The term "open-source religion" first appeared as both a reference to the  
open-source _Linux_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux)   operating 
system's organizing principle, and as an analogy for highlighting the  
philosophical differences between advocates of open-source vs. proprietary  
software 
._[3]_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_relig
ion&printable=yes#cite_note-3) _[4]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-4)
  (In 1994, the scholar and  
novelist _Umberto Eco_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umberto_Eco)  had 
popularized  religious metaphors in comparing _operating system_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system)   design and user experience 
with his essay, 
"The Holy War: Mac vs. DOS."_[5]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-5)
 ). In 2001, Ozacua (later  
Yoism) began describing itself as "the world's first opensource 
religion."_[6]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-6)
 _[7]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-7)
  The term was popularized  by the 
media theorist, _Douglas Rushkoff_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Rushkoff)  in  his book, Nothing's 
Sacred: The Truth about Judaism (2003), 
where he  offered the following description as an introduction to _Open Source  
Judaism_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Judaism) : 

An open source religion would work the same way as open source software  
development: it is not kept secret or mysterious at all. Everyone contributes  
to the codes we use to comprehend our place in the universe. We allow our  
religion to evolve based on the active participation of its people....An 
open  source relationship to religion would likewise take advantage of the  
individual points of view of its many active participants to develop its more  
resolved picture of the world and our place within it._[8]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-8)
 
Discordianism, Copyleft, and open-source  software

 
 
Before the coinage of the term _open-source_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source)  in 1998 or even  the birth of the 
_Free Software_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Software)  movement,  the _Principia  
Discordia_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principia_Discordia)  (1963), a _Discordian_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discordian)  religious text  written by _Greg 
Hill_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaclypse_the_Younger)  with  _Kerry 
Wendell  Thornley_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Wendell_Thornley) , 
included the following Copyright disclaimer, "Ⓚ All Rites Reversed  – reprint 
what you like." By 1970, the implications of the disclaimer were being  
discussed in other _underground  publications_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Press) ._[9]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-9)
  

Commercial publishers are not likely to be interested in the  Principia 
due, at least, to the counter copyright on it–for, if they  had a good seller, 
then other publishers could print it out from under them.  Consequently 
publication and distribution will have to occur spontaneously,  thru the “
underground”, as alternative cultures learn to meet their own needs  and 
provide 
their own services. This non-commercial limitation of the  Principia is to 
provide less limitations in other respects, and it is  not an accident. The 
Principia is not simply a handbook, it is a  demonstration._[10]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-
10) 
By the mid-1970s, the concept had influenced a generation of 
Discordians._[11]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-11)
  The project to create _Tiny  BASIC_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_BASIC)  was proposed in Bob Albrecht and 
_Dennis Allison_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Allison) 's _Dr. Dobb's Journal of  
Tiny BASIC Calisthenics & Orthodontia_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Dobbs_Journal) , a journal of the _Homebrew 
Computer  Club_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homebrew_Computer_Club) , a small group of 
computer hobbyists 
who began meeting in 1975 around  _Silicon Valley_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley) . The  first lines of the source 
code for Tiny Basic as 
released in 1976 by _Li-Chen  Wang_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Chen_Wang)  stated ‘(ↄ) COPYLEFT ALL WRONGS 
RESERVED’. In 1984/5 programmer _Don  
Hopkins_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Hopkins)  sent _Richard 
Stallman_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman)  a  letter labeled 
"_Copyleft_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft) —_all rights  reversed_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_rights_reversed) ". Stallman chose the 
phrase 
to identify his free software method of  distribution._[12]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-12
)  The relationship between  Discordianism and "Kopyleft" remain part of 
the culture of Discordianism, as  explained by the Discordian Rev. Dr. Jon 
Swabey in his Apocrypha  Discordia. 

Discordianism and the concept of KopyLeft go hand in hand. Although just a  
small part of the counter-culture gestalt, I believe that the Principia  
Discordia was probably one of the earliest expressions and strongest  
champions of this idea, which has since seen such concepts as the _Open Source  
Software_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Software)  initiative, 
with 
endeavours such as the _Linux_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux)  
Operating System.”_[13]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-13)
 
Open-source in established religious traditions
For established traditions whose canonical works, records of discourse, and 
 inspired artworks reside in the _Public Domain_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Domain) , keeping  these works open and 
available in the face of 
proprietary interests has inspired  several open-source initiatives. Open 
access to resources and adaptive reuse of  shared materials under _Open 
Content_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Content)  licensing  provide a 
structure by which communities can innovate new religious systems  
collaboratively under the aegis of copyright law. For some religious movements, 
 however, 
_public access_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_access)  and 
_literacy_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy) , and  the potential of 
adaptive 
reuse also provide an opportunity for innovation and  reform within 
established traditions. In an interview by _A. J. Jacobs_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._J._Jacobs)  in the _Atlantic Magazine_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Magazine)  on  open-source religion, 
Aharon Varady (founding 
director of the _Open Siddur  Project_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Siddur_Project) ) explained that "cultures 
breathe creativity like we breathe 
oxygen"  arguing that open-source provides one possible strategy for keeping a 
tradition  vibrant while also preserving historical works as non-proprietary 
during a  period of transition from analog to digital media._[14]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_n
ote-jacobs-14)  
Open-source  Judaism
Early _open-source efforts in  Judaism_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Judaism)  can be traced back to 1988 
with the _free software_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software)  code  written for calculating 
the 
Hebrew calendar included in _Emacs_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emacs) . 
After the popularization  of the term "_open-source_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source) " in 1998,  essays and manifestos 
linking open-source 
and Judaism began appearing in 2002  among Jewish thinkers familiar with 
trends in new media and open-source  software. In August 2002, Aharon Varady 
proposed the formation of an "_Open Siddur_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Siddur_Project) ," an  open-source licensed 
_user-generated  content_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-generated_content)  project for digitizing 
liturgical materials and writing the code  needed for the _web-to-print_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web-to-print)  publishing of  _Siddurim_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddur)  (Jewish  prayer books)._[15]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-15)
 
 Meanwhile, media theorist  _Douglas Rushkoff_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Rushkoff)  began  articulating his 
understanding of open-source 
in Judaism. "The object of the  game, for me," Rushkoff explained, "was to 
recontextualize Judaism as an  entirely Open Source proposition."_[16]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite
_note-16) 
 
 
The term "Open Source Judaism" first appeared in _Douglas Rushkoff_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Rushkoff) 's  book Nothing Sacred: The 
Truth 
about Judaism (2003). Rushkoff employed  the term "Open Source" to describe 
a democratic organizational model for  collaborating in a commonly held 
source: the _Hebrew Bible_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Bible)  and 
other  essential works of _Rabbinic Judaism_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbinic_Judaism) .  Rushkoff conceived of 
Judaism as essentially an 
open-source religion which he  conceived as, "the contention that religion is 
not a 
pre-existing truth but an  ongoing project. It may be divinely inspired, but 
it is a creation of human  beings working together. A collaboration."_[17]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=ye
s#cite_note-17)  For Rushkoff, open-source  offered the promise of enacting 
change through a new culture of collaboration  and improved access to 
sources. "Anyone who wants to do Judaism should have  access to Judaism. 
Judaism 
is not just something that you do, it's something you  enact. You've got to 
learn the code in order to alter it."_[18]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-18)
  The 2003 
publication of  Rushkoff's book Nothing Sacred: The Truth about Judaism_[19]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#c
ite_note-19)  and an online forum  dedicated to "Open Source Judaism" 
inspired several online projects in creating  web applications for generating 
custom made _haggadot_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggadah)  for _Passover_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover) , however neither  content nor 
code for these were shared under _free-culture_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_content)  _compatible_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/License_compatibility)  _Open Content_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Content)  terms. 
Beginning with the _Open Siddur Project_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Siddur_Project)   in 2009, open-source 
projects in Judaism began to 
publicly share their software  code with open-source licenses and their content 
with _free-culture_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_content)  _compatible_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/License_compatibility)  _Open Content_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Content)  licenses. The  explicit 
objectives 
of these projects also began to differ from Rushkoff's "Open  Source 
Judaism." Rather than seek reforms in religious practices or doctrines,  these 
projects used Open Content licenses to empower users to access and create  
their 
own resources from a common store of canonical texts and associated  
translations and metadata. By 2012, _open-source projects in  Judaism_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Judaism)  were mainly active in 
facilitating 
collaboration in sharing  resources for transcribing and translating 
existing works in the Public Domain,  and for adaptation and dissemination of 
works being shared by copyright owners  under Open Content licenses._[14]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printa
ble=yes#cite_note-jacobs-14)  
Open-source Yoga
Following proprietary claims on Yoga movements by some Yoga instructors, 
Open  Source Yoga Unity was formed in 2003 to assert that Yoga movements 
reside in the  _Public Domain_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Domain) . 
The  organization provides a common voice, and the pooling of resources, to 
legally  resist the application of a proprietary _Copyright_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright)  to any Yoga style  thereby "ensuring 
its continued 
natural unfettered practice for all to enjoy and  develop." The 
organization explains, that "while we appreciate the teachings of  yoga 
teachers, we do 
not believe that they have the legal right to impose  control over 
another's Yoga teaching or practice."_[20]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-20)
  In Open Source Yoga 
Unity  v. Bikram Choudhury (2005), the organization settled out of court, 
avoiding a  federal court hearing to determine whether Bikram Choudhury’s 
copyrighted  sequence of 26 poses and two breathing exercises could be legally 
protected._[21]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-21)
  
Open-source Wicca
Concerned with the lack of a source text containing documentation on 
_Wicca_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicca)  in the  tradition of _Gerald 
Gardner_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Gardner_(Wiccan)) ,  Dr. _Leo 
Ruickbie_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Ruickbie)   self-published Open 
Source Wicca: The Gardnerian Tradition (2007) for  "putting you back in control 
of spirituality." The work, a collection of "the  original foundation 
documents of Wicca" authored between 1949 and 1961, was  published _digitally_ 
(http://www.witchology.com/contents/opensourcewicca/gardnerianindex.php)  and 
in print under a _Creative Commons_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons)  _Attribution_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution_(copyright))   license._[22]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-22)
  
Open-source in establishing new religions
Several projects aiding individuals and communities in formulating their 
own  belief systems cite inspiration from ideas common to the _open-source  
movement_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_movement)  and 
self-identify as open-source religions or religious  initiatives. The 
establishment of 
new religions through open-source methods is  closely related to _chaos 
magic_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_magic) , which  emphasizes the 
pragmatic use of belief systems and the creation of new and  unorthodox 
methods,_[23]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-New_Encyclopedia_of_the_Occult-23)
  the difference being 
that  any knowledge gained through such innovation is shared openly._[24]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=ye
s#cite_note-24)  
Yoism

 
 
According to its founder, _Daniel Kriegman_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kriegman) , Yoism  (founded 1994) 
combines rational inquiry, 
empiricism, and science with _Spinozan_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinoza) 
 or 
_Einsteinian_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein)  _pantheism_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheism) ._[25]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-DemocratAndChronile-25
) _[26]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-26)
 _[27]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-27)
  Inspired by the Linux  
operating system, Kriegman describes his religion as "open-source" and 
explains  that, similar to open-source software projects, participants in Yoism 
do 
not owe  their allegiance to any leader and that their sense of authority 
emerges via  group _consensus  decision-making_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_decision-making) ._[1]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-LATimes-1)
 _[28]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_no
te-28) _[29]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-29)
  Yoism adopted the  Creative Commons 
Attribution-ShareAlike copyleft license for sharing original  works in May 
2015._[30]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-30)
  
Belief Genome  Project
The Belief Genome Project aims to use _crowdsourcing_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing)  to catalog  all beliefs as a 
resource for those 
wishing to build and discover their own  belief system._[31]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-31)
 
 The project is an  initiative of the _Open Source Religion  Social 
Network_ (http://www.opensourcereligion.net/) , a website established in 2009 
by 
Sidian M.S. Jones which he  described as "a system for the mixing of religious 
and non-religious beliefs in  an individual, even across multiple 
religions."_[32]_ 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open-source_religion&printable=yes#cite_note-32)
 

-- 
-- 
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community 
<RadicalCentrism@googlegroups.com>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org

--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to radicalcentrism+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.