[PLUG] Redhat changes, fedora

[Phil Tomson]

On 5 Nov 2003, Michael C. Robinson wrote:

>  > But, at the risk of going off on a tangent that this thread doesn't need
> > to follow, I do think it's dangerous for a society to depend on technology
> > that few people understand.  That just creates a class of learned clergy
> > that pushes everyone else around.  Yes, I know that's how things have
> > always been.  But we've also always had war, oppression, poverty, hate,
> > and greed... that doesn't mean we should actively support those things.
> > 
> > 
> > J.
> 
> I suppose that England and France didn't try 
> to replace the church and that the church 
> didn't preserve anything for posterity.  If 
> the outcome of attacking the church is so 
> good, why is it that nearly the fewest 
> people for any state practice some sort 
> of religion? Protestant denominations have 
> split so many times it's hard to track 
> them all and I bet noone could name all 
> of them.  

True - new ones crop up on a regular basis (even the ones that claim to 
be non-denominational end up being denominations after many years if they 
survive).

Stretching the analogy even further beyond what Jeme intended...

Couldn't the Protestant Reformation be analogous to the Open Source 
movement?  One of 
the main ideas of the Reformation was that the Bible should be available 
to all and in the native language of the reader.  It was a very 
anti-clerical idea - you no longer needed a priest to tell you what the 
Bible said, you could read it for yourself... Sounds kind of like Open 
Source.  And Lord knows (pardon the pun) that Open Source projects have 
a tendency to fork about as often as Protestant denominations. ;-)

...and come to think of it, the forks tend to happen for very similar 
reasons in both camps. (forks aren't always a bad thing)



>I'd say many Chrisitians 
> understand a lot more about their faith 
> than Jeme lets on.  And as far as clergy 
> pushing people around, has Jeme watched 
> the news lately?  Indeed many clergy are 
> embarassed about sex scandals even 
> though a minority among them committed 
> crimes.  Who's really getting pushed 
> around?

Well, another way to look at it is that the truth has come out and it's 
time for the guilty ones to pay for their actions.

> 
> I don't think religion is the same 
> as technology, diversity is better
> for some things that it is for others.
> 
> And as far as intolerance and 
> hatred, I'd guess that Jeme 
> is not religious but still 
> very capable of both.

aren't we all to varying degrees... seems to be a basic feature of human 
nature.

...back to our regularly scheduled program.

Phil