[Linux-aus] Request for Grant from Linux Australia for Ubertweak

[James Purser]

On Tue, 2006-09-12 at 23:41 +0800, Bret Busby wrote:
> I quite agree.
> 
> Especially with the feral government embarking on a religous 
> vilification campaign against muslims, I suggest that the timing would 
> be extra bad, for Linux Australia to be supporting a particular 
> religion, and specifically thee one that appears to be the one that the 
> feral government is pushing (christians are goodies and muslims are 
> terrorists), in its campign of religious vilification.
> 
> It would be unfortunate for Linux Australia to be seen as taking sides 
> in what the trinity of evil (the usa, uk and australian governments) 
> have started as yet another religious crusade against muslims.
> 
> I am not of any of these religions, and, about the only good thing about 
> the usa at the moment, is that, in spite of what the usa government is 
> doing, I believe that the usa constitution states that there shall be no 
> state religion, which means that it is unconstitutional for any usa 
> government body to support any particular religion.
> 
> I think that the same should apply to Linux Australia - it should not 
> support any particular religion, and, I believe that, from the above, to 
> grant the application, would be Linux Australia buying into a particular 
> religion. The use of the term "buying into" in that sentence, is 
> metaphorical, and not literal.
> 
> --
> Bret Busby
> Armadale
> West Australia
> ..............
> 

Hi Bret,

Linux Australia is (as it should be) religion neutral (as in we have no
preference either way), and that applies to ditros as much as it does to
$DIETY.

I think we should make it pretty clear that we would consider any grant
request, whether the requestee was christian, muslim, jewish, buhdist (I
can never spell that right, sorry Pia), follower of the great Flying
Spaghetti Monster, or athiest or a follower of any other belief system.

As to tying this request to the current global political climate, I'm
not so sure whether that is appropriate. I realise that in these
emotionally charged times, perceptions can mean a lot, and personally I
do not want to be associated with the actions of any religious
extremists, whether they be christain, muslim etc, etc. However I do not
think in this case the conveners of the camp are planning any extremist
activities beyond introducing attendees to a different way of looking at
the world of ICT - "My $DIETY, you can do all this and not have to worry
about viruses?"

Putting the political discussion aside, I like the idea of an IT camp
with a heavy focus on Free and Open Source Software.
-- 
James Purser
Ordinary Committee Member
Linux Australia
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