Re: [[email protected]: What's GNU -- and what's not]

I'd like to stress a passage which made me think quite a bit:

> We have never
> pressed contributors to endorse the GNU Project philosophy, or any
> other philosophical views, because people are welcome to contribute to
> GNU regardless of their views.
> 
> To change that -- to impose such requirements -- would be radical,
> gratuitous, and divisive,

What holds the project together is indeed something else. One can debate 
what qualifies as "views" and whether radical changes are necessary, but 
personally I appreciate being reminded to be careful about this point.

I've tried to think of analogues outside the usual communities we 
usually have in mind. In my home town there is a refectory run by 
Franciscans: I may be mistaken, but if you volunteer there you're not 
even asked whether you're a Catholic, let alone asked to join functions 
if you don't want. I understand one may consider that a more menial 
task, less likely to be influenced by philosophical thoughts than what 
one might code in their software, but it's just a comparison, not a model.

Federico