On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 3:29 PM, Sascha Peilicke <saschpe@gmx.de> wrote:
Hello everyone,
sr#81625 want's to add 'sword', a bible study tool to openSUSE:Factory. While that is totally fine, the spec file %description contains stuff like:
+The SWORD Project is an effort to create an ever expanding software package for +research and study of God and His Word.
While I don't care much for that particular bedtime story, others may well be offended by biased religious views (even more so if their's differing). Of course, this may equally apply to policitcal views or offensive words.
I have the feeling that openSUSE should take neutral stance, be inviting and open for everyone (and we're quite good at that already). But I'm not sure if we should provide a stage for non-technical biased views. Even less so for those with a mission. Thus, the question I'd like to ask is whether we should allow such formulations or not. Do we already have policy for that or do we care at all?
I personally don't see any reason why any person should feel offended at that description. It is not speaking ill of any other religion/atheists. It just mentions about God and his word. Whoever wants the application can install it. If the description explicitly abuses some other religion in derogatory words, say, "Those who don't believe in God's word will be punished" it is wrong. However the words that are mentioned are very normal. If we have to drop packages because it may _offend_ someone, we will run into a lot of problems. We have a package named Evolution. If some creationist gets offended by this package name and asks for it to be dropped, wouldn't it look absurd ? What we are discussing here is just the same issue but with the sides changed. I mean, if a person doesn't believe in God, why should he feel offended by mere words ("God and his word") that mean nothing to him/her. If someone wants to package a software for analyzing Hitler's / Ravanan's / Bin Laden's words, we should be open for it. People whoever want to use it can install and use it. The only thing we should be bothered is to see if the description explicitly abuses anyone else. As long as we are not installing these package by default, none should get angry. My 2 cents :-) -- Sankar P http://psankar.blogspot.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org