Open-Source Sect

First came open-source software. Then came open-source sex. Now, open-source religion. In the May/June edition of Search Magazine, Sam Kean writes about small groups of Jews, Christians, modern Pagans and "Yoists" taking the principles of open collaboration to the spiritual plane.

Open-source religion is an amalgamation of two ways of thinking about the world. The first is religion, a common set of practices, rituals, and beliefs. It’s as old as the hills, one of the most enduring traits of humankind. The “open source” component is new, an unforeseen consequence of the Internet revolution of the 1990s. It’s a reference to open-source computer code, code that anyone is allowed to rewrite, add to, or delete. Most websites or blogs are not open source, because even when the pages change frequently, a handful of people at most make all the changes. Wikipedia is open source because many people collaborate to produce one common text.

The article quotes Douglas Cowen, author of the book Cyberhenge, as describing the pagan/geek connection as a natural fit:

"Pagans are ‘hacking’ their own religious traditions out of the ‘source codes’ provided by pantheons, faith practices, liturgies, rituals, and divinatory practices drawn from a variety of cultures worldwide." Given all that "hacking," it’s no wonder that, as Webster says, "There are a huge number of pagan people in the high-tech space."

As a Recovering Catholic, the idea of opening up the very core of religious practice to the ideas of participating members holds a lot of appeal. From a historical perspective, this is not a new phenomenon. Christiantity did not develop an established infrastructure for centuries after its birth; disparate communities developed their own traits and preferences. Protestantism continues to see new church communities spring up, following in the footsteps of the early days of Luther, Calvin and the Reformation.

But adherents of open-source religion note that tradition can calcify into dogma, and if there’s one common trait to people who practice open-source religion, it’s distaste for dogma. Some open-source believers want to found entirely new religions, and some merely want to reinvigorate a mainstream faith. All want to change people’s perceptions of religion from something that’s handed down to them, something they receive, and make religion something people do.

Amen.