Leaving aside SQLite's source material for their so-called CoC, it's not actually a CoC or enforceable in any way. There's no way to address behavior that violates the Rule of Saint Benedict. I wonder why...
Oh, wait, I don't! It's because the Rule of Saint Benedict is designed to work for a very small community (i.e. a monastery) entirely comprised of people who have already agreed to live by the same rules.
Rules based on a shared faith, by the way — intended to improve an adherent's relationship with a Christian god. I'm not against religious communities, but they are clearly fundamentally different than open source communities.
Also, Saint Benedict wasn't exactly a community-focused guy for most of his life. Instead of trying to repair the community he grew up in, he decided to be a hermit. (Little bit jealous of that option right now.) He then joined a monastery WHOSE OTHER MEMBERS TRIED TO POISON HIM.
An expert on interpersonal relationships, Saint Benedict was not.
The Rule of Saint Benedict works for communities whose members spend eight hours to prayer, eight hours to sleep, and eight hours to manual work, sacred reading, or works of charity *every day*. Writing code can be intense, but requires a lot more interaction than sacred reading.
A lot of folks are describing this change as trolling. I'm not sure it's that simple. Yes, posting a CoC based on religious rules does automatically make a lot of people feel unwelcome — my non-Christian self included — but there's a larger question at hand.
If SQLite's core developers feel that Saint Benedict wrote rules to live by (which I think they do), then the question becomes why do these core developers value imposing these rules on other people?
Why do SQLite's core developers value their religous message over finding a way to work effectively with other people? Why do they value their control over the community more than listening to requests that will make SQLite more welcoming to all?
It's a fundamental question we see replaying across open source communities (as well as governments) right now.
I'm getting really tired of having to ask why someone's beliefs are more important than my life and the lives of people around me.
I'm getting really tired of having to ask why someone's beliefs are more important than my life and the lives of people around me.
Here goes one more try, though: If you contribute to SQLite, I want to know why you value religion more than causing harm to other people. Isn't that #2 on the Rule of St. Benedict? "Then, love your neighbor as yourself."
Doesn't love mean checking that other people are taken care of? Doesn't it mean making sure that they have what they need to do their work? Doesn't it mean considering whether your actions will make their lives harder?
