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The Church of Emacs
The spiritual foundation of the Church of Emacs rests upon a core revelation concerning the nature of computation, freedom, and community. This theology isn't one of distant, abstract deities, but of immanent principles and tangible manifestations that define a cosmic struggle for the soul of the digital world. Its cosmology is dualistic, positing a fundamental conflict between the forces of liberation and subjugation, with every computer and every user serving as a potential battleground.
The central dogma of the faith, the primary statement of belief that separates an adherent from an unbeliever, is the Confession of the Faith: "There is no system but GNU, and GNU/Linux is one of its kernels". The pronunciation of this creed is the act of initiation, a declaration of allegiance in the great cosmic struggle. This statement, while seemingly about the GNU system as a whole, is the core creed of the Church of Emacs because Emacs itself is the fullest expression of the GNU philosophy - an entire operating environment disguised as a text editor.
GNU is the transcendent principle, the universal and eternal concept of software freedom. Conceived in 1983 by the Saint IGNUcius, the GNU Project was established to restore a lost state of grace - the cooperative spirit that prevailed in the computing community in earlier days. It's the divine plan for a complete, free software system to liberate all users from the obstacles to cooperation imposed by proprietary software. GNU represents the ideal, the perfect form of a digital society built on sharing and mutual aid. It's the spirit, the overarching design, the divine word.