If I hadn't already known--or at least had some idea of the religious zeal I was about to face, I would have been more shocked at the response to my 2009's 10 Worst Linux Distributions post from the other day. I now have definitive evidence that Linux is a religion--a religion that spans the globe, crosses all cultural boundaries, all languages and has as much power as any other "established" religion. Today, 16 July, 39 AL (After Linus), I now officially establish The First Church of Linux.

If you seriously analyze it, Linux has all the ingredients and meets all the requirements for a religion, it has:

A divinely-inspired prophet: Linus Torvalds.
A Bible: Source code.
Individual sects: Novell, Red Hat, Slackware, etc.
Fundamentalists: Gentoo, Debian.
A Priest Class: Ubuntu.
Apostles: John 'Maddog' Hall, Richard Stallman, etc.
A Lunatic Fringe: CentOS, gOS, Google Chrome OS, Knoppix, etc.
Scribes: Developers.
Believers: You, me and millions of others.
Zealots: Those who convert by the sword (pen) and who believe that Linux is the one true way.
Martyrs: Jason Perlow and me - who get crucified on a regular basis.
An Accuser/Devil/Adversary: Steve Ballmer.
The Anti-Linus: Steve Jobs.
A Non-Profit Status.

If you want to join The First Church of Linux, let me know, I'd be glad to add you to the roll. I am the Kernel of the new church and will busy myself with church processes, such as ordaining agents, casting out daemons, killing zombies and oppressing the masses with new code and documentation.

OK, zealots, ready those pens that are mightier than the sicarii and tear away at the flesh of the Ballmerites and the Jobians. Conversion has never tasted so sweet.