Various points have been made in the mozilla.governance discussion about a possible Mozilla Code of Conduct and policy on Planet Mozilla, relating to what restrictions might be placed on appropriate topics of discussion within Mozilla. It has been suggested that “politics” or “religion” might be examples of topics which would be so restricted in some or all forums.

Graydon Hoare has also raised the question about what acts being a Christian does, or does not, ‘imply’.

This post is intended to be an explanation of where I’m coming from when approaching such questions.

Being a child of God is my identity. It’s not something I do, but something I am – or, more accurately, have been irrevocably made, by the undeserved kindness of God. It’s not an aspect of my personality and actions which I can expose or suppress at will. It can’t be laid aside. It’s not a tribal membership or a political affiliation. It’s a total transformation, and an all-encompassing worldview.

This is because the claims of Jesus Christ over the world are total. Abraham Kuyper, the Dutch politician and theologian, wrote: “There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, ‘Mine!'” This includes me (and, for that matter, you, whether you recognize it or not).

It’s not something that I do, but it does affect everything that I do. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says “whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God“. My involvement in Mozilla is to the glory of God. (That’s where the name of my blog, Hacking for Christ, comes from.) There is no separation between “the things I do because I am a Christian, or for Christian reasons” and “other things”.

So I love my neighbour because I am a Christian. I work on Mozilla because I am a Christian. I enjoy a sunset because I am a Christian. All of these “because”s are equal. In evaluating what I do, the lordship of Jesus is never “not relevant”.

The following analogy is in no way meant to be inflammatory; I pick it because I think there’s a genuine parallel in thinking, in an attempt to help others understand my position. If I’m wrong, please be assured no offence is intended.

I am sure that many transgender people feel that their gender identity is core to who they are, in what I would suggest is a very similar way. So what would happen if we were to say to a trans person: “Being trans is a bit controversial. There aren’t many people here who are like that, and some people don’t agree with it. We’d rather you kept it to yourself. Sure, you can be trans outside the community, but please don’t discuss it or related issues here, or indicate that you are trans e.g. by your choice of gendered clothing[0], or take actions which are based on your gender-constructionalist worldview, or even show you have such a worldview”?

Such a suggestion would, I would have thought, be met with a polite explanation of how what was being requested was not only practically impossible but deeply hurtful. And perhaps some stronger words too!

My point for the discussion is: whatever we end up deciding, don’t ask me to do the equivalent.

[0] It could be that here, or elsewhere in this para, I’ve not used the right phrase; please be charitable, and focus on the overall point.

I am pleased to announce the birth of William Joseph Markham at 8.28am on the morning of 1st February 2012, weighing 9lb 4.5oz. Mother, father and baby are all well :-)

He is called William after:

• William Tyndale, who risked his life to bring the word of God to people in a language they could understand, and whose work underpins much of the King James version and later translations;
• William Carey, who risked his life to bring the gospel to the people of India, including what is now Bangladesh;
• William Wilberforce, who spent his life trying to persuade this country to live out the gospel truth that God created all men equal in status before Him; and
• various Markham family Williams from whom he is descended, including William Markham, Archbishop of York.

We pray this William be a devoted follower of the Lord Jesus also, and shed as much of His light into the world as these men.

He’s spent the first 12 hours of his life mostly asleep, but we expect that to change…

For You created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from You
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
Your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me
were written in Your book
before one of them came to be. — Psalm 139, 13-16

He or she is expected to emerge at the end of January 2012. :-)

Some people in Mozilla use Rypple, which is a system which allows (among many other things) the giving of anonymous feedback on people’s job performance. (I’ve never used it – this post is not me grinding an axe, or based on a bad experience.)

Given that people are normally happy giving positive feedback face-to-face, the primary use case here must be negative or constructive feedback.

As geeks, we might think that this is a good technical solution to the social problem that people often tie up the feedback with the giver, start attributing motives, and its gets personal. “Let’s get the human out of the loop”, we think, “and then the pure feedback stands alone.” But it has taken me 10 or more years to learn (and some may say I’ve still not learned) that people are not machines. You can’t tell people to “listen to what I say and ignore the way I say it”. Emotional context matters.

Negative anonymous feedback is a shot from the darkness, rather than the start of a conversation. If you receive some, you might want to discuss it with the person. “What if I did this instead? OK, but I think you misunderstood my motivation… No, you’ve got the wrong end of the stick there.” But if the feedback is anonymous, you can’t. They’ve got it off their chest and are satisfied; you are left hanging.

Furthermore, you know that someone’s upset with you, but you don’t know who, and your options for repairing the relationship are very limited. That could lead to paranoia and insecurity.

So next time you are considering giving someone anonymous feedback, why not give them the normal sort instead? You may be pleasantly surprised at how well they take it, you might learn something about them and the way they do things, and if it gets fraught, then it’s a chance for both of you to grow in grace and learn how to forgive.

Some God-given wisdom for those giving feedback:

A fool finds no pleasure in understanding, but delights in airing his own opinions. (Proverbs 18:2)

Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs. (Proverbs 10:12)

And for those receiving it:

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid. (Proverbs 12:1)

A rebuke impresses a discerning person more than a hundred lashes a fool. (Proverbs 17:10)

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. (Proverbs 15:1)

Christmas is really
for the children.
Especially for children
who like animals, stables,
stars and babies wrapped
in swaddling clothes.
Then there are wise men,
kings in fine robes,
humble shepherds and a
hint of rich perfume.

Easter is not really
for the children
unless accompanied by
a cream filled egg.
It has whips, blood, nails,
a spear and allegations
of body snatching.
It involves politics, God
and the sins of the world.
It is not good for people
of a nervous disposition.
They would do better to
think on rabbits, chickens
and the first snowdrop
of spring.

Or they’d do better to
wait for a re-run of
Christmas without asking
too many questions about
what Jesus did when he grew up
or whether there’s any connection.

— Steve Turner

Jesus came into the world, lived, died and rose from the dead – good news of great joy for all people :-)) A Happy Christmas to everyone!

Another example, if another were needed, of why walled garden software ecosystems are a bad idea, and how the controllers of those ecosystems can use that control to promote their social and political views to the detriment of their customers.

Whether you agree with the Manhattan Declaration or not (it’s a statement defending traditional marriage, the sanctity of human life, and religious liberty), it’s not right that Apple, or any company, should be able to say whether or not you should have their app on your mobile phone, just as it’s not right that they should be able to say whether or not you should have their app on your desktop computer.

I will be around only very intermittently for at least the next six weeks, because I will be doing the following things:

• Helping run a Christian kids camp on canal boats
• Getting one of my kidneys pierced
• Relaxing on my fiancée’s family’s holiday
• Preparing to get married
• Getting married
• Going on honeymoon
• Moving in to our new flat

So, if you are hoping for me to do something, please expect highly delayed service. We thank you for your patience. See you in September :-)

(Background reading all this is new to you.)

A few weeks ago I had one of my regular six-monthly CT scans. It showed that the metastases in my lungs have grown a bit each, although not a great deal (2.2 up to maybe 2.8cm across). However, it also showed up a 3-4cm lump in my left kidney which needed further analysis. I had an appointment this week about that. Basically, there are three options:

1. Metastasis (spread) of my existing cancer
2. Benign lump
3. New kidney cancer

3) is apparently very unlikely, both because of how it looks on the scan and because of how relatively slowly it’s growing. So they want to do a biopsy to distinguish between 1) (leading to an operation) and 2) (which would require no operation).

If surgery is required, they hope to do a partial (rather than full) nephrectomy (kidney removal), and it’ll probably be in September or October, after my wedding and honeymoon :-). The fact that a partial nephrectomy is possible is very encouraging, because it means if it turned up in the other one in a few years in the same way, I’d have two half-kidneys, rather than no kidneys! But I continue to be amazed by the carefully-designed redundancy in the human body.

“The Bible says:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
   But a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

I have said I love you, and I do. But love is actions as well as words and feelings. So I now say I will love you, with God’s help, as Christ loved the church, all the days we have together on this earth.

Ruth Miriam Rotter – will you marry me?”

Take 2 minutes 9 seconds of your time to find out:

The original is on Vimeo; this copy is on VideoBin; there’s a backup copy here which I converted to Open Video using ffmpeg2theora.

Free Softwaaaarrr!

I just noticed that, by a strange coincidence, last year Software Freedom Day and International Talk Like A Pirate Day were both on Saturday September 19th…

If this were to happen again, what events or promotional activities could be put on to celebrate both at once?