My hardcore religious days are well behind me (for the curious, this was my story written up in 2019 of how I left the cult of far-right Charismatic Christianity), but I never stopped being interested in the rich historical tapestry of religious practices working in and among communities all across the world.

One of my opinions, loosely-held, is that the modern “intellectualization” of religion, particularly in the West, can end up causing a lot of problems. In particular, the notion that what you believe is of primary importance in the expression of your faith, rather than who you unconditionally love.

In the past, I would have used fancy technical terms for the two sides of this dichotomy: orthodoxy vs. orthopraxy. In historical Christian theology, this sometimes plays out in a debate over faith vs. works. Are you “saved” based on what you believe (or rather, who you believe in, i.e., Jesus Christ)? Or are you “saved” based on the good deeds you do?

I promise I’m almost done with this impromptu Bible study 😂, but I tend to gravitate towards the mic 🎤 drop 🫳 text found in Matthew 7:15-16: “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.”

So yeah. Whether you’re saved by faith or by works or by nothing whatsoever because all religion is made up (I’ll leave that question for others to settle 😜), the point I’m trying to make is that as the saying goes that “the purpose of a system is what it does,” I believe one might equally say “the purpose of a religion is who it assists.”

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Showing Charity

In past eras, you would see this assistance play out in a variety of ways. I have always been fascinated by the concept of the Medieval Monastery. We sometimes think of monks as being these ascetics cloistered away, far removed from the cares and worldly culture of the outside. Religion in here, real life out there. But that isn’t precisely true.

According to medieval historian Rose Graham, the monastery of Cluny, located in Saône-et-Loire, France, was founded with a specific charter as specified by William, Duke of Aquitaine:

With a full heart and mind the monks shall build an exceeding pleasant place, so far as they can and know how. We will also that in our time and those of our successors, works of mercy shall be shewn daily to the poor and needy, to travellers and pilgrims so far as the opportunity and ability of the place shall allow.

Like many monasteries in the Middle Ages, Cluny wasn’t simply an institution where religious people would hang out. It was a microcosm of society. The monks there grew food, raised livestock, managed vineyards, and took care of the ill in an infirmary. And they oversaw the administration of a hostel, a “great guest-house” to serve as a place of refuge for poor and weary travelers where folks could rest, eat, and receive free horseshoes (very important in the Middle Ages). Sure, there was also commercial lodging in town, and “no one who came to Cluny for markets, fairs or lawsuits was received at the guest-house.” Nevertheless, charity was shown in various ways even to people staying in town and passing through.

Over the years, I have often thought of what a truly “modern” monastery might look like. What are the needs of the people today? Food, shelter, and medicine remain vital of course. And sometimes those needs still get met by religious institutions helping the poor. Yet I can’t help but wonder if we need to think bigger—consider the things we need to survive and thrive in society today.

Electricity. Transportation. The Internet. Software.

For nearly everyone, to participate in Western civilization is to be on the Internet using software via a computing device of some kind. To me, that prompts a very logical question:

Shouldn’t monks be writing software?

You could call this MDD: Monk-Driven Development. For the good of humanity and the purification of souls, I believe a truly modern monastery would promote the creation & deployment of worthwhile community software. Unlike commercial software, this software wouldn’t exist to make a profit or trap people in cycles of deceptive UX patterns, data extraction, and marketplace manipulation. Rather, software written using the MDD method would primarily be focused on local concerns such as strengthening civic bonds, providing educational services, caring for the environment and a healthy food supply, and ensuring poor people have access to high-quality, heavily-subsidized healthcare.

MDD-based software would be highly outcome-based. The sign of good software wouldn’t be “how many people are hooked on using XYZ features every day so we can extract more value out of them?” but “how many people’s QoL (Quality of Life) has improved on a daily basis by virtue of using XYZ features?”

MDD-based software would no doubt be source-available, because there’s no reason for community-originated software to be proprietary. It might not technically be open source however because it would be licensed as Ethical Source—meaning the code can only be used/modified/deployed by others if it’s done so in service of lifting up the marginalized and neglected, stewarding our planet’s precious resources, and suing for peace rather than fostering endless war.

Think I’m off my rocker? Gone plumb loco? This isn’t just a joke exercise for me! 🤪 I really have spent years mulling over these ideas. I have literally given consideration to the idea of founding a “software monastery” of some kind. I’m not really sure what our religious beliefs would be though. Something very hippie no doubt. 😂 I rather like UCC (United Church of Christ)’s mission statement: “United in Spirit and inspired by God’s grace, we welcome all, love all, and seek justice for all.” Except for that first part, even my dear athiest friends could get behind such an initiative I’m sure.

Why Corporations?

But think about it. Really think about it. Why is software development run like a corporate enterprise? Software is fundamentally made up of thousands of creative acts. Artistry, imagination, even whimsy are at the heart of much great software.

I’ve never particularly cared for the term “software engineering”. I don’t even know very many true “software engineers” to be honest with you, in the way that Wikipedia describes engineering in general:

Engineering is the discipline and profession that applies scientific theories, mathematical methods, and empirical evidence to design, create, and analyze technological solutions, balancing technical requirements with concerns or constraints on safety, human factors, physical limits, regulations, practicality, and cost, and often at an industrial scale.

This is perhaps true of people who write software not just at an “industrial” scale but for literal industries. Do I want bona fide software engineers working on the software powering commercial jet airplanes? Or robot arms in a factory? Or self-driving cars? Yes, yes, and yes!

On the other hand…do we need software engineers working on a free community app to let local farmers connect with enthusiasts of organic produce & farm-to-table cuisine? I’m not so sure. I think maybe we need software artists. Writers. Designers. Dreamers. Community organizers. Monks with technical skills.

I have a confession to make: as a professional who has spent decades in a career of computer software development, I’ve spent a fair bit of that time hating being a professional who’s spent decades in a career of computer software development. Almost nothing I love about writing & deploying software is related to the commercial aspects of it. I’m glad I can have a job being a developer, but at the end of the day I enjoy writing software because it is art. And we now live in an era when the art of software is being threatened with annihilation by Late-Stage Capitalism like we’ve never seen before.

Maybe, in a way, this is a good thing. We need to wrest software away from the Capitalists. We need other models, other forms of collectives which produce software not to turn a profit but to save men’s souls (metaphorically speaking of course).

Beyond Open Source

For a long time, I thought the Open Source Software movement was enough. People collaborating together ethically within the commons for the common good. Turns out, a lot of that only worked for a little while because it was expedient for the fostering of more Capitalism. Once Capitalism was able to find a yet more expedient and self-serving way to produce software (aka “Claude Code”), all that talk about enriching the commons falls by the goddamn wayside in a heartbeat.

Open Source Software has failed us. We need Communal Software: software conceived of, built, deployed, and maintained by communes (for lack of a better term). Software which is devoid of the profit motive, software which is outside of the control of corporate interests, software which is focused squarely on the local concerns of real people in real-life communities. I’m based in Portland, Oregon, so I might ask the following question:

How can I build Portland software for Portlanders, supported by Portlanders, which improves the QoL of Portlanders?

(A real question which has been on my mind lately…)

But to sum up, I just don’t have the time for yet another alarmist treatise about how Programming Still Sucks or worse some Silicon Valley techbro telling me what the future of software is. I’ve gone out of my way over the years to avoid the corporatism inherent in some programming circles, instead preferring to work directly with clients rooted in local communities solving real problems for real people. In those cases, programming is joyful, and don’t let ANYONE tell you otherwise. Reject the narrow-minded, media-driven framing that software development can only happen the way it happens inside of Microsoft or Google or Meta or Nvidia or Anthropic.

Maybe, just maybe, we’ll soon see how software development happens in a monestary. 😇

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Jared ✌️

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