It is as close to a religion as you can get.
With Bastions of Fiefdom, Everybody believing in the core set of values, bickering about interpretation, arguing about prose, doing deeds first without asking if it would be for the better good... among other things.
In general, Debian *IS* a Church having a Bazaar. And what a WILD Bazaar it is. There is also the "One" (the DPL) and the Gatekeeper(s) (Debian FTPmasters), The one that does the watching (Debian Secretary), and the ones that school the unclean... (Debian Mentors), which then allow them to become Dicipiles (Debian Developers). As well as those that Help move the Church along certain lines as Bishops (Debian Specialist Team Leaders; Debian X, Debian Kernel, etc..) and the Arch-Bishops that really pull everything together (the Debian Release Managers) for the overall good.
If that ain't close to a religion, I'd hate to see your definition.