Re: The Religion of STAR WARS
Originally posted by Knightfall93
Yes, believe it or not, a while ago some people tried to star the Jedi Order but the guys who decide whats a religions and whts not refused to accept tyhem despite how many folowers they got!
I'll bet they're a bunch of 30-year-old virgins...
Often, those who are into scifi and fantasy are familiar with esoteric/mystical literature. If they are creative and imagine their own scifi/fantasy universes (eg, people who like to write stories), they will incorporate elements of esoteria into their imagined universes (or vice-versa: those familiar with mystical literature will use that as the grounding for their scfi/fantasy universe).
Then those who just enjoy those universes (the "dwellers," as opposed to the creators)) come along, "discover" the profound philosophies of the imagined universe, and--lo and behold--they come away thinking that the creator of their favorite universe has invented something truly unprecedented, when in fact it isn't.
George Lucas and L. Ron Hubbard are among the more famous scifi/fantasy/esoteria afficionados who have developed variations of age-old wisdom for their imagined universes.
Is Jedi a religion? Certainly not in the traditional sense, and it is not recognized as one legally. Can a "dweller" claim it as their faith? Sure, they can do whatever they want. But if they are, they are empowered by realizing the true origins of their belief system.
Jediism, the Jedi Religion.
Seems its now a real religion, feel free to google it.
I heard somewere that their are already more Jediism practitioners then there are judism ones.
Holy crap, it's Taoism!
No, seriously. I'm not joking. I just browsed the site....not too many things I didn't expect to see and/or read, but insert "The Tao" for "The Force" and there's about a 90% overlap.
Pacifism, empathy, justice, non-violence, meditation, the unifying force bringing everything in the universe together....surrounding and abiding within it. And harnessing one's personal Force is pretty much like focusing Chi. And the dark/light side that constitute the transcendant force that embodies them both is simply a sublimated form of the symbols Yin and Yang. Yeah, same stuff.
Not bad, to be honest. You could do a lot worse as a religion, and I'm sure it justifies goofy costumes and lightsabers. 🙂
and they're more Jedi then certain religions that have been around for a hundred years or more.
So you've claimed (there are circles where "I heard this somewhere" is not considered entirely convincing). This does not prevent people who claim to be Jedi from being ludacrous failures.
I don't know what Digimark's thinking of; Australia has threatened to fine anyone $1000 if they put Jedi as their religion, the UK* has officially stated that no way, no how, is "Jedi" a religion, it's not a religion in America (for example, you can't get tax exemption)...
*They put it on the census, because so many damn people insist on saying it, but that was just to speed things up; "absolutely no possibility" is how UK officials descirbed "Jedi"'s chances of being classified as a religion.
(It's too late to edit my post, but New Zealand? The other country I've heard of where the "jedi" tried to make the government recognize them? That failed, too).
Meanwhile, there's a an online petition to make the American Census recognize "Jedi" as an official religion. It has garnered 588 votes. A killjoy might point out that the American Census Bureau does not, in fact, ask people what their religious affiliation is, making it even more stupid then it would be already, but the comments field offers a terrifying yet beautiful look into the minds of some of these people, and I encourage every body to check it out.
You're being a bit strict with your definition here. First off, it was offcialized in certain parts of Europe where enough percentage of people put it as their religion in a census that they were forced to recognize it.
Second, and more importantly, if I fervently worship my printer, and believe it speaks to me and tells me the truth about life, that's a religion. I don't need my country to give me a tax exemption for that to be true.
So browse the website...legitimate or not, they have many followers, and their beliefs aren't altogether bad. Like I said in my earlier post, it's basically a lightweight sci-fi spin on a lot of Eastern doctrine.
Originally posted by Imperial_Samura
The day Jedi becomes a religion is the day I unleash my clone armies.Because really - I don't want to see Lucas become another Hubbard.
good point. But I doubt people will ever think that Lucas will ever return form the dead. Or even waste a good background alien on an earthly volcano.
Originally posted by DigiMark007
You're being a bit strict with your definition here. First off, it was offcialized in certain parts of Europe where enough percentage of people put it as their religion in a census that they were forced to recognize it.