There is a new movement in the air. People from all over the world, mostly in English-speaking countries, are being urged to record their religion as 'Jedi' or 'Jedi Knight'. It is reported that on the 2001 census in Australia more than 70,000 people declared themselves members of the Jedi Order. In Canada it was around 21,000, New Zealand 53,000, and over 390,127 in England. This is believed to be a grassroots movement initiated to poke fun at the government, protesting against the religion question on the census form. Could this really be something more? Could Jedi really be a religious movement? What would be the beliefs of the Jedi Religion?
According to www.jedichurch.org, the Jedi Religious Faith believes there is one all powerful force that binds all things in the universe together. The Jedi religion is something innate inside each of us, and the Jedi Church believes that our sense of morality is innate.
Is this any different from other cultural or belief systems? Religion is derived by ideas, stories, faith, and even thoughts of how people should live and treat their fellow man. Morality, ethics, and religious laws are all ideas about the cosmos and human nature put into place to help us to live a life with meaning, letting us believe that there is more out there, something bigger than ourselves. There is a "Force" that moves us.
Jedi faith is based on individual responsibility and an internal moral compass, not lightsabers and telekinesis. Just look at the movies, comics, and TV shows of Star Wars. Jedi are keepers of the peace, priests, and spiritual leaders. In Buddhism, spiritual leaders are individuals who have attained a high level of spiritual awareness. Those spiritual teachers guide followers of their faith toward spiritual enlightenment.
So what stance would a Jedi religion have on some of our world views today?
Gay Marriage: Jedi wouldn't have any issue with gay marriage. After all in a "Jedi World" aliens are able to marry within and outside of their own species. Why would it matter if they wanted to marry someone of the same sex?
Abortion: Having an abortion would disrupt the force, the balance of light and dark sides. The execution of abortion would be painful to a Jedi. They would feel the life force and death of young ones. Jedi wouldn't support abortion.
Legal/Illegal Aliens: Jedi wouldn't see the world this way. We would all be living beings, part of the force, equals. Borders would be in place to protect not divide us. Plus, we would all have those cool universal translator ear pieces.
So what would be the issue or problem of Jedi as a recognized religious faith? If you take away the movie references and just look at it as a system of ideas and beliefs, is it really any different from other current recognized religious beliefs? Maybe the problem is that the Jedi church has no official doctrine or scripture. Does this make their ideas or beliefs any less valuable? Maybe it is because it's just "too far" out there, being a religion based on a modern medium, motion pictures, as opposed to the ancient medium of papyrus scrolls. Why not let the Jedi have their church? The reason is because it would undermine the ideas and beliefs of other churches and religious faiths, not to mention it would cut into the pocket book of most modern churches. Religion is big business, and, like anything else, the rich want to stay rich.
So maybe it is time to quiet your mind and listen to the force within you, to take a look at the world around us from a different point of view. Who are we to say that people can't believe in an all-powerful "force?" Is it really any different than an all-powerful God or could they be one in the same?
