A section on The Jedi Church's website contains links to websites of Jedi ministries and ordained Jedi ministers; as well as a page for each ministry/Jedi minister to advertise their services. In order to advertise on The Jedi Church's website it is necessary to be certified by the site (which simply involves purchasing a certificate of membership for the Jedi Church).Advertised on the Jedi Church is:
Some of the ministries and Jedi ministers that advertise on The Jedi Church's website are well established with detailed and organised public websites; some required initiation and are private; while others (mostly the Jedi ministers) list a few details and communication is possible through the email provided by The Jedi Church. Looking at the varied ministries and Jedi ministers who advertise on The Jedi Church's website it is possible to see that the Jedi Church is viewed by followers of the Jedi faith as a established and credible source of information, communication within the Jedi faith community. The Jedi Church appears to be a source of authority for a faith which has no certified offline authoritative leader or hierarchy.
A page covering The Jedi Church's doctrine begins by saying that The Jedi Church has no official doctrine or scripture. While this stance is in contrast to the major institutionalised faiths The Jedi Church's actual doctrine is fundamentally similar and has many parallels to these organised faiths. For example comparing the Jedi faith doctrine with Basic Christian doctrine (taken from the Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry, using passages from the Bible) it is possible to draw distinct similarities.
Both Christianity and the Jedi faith believe in one all powerful, eternal entity.
Both Christianity and the Jedi faith believe in an opposing evil to this all powerful entity ~ the common element in many religions of 'Good versus Evil'.
With the Jedi faith doctrine being so similar to the major world religious faiths is the Jedi faith possibly being used by people disillusioned with the institutionalised religions as a familiar replacement. Without the enforced doctrine the Jedi faith projected by The Jedi Church website could be seen as an attractive alternative. Also with the Jedi faith's beliefs being so similar to the major world religious faiths will the Jedi faith be viewed as yet another religion portraying the same message ,which may be overlooked or as a new approach to a set of beliefs which people agree with and follow?
The following video, called the Star Wars Jedi Church is a satirical take on the Jedi faith. I found this video originally as a link posted by someone on the Jedi Church website, questioning whether this interpretation of the Jedi faith is "not what we intended?"
While browsing the internet I decided to see how the media portrayed the Jedi Religion. Living in Great Britain I thought what better way to do this than to have a look on the good old BBC’s news website.
These are the articles I found on the national section of the BBC’s news website in chronological order...
'You may be a fan of the Star Wars films, but are you a follower? Moves are afoot to have the fictitious Jedi philosophy the movies espouse recognised as a proper religion.'
Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola suggested George Lucas should turn the Jedi philosophy invented for Star Wars into a religious movement.
Star Wars fans have distilled the movie into religious cannon taking the film scripts as scriptures and creating such websites as The Jedi Creed,http://jedicreed.org/
Star Trek also has its own sci-fi followers who seek spiritual guidance.
An email stating if the Jedi faith will become and official religion if enough people list it as such in a forthcoming British census has been revealed as a hoax. Despite this fans have been urged to go ahead with the plan, although the Home Office has said that however many people go through with the plan the Jedi faith will not be added to the census.
Jedi Knight is officially listed as a religion on the 2001 census following a campaign, although officials from the Office of National Statistics have pointed out that it’s the addition to the census does not offer the status of official recognition.
70, 509 people in Australia declared themselves followers of the Jedi faith on their census forms, believers in the “force”; although only 5, 000 are probably true believers.
The 2001 census revealed that Jedi is the chosen religion for 390, 000 people. The response for the support of the Jedi faith was strongest from students and the towns of Brighton and Hove. The article ends with the question, ‘could this mean an invite for Yoda, the Jedi Master, to give BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the day?’
The overall view I personally gain from reading the BBC’s articles is one that despite being written about in a well supported and positive light is also being perceived something of a satirical ‘faith’. For on thing all the articles are listed in the entertainment section of the website, despite the fact that the articles mentioned that Jedi had been included as an official religion on the 2001 census and therefore would suggest that such articles might be listed on the religions & ethics section of the BBC’s website.
The opening statement for the Home page clearly lays out the underlying beliefs of the Jedi religious tradition stating that they believe 'that there is one all powerful force that binds all things in the universe together'. The JediChurch website goes on to state that 'our sense of morality is innate' and even further that the Jedi religion itself is 'something innate inside every one of us'. These are pretty strong claims, although most institutionalised religions hold similar strong statements to be true as part of their belief system.
On a darker not the JediChurch then goes on to warn against 'the dark side!' (sounds interesting - something which will have to be looked at) and to 'listen to the force within you'.
Despite the ominous warning a rather positive picture is painted. The Jedi religion is portrayed as a religion that can only be described as good and even better for anyone interested in following the Jedi religion it's open to everyone.
The Home page finishes off on the cheerful and positive note that 'The Jedi Church is a good force in the universe'.
yay!! :)
Nothing like the unknown dark side!!!
Mwah Ha ha!!!!!!!
After exploring the site my interest several things have come to my attention,
but let's view the overall impression of the site...
ORIGINS: WHO/WHAT ARE THEY?
The site itself is managed in New Zealand and according to the Home page
'accepts all races and species from all over the universe as potential members of the religion'.
The JediChurch are followers of the Jedi religious faith and are keen to point
out that they're an official religion.
~this is a result of census issues, which they discuss on the Home page. The New Zealand Census bureau consider the answer of Jedi to the religious identity question to mean "Response outside
of scope" or "Answer understood, but will not be counted". The JediChurch wants the New Zealand government to 'accept our [Jedi religion] faith and accurately record the statistics'.
So I'm currently deep in heart of the JediChurch website. Shhh!!!!
After some initial investigating it looks promising. Browsing this sight has not only brought back in immense need to go and watch 'Return of the Jedi' again, but has also provoked a rising interest in the subject of the Jedi religion.
There are certain questions that I'm interested in finding answers for and with these in mind I have subscribed to their monthly news and forum digest am beginning my research.
I think I'd like to start with...
Shhh!!!.....
Quick hide! Stormtoopers!!!
