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The Religious Order of the Jedi
Following a petition by Britons, "Jedi" was included on England’s 2001 census. The results were nothing short of amazing when 390,000 citizens professed to be Jedis. More than 70,000 Australians claim to be Jedis as well. Yesterday, two Jedi appealed to the United Nation’s representatives in London to request the day be officially recognized as a Jedi "Interstellar Day of Tolerance." On paper, they represent Britain’s fourth largest religion.
Despite growing popularity, contemporary religious movements like Wicca, Flying Spaghetti Monsterism and the Jedi Order are still generally not granted equal respect and recognition by governments.
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- Darth Vader Assaults Jedis, by VnutZ about 5 years ago
- American Prude Awakening, by VnutZ about 5 years ago
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Duh by jmarkdavison
>Despite growing popularity, contemporary religious movements like Wicca, Flying Spaghetti Monsterism and the Jedi Order are still generally not granted equal respect and recognition by governments.
Maybe that’s because the latter two are not looking for equal respect or recognition but instead seek to mock traditional religion.
As for Wicca, they seem to take their faith seriously and have the requisite rights, at least in America.
They deserve as much respect by scottb
Just because your religious beliefs derive from a work of fiction should be no barrier. After all, so’s Christianity, and they get too much "respect".
The idea that a government with a policy of separating church and state should pick and choose among which religions are "real" is a little preposterous.
Since tax breaks for religious groups require a government to do so, this leads to the obvious conclusion that religious groups shouldn’t be getting tax-exempt status.
To me, this is one of the most important roles played by FSM and the Jedi Order – they offer something to contrast with "official" religions. If Britain’s fourth largest religion isn’t getting official recognition, then something’s very obviously wrong with the system.
Let it be useful.. by gnifyus
All of these alternative religions serve a purpose for me. In the case of the ones that I believe to be concocted merely for the purpose of satire: (FSM, Jedi and to be more current Matrixism ), they serve exactly the purpose that satire is supposed to serve; that of making a point about the shortcomings of a mainstream idea by bringing certain aspects of the idea to an extreme and thereby often humorous portrayal. Looking at my own beliefs under these lights allows me to have a laugh, and also to hopefully vanquish any religious pride that I might begin to be having about Christianity. There is a difference between being “proud to be a Christian” and allowing this pride to manifest itself into demeaning and disrespecting others for their beliefs. Satire has a way of quickly humbling these feelings if you are receptive to it.
Another purpose is found in studying and finding out about other religions. If you can’t pull your head out of the sand enough to strengthen your own beliefs by finding out what you can’t believe about others, then you may find you are only holding onto thin air.(If you are afraid to study other religions because you might like them better, then this should also raise some serious questions for you.) Finding out about Wicca, for instance is a great exercise in either strengthening or tossing out your present beliefs, as it seems to be a well organized peaceful religion. (Has anyone heard of any Wiccan terrorists?)
I won’t go into a dissertation on why I choose Christianity over any other religion or absence of, in this post because one really needs to get a lot together for that, and I lack the eloquence right now. I find that debating about religion to be kind of like arguing about music or food anyway; in the end I just like it because I like it.