Jediism — is this the religion you are looking for?
A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away, the first ever Star Wars movie was released in theatres. Now, this movie franchise one of the most recognizable and popular forms of popular culture. Who would have thought that this would be the start of a whole series critical to popular culture? Even if one has not seen the movies, they definitely know the references and characters which demonstrates how legendary Star Wars really is.
This popularity of movies and TV shows are not unheard of with fandoms from Harry Potter and Supernatural for example. Similar to these various popular culture fandoms, Star Wars’ fan following has been continuously growing and as a result, Jediism was born.
Jediism, as in Jedi?
Yes that is correct. Jediism follows the spiritual beliefs of Jedi who believe in “The Force”, the energy that flows through and in everything in the universe. Most know of the “light side” and “dark side” of “The Force” in which Jediists choose to support and follow the “light side” by helping others and “protect the vulnerable and defenceless at all times” (The Church of Jediism, 2019; The Temple of the Jedi Order, 2019). Made known from the 2001 Jedi Census Phenomenon, two main sites for this religion were created: firstly the Temple of the Jedi Order founded by John Phelan and then The Church of Jediism founded by Daniel Jones. Like most religions, Jediism comes with a spiritual scripture, practices and sacred routines as explained on these websites.
Jediism is intersected directly in popular culture as religion (with the theme of week seven’s lecture: Sport as religion). By comparing the practices, beliefs, theories to an explicit religion like Christianity and Buddhism, it can be seen how Jediism is at the intersection of popular culture and religion. The Church of Jediism and the Temple of the Jedi Order will be examined and analyzed in comparison to these explicit religions as well as Jediism being processed through the circuit of culture.
The argument to consider here is, “Is Jediism considered a real religion?” With the follow up question of “Then what is considered a religion?”
The two components of Jediism that will be analyzed closely are The Church of Jediism and The Temple of the Jedi Order. Both of these are organizations of Jediism where people who follow this religion can visit everyday to practice the religion. Both of these associations have their own unique symbols, name different practices of the Jedi, and have their own separate steps on becoming a Jedi but still follow “The Force” as that is at the core of Jediism.
The names of these organizations can be directly compared to Christianity and Buddhism with “church” and “temple” being a place of prayer/religious buildings for these religions. Though not a physical building, both of there websites are the main places to go to find all information on Jediism as well as where one can go to become a Jedi.
The Church of Jediism symbol is quite literally a combination of a “J”, representing Jediism, the Jedi order symbol and the cross of Christianity. The fact that this church of Jediism symbol incorporates the Christian cross shows that people of the fiction-based religion view it as having similarities to Christianity and by combining it with the other two elements, demonstrates a connection of Jediism being considered a “real” religion like Christianity.
George Lucas pulled ideas for Star Wars directly from religions like Buddhism for example, so it is understandable that Jediism has similar beliefs and practices to religions like Christianity and Buddhism (Feichtinger, 2014). Some similarities between the two religions include practicing meditation regularly as described on The Church of Jediism website, being mindful, compassionate, letting go, and having a connection with everything in the universe via “The Force” (Feichtinger, 2014).
The symbol of the Temple of the Jedi Order is represented by the Jedi Code in the 5 point star, the 16 teachings of a Jedi in the inner star, and the contrast between the “light side” and “dark side”. This idea between light and dark can be seen as a comparison of good and bad or heaven and hell in Christianity.
Jediism does not have any mandatory religious clothing but requires followers to practice Jedi exercises with a lightsaber. The spiritual scripture can be considered to be “Become the Force” by Daniel Jones describes the steps on how to become and live as a Jedi master. Online sermons can also be found on the Temple of the Jedi Order website, which are also written by a Pastor.
Since Jediism is inspired by ideas in the Star Wars franchise, one might think that this religion began with the start of the movies but that may not be the case. (Collman, 2013) talks to Kevin Trout, a prominent member in the Jediism community, who believes the beginning of this Jediism movement began in the late 1990’s with the re-releasing of the first three Star Wars movies then a new movie in 1997. With the re-ignition of the Star Wars popularity came the 2001 Jedi Census Phenomenon where an email campaign was sent out to people in the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada to convince them to put down “Jedi” as their religion on the national census (Cheung, 2019). Enough people did this to cause 390,000 of the UK population to identify with Jediism (Taira, 2013). In 2005, The Temple of the Jedi Order was founded by John Phelan becoming one of the first main sites of Jediism along with The Church of Jediism which was later founded in 2007 by Daniel Jones. In 2009, Daniel Jones was asked to take off his hood in a Tesco supermarket in which he claimed that it was against Jedi beliefs to take off the hood as they must wear hoods in public at all time (Taira, 2013). This caused discussion and controversy as people were debating if this was considered an act of religious discrimination.
Looking deeper into the origins of Jediism, the question of “who is this for?” arises. Star Wars was created by George Lucas, a white male, in the 1970’s. Even then, there was not much diverse representation and the target audiences were aimed towards white people. What about Jediism? With the religion stemming from the Star Wars movies and keeping the past target audience in mind, majority of followers are white, including the two founders of the Jediism organizations. Although Jediism stands by their belief that it can be for anyone any age, gender, or religion, one cannot help to think that Jediism is really geared towards a white audience.
In the analysis of how this artifact is consumed and received, the very question we are trying to answer, “Is this considered a ‘real’ religion?” comes up with most answers being that Jediism is not a real religion, but merely a joke. Cheung (2013) discusses the attempt from the Temple of the Jedi Order in 2016 to register as a Charitible Incorporated Organisation under the UK Charity Law but was rejected as they said Jediism was a non-secular religion, web-based and not sufficiently structured of belief to be a religion.
Taira (2013) discusses this question of validity on the artifact and comes to the conlcusion that this is an understudied topic that needs more scholarly pieces of research on it to truly understand how to categorize it. Taira (2013) suggests using a different “framework” to view Jediism and other similar fiction-based religions with not only the help of specialist scholars, but all scholars of religion to aid in this debate. This itself poses another question of “what is religion?” and “what can be considered a religion?” in which Daniel Jones, founder of The Church of Jediism, discusses in support of the status of Jediism as a religion. In interviews Jones had with both the Chicago WGN9 channel and Good Morning Britain, this very debate is argued with Jones himself questioning the meaning of religion. He states that Jediism is a religion in the sense that it is based off of “a faith built on something potentially supernatural” and “something you do on a regular basis”. One comment on the video of the interview with Chicago WGN9 states, “Gotta love how people just keep bashing it because it’s so strange. What if I told you that, if you behave, a man in the sky, who we can’t see, will remove all your suffering? Strange, right? That’s Christianity. Give Jediism a break, take it seriously. What harm is it really doing?” which supports Jones’ argument that if a “real” religion, like Buddhism for example, is practiced everyday and followers believe in something greater than themselves, why can’t Jediism be considered as a religion?
To those who follow Jediism and its beliefs, the impact is powerful and positive. For example, in 2015 around 5,000 students in a Turkish university petitioned to have a Jedi temple built on campus for followers and anyone who wishes to join. This influenced protests on civil rights and freedom for people standing up for themselves (Buchanan, 2015).
As we look at the beliefs and practices of Jediism, the means of which it was produced, consumed, and received, it can be concluded that Jediism is not yet considered an explicit religion. But, with this question comes another question that has been examined by scholars, “What is considered a religion?”. The answer to this will most likely be debated for years to come, but with regards to Jediism and similar fiction-based religions, there is no one fixed answer or definition that exists as it truly depends on the various points of view of each individual.
Bibliography
Buchanan, Rose Troup. “Students in Turkey Are Asking for a Jedi Temple, This Is Why.” The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, April 8, 2015. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/thousands-of-turkish-students-sign-petition-to-build-jedi-temple-on-university-campus-10161225.html.
Cheung, Tommy. 2019. “Jediism: Religion at Law?” Oxford Journal of Law and Religion 8 (2): 350–77. doi:10.1093/ojlr/rwz010.
Collman, Ashley. “Jediism: THOUSANDS Believe in Religion Based on Star Wars Franchise.” Daily Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, October 17, 2013. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2465445/Jediism-THOUSANDS-believe-religion-based-Star-Wars-franchise.html.
Feichtinger, Christian. 2014. “Space Buddhism: The Adoption of Buddhist Motifs in Star Wars.” Contemporary Buddhism 15 (1): 28–43. doi:10.1080/14639947.2014.890348.
Good Morning Britain. Star Wars Debate: Is Jediism a Real Religion?, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOdoFPsG-Ag
Jones, Daniel. “Home.” The Church of Jediism, 2007. https://www.becometheforce.com/.
Phelan, John. “Home.” Home, 2005. https://www.templeofthejediorder.org/.
Taira, Teemu. 2013. “The Category of ‘invented Religion’: A New Opportunity for Studying Discourses on ‘religion’.” Culture and Religion 14 (4): 477–493. doi:10.1080/14755610.2013.838799.
WGN News. Author Daniel Jones talks about the Church of Jediism, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5p_-Y0u6uE