Jedi Knights Demand UK's 4th Largest Religion Receive Recognition

[Guest kiwimatt]

I think some of the people who put jedi are just putting it down like a protest vote or put it down as a joke

You are dead right Ricky - it was done in protest at the idea of the Government infringing on peoples privacy. Unfortunately the "hard core Jedi" followers mistakenly took this as actually meaning they should be classed as a religion, and armed with their light sabres and the fact they were rated as 4th largest on the census, tried to make their case for being officially classed as a religion. alas for them they didnt meet all the correct criteria for being a religion and their clase was dismissed rather quickly.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/pd...ction5part3.pdf according to the census form , they are code 896 - which was just a census collectors code, not an official stamp of approval as a religion

Personally as a Christian I would rather proudly state that fact on the form, else if I had a privacy problem would just leave it blank. I think a Christian filling out a different "religion" on a form could be seen as not giving God his due respect...

Matt

[traveller]

Remember L Ron Hubbard's Dianetics? He evolved his works into Scientology, or rather, the Church of Scientology. It's a really far-fetched religion that is less than 50 years old. Tom Cruise has really put the spotlight on it recently. Is the "Force" really so out-there when compared to this? A quote from Wikipedia concerning Scientology (and Sci-Fi comparison)

Xenu and Body Thetans

Main article: Xenu

Main article: Galactic Confederacy

Main article: Body Thetan

Among these advanced teachings, one episode revealed to those who reach OT level III has been much remarked upon: the story of Xenu and his Galactic Confederacy. Xenu (sometimes Xemu) is introduced as an alien ruler of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of people to Earth in spacecraft resembling Douglas DC-8 airliners, stacked them around volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. Their souls then clustered together and stuck to the bodies of the living. The alien souls continue to do this today, causing a variety of physical ill-effects in modern-day humans. Hubbard called these clustered spirits "Body Thetans," and the advanced levels place considerable emphasis on isolating them and neutralizing their ill effects.[17]

Scientologists have argued that the published accounts of the Xenu story and other colourful teachings are distortions of their practice, presented out of context for the purpose of ridiculing their religion. Journalists and critics of Scientology counter that the Xenu episode is part of a much wider Scientology belief that past lives on other planets are a source of negative influences on the mind and spirit in the present. Some of this has been public knowledge for decades. For instance, Hubbard's 1958 book Have You Lived Before This Life documents past lives described by individual Scientologists during auditing sessions, including some that are reported to antedate what modern astronomy estimates as the age of the universe. Internal Scientology publications are often illustrated with pictures of spaceships and oblique references to catastrophic events that happened "75 million years ago" (e.g. the Xenu incident).[citation needed]

While reliable information about Scientology membership is notoriously elusive, there is little reason to doubt that most practicing Scientologists have not attained a sufficiently high level on "The Bridge" to have learned the details about Xenu and Body Thetans. Therefore, while knowledge of Xenu and Body Thetans is said to be crucial to the highest level church teachings, it cannot be regarded as a core belief of rank-and-file Scientologists.

Nebula is correct - when one is void of God, he will seek to fill the vacuum with whatever satisfies, even if it's a Thetan or the Force. Folks, some people believe in this stuff.

[JustinM]

It's amazing the extremes people will go to, to find a substitute for God.

[AnotherTraveler]

Jedi is as valid as all the rest without Jesus Christ.

Jedi as a religion will get the devotee to the same place as all the other made up religions of the world.

Maybe L Ron Hubbard was a Jedi, who knows?

I would not have wanted to be L Ron when he had the opportunity to explain the Church of Scientology before the throne of God.

[Exavier]

I guess people will do anything to feel a purpose. It's not right to laugh, but it's not right either.

Jesus is the only way.

Which is more likely, a miracle or being able to push others away with a sweep of the hand?

I'll stick to miracles, thanks.

Because they do happen =)