Jedis in Australia (Buddhism, followers, faith, religions, Article)

[robtex]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2218456.stm

More than 70,000 people in Australia have declared that they are followers of the Jedi faith, the religion created by the Star Wars films.

A recent census found that one in 270 respondents - or 0.37% of the population - say they believe in "the force", an energy field that gives Jedi Knights like Luke Skywalker their power in the films.

Most of the 70,509 people who wrote Jedi on their census forms were suspected to have done so in response to an e-mail encouraging all Star Wars fans to get it recognised as an official religion.

Yoda, Jedi master
Jedi Master Yoda: "You must feel the force around you"
But the majority do not seriously tell each other: "May the force be with you", according to Australian Star Wars Appreciation Society president Chris Brennan.

"When you look at it you probably have got about 5,000 people in that 70,000 that were true hard-core people that would believe the Jedi religion carte blanche," he told ABC Radio.

"Then you would have 50,000 fans that said 'oh yeah we'll just put down Jedi for fun, we don't actually have a religion of our own'.

"Then you probably have 15,000 people who did it just to give the government a bit of curry," he said.

'Not defined'

An e-mail was sent around the world in 2001 saying that if 10,000 people declared they were Jedi, it would be recognised as an official religion.

But the Australian Bureau of Statistics said it would be categorised as "not defined".

Thousands of people in New Zealand and the UK also followed the advice of the e-mail - with Jedi Knight even being included on the list of religions by UK census authorities.

End article the next link is a forum to get a feel for it:
http://boards.theforce.net/Western_Australia/b10038/

So for you aussies.....have you seen this and what does anybody know about it?

[jewscout]

Dude i would so learn the Jedi mind trick!! Walk up to a hot girl and be like "You will remove your clothes"

[robtex]

jewscout you are moving to the dark side of the force.

[jewscout]

Just call me Anikan

[Master Vigil]

All of those people might as well put taoism down. The force is almost exactly the same as taoism. With a little zen buddhism put in there.

[Feathers in Hair]

This would possibly be a superficial reason for joining a religion, but I'd support joining any religion that Obi Wan Kenobi is in. (Especially the Ewan MacGregor version.)

One of my favorite moments at work (aside from the fact that it involved danger to a co-worker) was when I was able to help someone who was having an panic attack/ asthma attack by helping her with guided meditation, Reiki, and grounding, at least until the ambulance got there. Someone else, who witnessed the interaction, said something to the effect that "That was a total Jedi moment, girl!"

All the more freaky was that someone used nearly that same phrase on last week's episode of "Lost".

[robtex]

Originally Posted by Master Vigil

All of those people might as well put taoism down. The force is almost exactly the same as taoism. With a little zen buddhism put in there.

could you draw out the parallels you see between the two?

[Master Vigil]

Jedi's believe in an impersonal force that connects and binds all things - Tao. The believe in midiclorians that help them do things that seem impossible - chi. There is a light and dark side of the force - yin/yang. Their manner of dress is attributed to the ancient japanese zen masters dress. The odd phrases that yoda speaks are attributed to the zen koans. They use a sword, like the ancient samurai which lived by the bushido code which was heavely influenced by zen at the time. And even zen was influenced by taoism. Without taoism, there would be no zen. And without taoism, there would be no jedi.

[tumble_weed]

XD!!!

Ha I did my english assignment on that...funny...just shows how seriously people take religion XD...