Sci Fi Friday: May The Force Be With You

The Sci Fi Friday posts have previously dealt with religion in Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica. There have been many religions invented in science fiction literature from Starnger in a Strange Land to Discordians in the Illuminatus Trilogy which some have adopted. Some would even say that the entire Scientology cult stems from science fiction if L. Ron Hubbard if hadn’t tried to pass this off as a serious religion. It turns out that there is another religion which stems from science fiction which is enjoying success in the real world. The Jedi Knights are Britain’s fourth largest religion. The Daily Mail reports:

With their vast intergalactic knowledge and ability to harness the Force, the task of convincing UN officials to recognise their cause should be a walkover for a pair of Jedi Knights.

But self-proclaimed Jedis Umada and Yunyun, better known as John Wilkinson and Charlotte Law, have adopted a more conventional approach in their pursuit of recognition – delivering a protest letter.

The unconventional pair are calling for the UN to acknowlegde what has become Britain’s fourth largest ‘religion’ with 390,000 followers…

Umada and Yunyun said: ‘For the last ten years the United Nations has marked the International Day of Tolerance. While we support this important work, we feel the UN needs to move with the times.

‘Like the UN, the Jedi Knights are peacekeepers and we feel we have the basic right to express our religion through wearing our robes, and to be recognised by the national and international community.

‘We therefore are calling upon the United Nations Association to change November 16 to the UN Interstellar Day of Tolerance, to reflect the religious make-up of our twenty-first century civilisation.

‘Tolerance is about respecting difference where ever it lies, including other galaxies. Please don’t exclude us from your important work. May the Force be with you.’

In the 2001 UK Census 390,000 people listed their religion as Jedi Knight making it the fourth biggest belief in the country.

There are also an estimated 70,000 Jedi knights in Australia, 53,000 in New Zealand and 20,000 in Canada.

If they aren’t successful with the United Nations, there’s always the Federation Council and Star Fleet Command.

May the Force Be With You. Live Long and Prosper. Hail Eris! All Hail Discordia!

5 Comments

  1. 1
    kj says:

    Isn’t Eris (Discordia) the new name of Xena?
    “November 16 to the UN Interstellar Day of Tolerance” sounds about right. 😉

  2. 2
    Ron Chusid says:

    I never watched Xena so I don’t know if she is using the name. Eris is the Goddess of Discord, used in the Iluminatus Trilogy.

  3. 3
    kj says:

    I mean the planet, or dwarf plant, oh, I probably should be googling this. When Pluto was demoted, there was a reshuffling and a renaming and something that was named Xena is now called Eris. Which is a big deal to people who follow planet stuff, because of the whole Discordia aspect. I really don’t know what I’m talking about. (What else is new?!)

  4. 4
    battlebob says:

    I felt really bad Pluto was demoted. Didn’t anybody think Mickey would be upset? Come on..it was his dog they are messing with.

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