More Religious Discrimination?

This story (see below) from the UK's Guardian involves the cries of discrimination from a man who was asked to remove his "hood" in a Tesco store. The man's religion - he's the founder of the International Church of Jediism.

Yep, that Jedi, from "Star Wars".

The 23-year-old, David Jones (no relation I assure you) is known as Morda Hehol, is considering legal action. Read the article, I linked it below.

"Fanboys" was a documentary following the "Star Wars" devotees. It joined "Trekkies" as a uber geek film cashing in on the disturbing addictions that some science fiction fans possess. This addiction is widespread amongst the fanboy universe (my favorite is the Matrix truthers) and can lead to some dysfunctional behavior. Dressing up as a comic convention is one thing; creating a religious following is entirely different.

There is actually a petition in England and Australia for the government to recognize "Jedi" as a religious designation on census gathering. The goal is to be recognized as a formal religion.

Should we blame George Lucas who was quoted as saying "I put the Force into the movie in order to try to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people — more a belief in God than a belief in any particular religious system. I wanted to make it so that young people would begin to ask questions about the mystery."

From Wikipedia: "In Scotland 14,052 people stated that Jedi was their current religion (14,014 "Jedi", 24 "Jedi Other" and 14 "Sith") and 2,733 stated that it was their religion of upbringing (2,682 "Jedi", 36 "Jedi Other" and 15 "The Dark Side").

In my opinion, people without a true relationship with Christ will seek nearly anything to fill that void. We have seen different cults and disturbing substitutes. I'm not saying these people are dangerous, but comparing his Jedi costume to Muslim Burquas should raise some eyebrows.

I didn't know if I should be outraged, laugh at their expense or simply be sad for these "Jedis" - I guess I feel all three. More than anything I feel serious distress and sadness over the deterioration in our society.

I'm a huge "Star Wars" fan, but it's still just a movie - ONLY a movie. I guess I'll make some Darth Vader toast (see below), take a sip from my Boba Fett coffee mug and contemplate this further.

http://shop.starwars.com/catalog/product.xml?topcatID=1300264;product_id=1307702

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/18/jedi-religion-tesco-hood-jones

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa041601a.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_census_phenomenon