Jedi and Religion

I was brought up in Christianity, learned Paganism/Druidism, and studied various other world religions. But for most of the last decade I have been practicing Jediism, mostly without the coined name. Jediism is my only religion. The others are knowledge that I have in my toolbox for reference now. Jediism may end up as a stand alone religion one day. As of right now, it is very hard for that to happen. We are still laying the foundations for which to build upon. That being said, would it be considered a lack of tolerence on those of us that are strictly practioners of Jediism when a brother or sister choses to believe something outside of the Jedi belief system? Our teachings allow for our members to follow both standards. If you want to practice another faith in hand with Jediism, so be it. If Jediism is your only faith, so be it. Following other faiths at the same time as the ways of the Force doesn't make a person any less of a Jedi than one following only the ways of the Force. Those that choose to follow another religion and Jediism just have to find and manage a balance with the two. It is a personal decision for that person and we are not to judge them for that choice.

Just speaking from my own experience. When one defines themself as X or Y, one has a good notion of what either of those mean. It 'should' be the same with any religion.

If Jedi is to be a philosophy, then it can be melded with other parts of other philosophies and go with that, this is all well and good.

However, speaking as a theologist, once you give it the term 'religion' it becomes a closed system or it can not be called a religion at all, but an 'eclecticism' or a lose collection of customs and practices more akin to 'folk belief' wherein both religious notions and philosophies can be co-mingled.

I also must stress how I am not seeking to cause problems, but maintain this open forum between Adults for the furtherance of my own understanding of the undertaking herein.

If it were to be a \"closed system\" as such, then were would our diversity be derived from?

A Jedi may follow a syncretistic religion -- a faith involving elements from two or more religions. One can be strictly a Jedi, a Wiccan Jedi, a Christian Jedi, a Buddhist Jedi, or an Agnostic Jedi for example, but Jediism is a religion and a way of life in and of itself

very good point bishop, I personally am a strict Jedi but that dos't change the fact of what we are, a way of life and a religion.

we cannot put it in simple terms what we all individually believe, all we can truly say is that we are Jedi.

ryutheblade wrote:

very good point bishop, I personally am a strict Jedi but that dos't change the fact of what we are, a way of life and a religion.

we cannot put it in simple terms what we all individually believe, all we can truly say is that we are Jedi.

Yes!

Ceris, please do not take anything I said to be in a hurtful manner at all. It was just my expressing my point of view. I did not take it as you trying to cause problems. You bring up very good points for discussion.

when it comes to religion you get what you put in. honestly all our religions on this earth came from somewhere. be careful voicing things that you dont know the true answer to. for there will always be a way to prove things wrong. but we as people and of our faiths must look outside the box.

Although I somewhat agree with Ceris on this one, I have to say if you require a set definition of what you believe and hold your faith in, are you really on your own path, or are they really your beliefs? Whether your a Christian, a Buddhist or what ever, why must your path be set in stone before you take your first step? Each of us has our own path to walk, and our own part to play in the big picture, however we define what that is by our actions and choices. Our paths are not decided because \"well I believe in God, so if I don't go to church every Sunday, and try to win souls at every opportunity, give 10 percent of my gross earnings to the church, I'm going to Hell\" (no offense to Christians, just easiest to use as an example) it just doesn't make sense. If this were the case we would all be alike, we'd all follow the same path. Sometimes the direction your heading gets blocked by a tree that fell, so you move in a different direction, but its the same path, its YOUR path, no-one elses.

DK

Just to clear up a few things, my operative words were 'eventually' and 'fresh', just a goal we should be reaching for, trying to not be a carbon copy of yet another carbon copy. I agree that finding original ideals is a hard task, but it shouldn't be impossible. Maybe we could look at the common ideals of each faith and together as group sort through them to find the common root, tear away the dogma and pomp to reveal what is at the heart, acting objectively, like investigators at a crime scene. Just about all religions say the same message and have the same goals, it's the same destination only with different travel agents. They have to have a common idea. That's not to say that we have to do this immediately, our current course works fine, but we should not be satisfied to just accept...anything.

Believe me, my brothers and sisters, I may come off at times as the most anti-religious fanitic going, but if during our course we discover anything that would restore my faith in God I would welcome it with open arms. Part of my reason for being here and raising questions is a quest to discover the truth. not just for me but for us all. I do not wish to belittle anyone. just being here in the first place tells me that we are all on this quest, if not we would just be content to follow the mainstream faiths, go to church on Sunday and rush home to catch the Football game and call ourselves saved.

MTFBWUA
Lenny