Jediism: a Convergence of Star Wars Fan Culture and Salad Bar Spirituality )*$+" ,*- !
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Artikel Jediism: a convergence of Star Wars fan culture and salad bar spirituality )*$+" ,*- ! n the '../ census in the United Kingdom, Canada, Jediism is not exclusively based on Star Wars though. Australia and New Zealand more than 1..,... in- 6e Jediists are also interested in other religions, ranging Idividuals answered the question about religious af- from Christianity over Buddhism to New Age. What 3liation by ticking the ‘other’ box and writing ‘Jedi’. 6at is more, they believe that all the world’s religions share is, they professed to belong to the religion of the Jedi a common core. For instance, they believe that all the Knights, the warrior-monks from George Lucas’ Star di=erent gods in the various religions are really just dif- Wars 3lm saga who 3ght for the freedom of the galaxy ferent names for the same one real divine power which aided by the Force. According to the census, Jediism was they identify as the Force. 6is type of religiosity, where the fourth largest religion in the UK. In New Zealand a elements from di=erent religions are combined and sy- massive /,78 of the population identi3ed as Jediists – in nonymised, has been called a la carte religion or salad certain campus areas more than /.8. 6ese amazing 3- bar spirituality. It is certainly but unique to Jediism, but gures did not come out of thin air. 6e most immediadi atte rather quite common today. 6e special Jediist twist to cause for the ‘Jedi census phenomenon’ was a chainin emaile ma il salad bar spirituality is that they use 3ction to bring or- urging people to report their religious a9liation aass ‘Jedi’.‘Je di ’. deder in their spiritual combination. More concretely, they 6e email was probably thought of as a combinationin atio n ooff ususee StStarar Wars and the religious identity of the Jedi Knight a practical joke, a test of the power of the emailma il medium,med iu m, as fframingrami ng ddevices. For Jediists, the Christian concept of and a political protest against the religious a9liaa9 liationtion tickti ck GoGodd and the HiHindund concept of prana can be combined box (even though reporting one’s religionn was not mmaan-n- becausebe ca use both really referre fe to the Force. And when theo- datory). 6e massive success certainly demonstratedde monstrat ed thet he logieslo gi es can be con<ated likel ik e this, so can practices. Jedis potency of email communication. ButBu t it also re<ectere<e ct edd thereforeth er efore see no problem in combiningco mb Christian prayer three other things, namely a timeless,es s, juvenile tentenddencyen cy withwi th Buddhist meditation and so on.on . We can say that to subversion (here both church andan d the state could hu-hu - JediistsJe di ists use thet he Star WarsWar s narrative and thet he Jedi role to morously be challenged), the factf ac t that StarSt ar WarsWar s wasw as a interpretin te rpret and domesticate ideas from other traditiot ra di ns. really well-known cultural resource,es ou rce, and the fact tthhatat thet he ExtendingEx te nding the salad bar metaphor, we could evene say role of the Jedi was recognisablysa bly and positively rereligligious.io us . thatth at the Jediists use Star WarsWar s as the plate on whichw they Especially the Jedi as a religious role model is crc ruu-- servese rv e their spiritual salad.sala d. cial – and not only to explaine xp lain the census phenomenophenom en onn.. Religious groups normally use one religiousre li gi tradition For while most of theth e census Jedi and the many selfs el f-- (rather(r at her than 3ction) to interpret other religionsre li through. identi3ed Jedi on FacebookFa cebook (where Jedi is the /. th mostm os t A ChristianCh ristian can for instance acknowledgeackno wl ed that the gods common religiousus self-identi3cation) are simply yoyouunngg of alla ll religions ultimately refers to theth same entity, but Star Wars fans,s, a hard core of people are much moremo re willwi ll continue to refer to that entityent it y as God. Why do the serious aboutt theth e Jedi religion. A number of groupsgroup s in JediistsJe di ists prefer StarSt ar WarsWar s as hermeneutiche rm en key? 6e answer the English-speakingh- speaking world and mostly in the UnitedU ni te d is notn ot surprising. Most JediistsJedi is ts are not only into salad States haveav e organised themselves in religious groupgrou pss ono n barba r spirituality, but also longl on g time Star Wars fans. Many the internetrn et which identify as Jedi. Signi3cantly, manym an y of werewe re young children whenwh en the 3rst Star Wars trilogy hit these arear e not young students, but people in their 77.s,.s, (.s( .s theth e cinemas. Religious JediismJ can (for many Jediists andd 1.s.1. s. 6ese6ese people would say that they believe in theth e at least)l east) be seen as a convergencec of Star Wars fandom existenceex is tence of the Force. Just like in the movies, ththeyey viewvi ew andan d salad bar spirituality.spirit ua It has the double advantage of theth e Force at the same time as an almost scienti3c eennergyer gy beingbe in g a more seriousser io and legitimate form of Star Wars whichh canca n be measured, channelled and used, and as a fandomfa nd om for adultsa du lt and of bringing some sense of order semi-personalna l divine power with its own will, purpopu rp ossee andan d identity intoi nt the chaos and vagueness of salad bar and essential goodness.od ness. 6e Jediists also meditate ((llikeik e spirituality.sp ir ituali ty . the Star Wars Jedis) to getg et into contact with the Force.F or ce . 6ey do not believe in the realre al existence of Master YodaY od a MarkusMa rk Davidsen promoveert aan de Universiteit Lei- or Luke Skywalker, but they neverthelessve rt he less quote thesthesee and den.de n. ZijnZ ij promotieonderzoek gaat over !ctieve godsdien- other Jedi Masters as authorities on theirt he ir homepagehomepages.s. ststen.en . For these reasons I have called Jediism a ‘3ction-b‘3 ct ion-basedased religion’. · !"##$ %& '(.