Jedi Fundamentalism.

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Jedi Fundamentalist ideas

As in other mainstream faiths, there are extreme denominations within Jediism. While we do not necessarily endorse these fundamentalist strands of belief, our commitment to free speech and equality of rights between all faiths requires that we set out the arguments used by these fundamentalist Jedi.

  • The right to decide what other people can do. Currently, Jedi are unable to impose their requirements on others anywhere on earth. This contrasts with Moslems, Hindus, Jews and Christians. To take the relatively mild example, Christian laws in Europe have prohibited a range of activities on Sunday, including all sports, all games, all gambling, all non-religious plays, all cinema, charity events, working, trading, traveling, buying alcohol, dancing, singing, concerts, art exhibitions, and even charity events.

    Just as Moslems lay down rules for what people may do on Fridays, Jews on Saturday and Christians on Sunday, Some Jedi would like to restrict activities to everyone in the world on every day to those authorised from time to time by the Jedi Sages
  • Religious Monopoly. The Jedi have never imposed their own religion on others. By contrast monotheistic religions have imposed monopolies whenever they have been able to.

    Just as countries like Saudi-Arabia enforce Islam, and Christian countries enforced Christianity until obliged to stop by growing secular humanist dissent, so some Fundamentalist Jedi would like to enforce the Jedi religion worldwide
  • Religious Holidays. The Jedi have never imposed religious holidays on others. By contrast monotheistic religions have imposed their holidays whenever they have been able to. Just as Moslem countries enforce Islamic festivals, and western countries enforced Christian festivals, so some Fundamentalist Jedi would like to enforce Jedi festivals world wide.

    Examples of public holidays required by the Jedi include every Wednesday, along with four weeks at mid-summer to celebrate the creation of the solar system by the Force (or as some believe by three and a half Forces). Another example is the month's holiday required to celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Concupiscent Doris.
  • Ritual Slaughter. The Jedi are constrained by the same laws as everyone else. But some religions enjoy unofficial or official exemption from the law. For example practitioners of various African religions believe it necessary to sacrifice chickens by breaking their bones before killing them. This behaviour is never prosecuted in the UK, although it is undoubted illegal.

    More extraordinary still, some activities which would otherwise be illegal are made legal because of specific statutory exemptions. One example is provided by special religious legal provisions permitting the killing of animals without anaesthetic - by bleeding them to death. These exemptions are extended to Jews (so the meat is kosher) and Moslems (so the meat is halal) for purely religious reasons. This is done in secret, not for religious reasons, but because the general public would be horrified if they were able to see how barbaric this practice is.

    Fundamentalist Jedi, claiming to be inspired by The Force, demand the right to kill any animals in anyway The Force happens to approve that day. A more moderate stand of Jedi thought demands that all ritual slaughter should should only be permitted in public, which would undoubtedly have the effect of having it banned.
  • Voluntary Sadomasochism. The Jedi do not enjoy the right to engage in extreme forms of sadomasochism, even if they genuinely volunteer to do so. Extreme sadomasochism is practiced by various Christians, Moslems and Hindus (notably Catholics, Shi'ites and fakirs), and this behaviour has never been prosecuted in any country on earth.

    By contrast, similar consenting activities carried out in private, but which have no religious justification, have resulted in successful prosecutions in various countries, including the UK. Whatever their own predilections, no Jedi can understand why mainstream religious sadomasochists should be protected by law, while other people are not.
  • Sadomasochism and children. If some unbalanced Jedi were to encourage children to look at representations of sadomasochistic acts, then they would quite properly be prosecuted in almost all countries. Yet some religious authorities encourage children to view and meditate on such images without any fear of prosecution. For example, Catholic children in Southern Europe are routinely exposed to graphic images of the torture and killing of numerous (largely imaginary) saints, and even to carry around their necks an image of a man being tortured to death.

    Some extreme Jedi have claimed the right to display any form of human torture and execution, but most normal Jedi fear for the sanity of anyone who might want to do such a thing.
  • Drugs. The Jedi like most other people do not enjoy the right to take illegal drugs. But certain other religions do enjoy such exemptions. Examples include Hindu Sadhus in nominally secular India, certain North American Indian groups, and Rastafrians.
  • Weapons. The Jedi do not enjoy the right to carry normally illegal weapons. By contrast, certain religious groups do enjoy the right to carry weapons for religious reasons. For example Sikhs are required to carry a knife.

    Kilted Scotsmen who wear a similar knife for similar cultural reasons break the law - and have been arrested in the UK for carrying an offensive weapon. The position of a Sikh Scotsman, or indeed a Jedi Scotsman is yet to be tested by the courts.
  • Pornography. No acts or depictions have ever been banned anywhere in the universe because of Jedi sensibilities. By contrast, Moslems, Christians and Hindus exercise strict control over sex and depictions of the human body wherever they can (the Moslem veil is just a copy of the Byzantine Christian veil).

    No Jedi would wish to control any sexual activity between consenting adults, nor its depiction in any media available to adults who want to see it. But some Fundamentalist Jedi would like to ban depictions of violence, and even ordinary Jedi are perplexed to find that in many countries it is possible to see real and simulated extreme violence every day, including for example more than a hundred murders on average on television every night. By contrast the display of a female ankle (eg Moslem countries) or female breast (eg USA) will excite the anger of the devout.

    Fundamentalist Jedi would reverse this, permitting depictions of sex and human anatomy, but banning violence.
Jedi Light Sword.
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  • Teaching Theology in place of science. The Jedi have not been able to impose the teaching of their beliefs in schools anywhere on earth. In contrast, most countries encourage the teaching of selected religions, and some US states Christians promote the teaching of religious belief in place of science. So-called "creation science" is a prime example.

    Some Jedi fundamentalists call for the obligatory teaching to all children about the The Flying Spaghetti Monster. According to them, and others, the world was created by the FSM a few years ago. As Jedi Fundamentalists point out, this theory is superior to that of "Creation Science" in that while both of these theories are incompatible with known facts, the FSM does not also entail the philosophical self-contradictions intrinsic to the Christian belief that underlies "Creation Science".
 
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