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.
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