Feel the force

The rise of Jediism

The most recent census of the British population revealed that the fourth-largest religion in Britain - with 390,000 followers-is Jediism. That is Jediism as in the film Star Wars, as in 'May the force be with you!' When I first heard this, I thought it must be some kind of joke, and indeed closer inspection revealed that the figures had been inflated by the circulation of a chain e-mail, which claimed that if 10,000 people identified themselves as Jedis on the census form, the 'faith' would be officially recognised as a legal religion. However, doing a search on the Internet uncovers over 35,000 hits and several of the sites dedicated to 'believers' seem to be fairly serious. Here, for example, are some extracts:

'Many religions started with a scripture. Jedi's just happened to be written on a strip of celluloid. Like all religions, we should be judging it on its merits and relevance to our own lives, not by the medium by which it is conveyed.' and

'I had a friend who practised Jediism. Of course, from what he explained to me about his beliefs, it sounded more like a Star Wars-ish form of Taoism than a separate belief system, but it really seemed to centre my friend and give him strength, so I said, more power to him.'

Shopping for a god

Of course, the last speaker is not far off when she says Jediism is connected to Taoism. The director and writer George Lucas used a mixture of ancient and pagan myths, which he had learned about in the writings of Joseph Campbell, to create his new fictional religion. That this has been actually adopted by some people is perhaps not that surprising, as a similar kind of pick 'n' mix belief system appears to be becoming increasingly prevalent. People pick and choose aspects of different religions and customs. While many people still like to be baptised, get married in church and have a religious funeral with prayers and hymns, relatively few actually bother to attend church on any kind of regular basis - except for a nice sing-along at the Christmas carol service. Furthermore, among these people, you're likely to find a few who dabble in a bit of meditation and Buddhism or have environmental beliefs that verge on animism!

Science and mumbo-Jumbo

It may also seem ironic that a science fiction film should spawn this kind of anti-scientific thinking, but again this kind of confusion is everywhere. Churchgoing in Britain has been in decline, due in part to the rise of science and technology, and yet at the very same time there has been an explosion of interest in all kinds of things which have, at best, only a tenuous scientific basis. I know people who variously swear by taking large amounts of vitamin supplements to stave off colds, visit homeopaths, carry crystals in their bags to give them confidence, have horoscope readings done, feng shui their home, and believe in crop circles and alien abductions. Some of these things haven't been fully tested, although logic may dictate they can't be true. Others have been discredited by science and yet still people believe in them.

The wiser choice

It seems as if we almost need some kind of faith as humans. While we can see that science works and brings technological and health benefits, we also recognise that it doesn't deal very well with our emotional or spiritual lives or answer the big questions such as 'Why are we here?' Feeling bereft and lost without a religion, many turn to the rather more commercial battery of self-help books and courses which promise to 'transform your life'. While many of these use pseudoscientific language, you nevertheless need faith to believe they really will work.

If faith, then, is a matter of choosing between one of the ancient faiths and these pick 'n' mix beliefs, 1 would take one of he older faiths any day. They have produced better art, more beautiful buildings and better music than any of these New Age self-help cults. And they also have the benefits shown by a recent scientific study - people with a religious faith are generally happier and live longer!

C. When you have finished reading, think about the degree to which the writer would agree with the ten statements in Exercise 6. Discuss your ideas with a partner. Find a new partner and discuss to what degree you agree with what the writer says.

Exercise 8. Find the following verbs in the text. Complete these sentences with the correct form of these verbs. Then using your dictionary, try to find at least one more useful collocation for each verb.

reveal dedicate adopt swear