The Force Is With Them

In the UK’s 2001 Census, 390,127 people, or just under 1% of the population, identified their religion as “Jedi” – though it’s fair to assume not everyone who replied that way was serious. Tom de Castella updates us on the trend, claiming that what began “as an intellectual exercise by fans adding to the movies and filling in the gaps, has become an attempt to build a coherent religious code”:

Beth Singler, a researcher in the Divinity Faculty of Cambridge University, estimates that there are about 2,000 people in the UK who are “very genuine” about being Jedi. That’s roughly the same number as the Church of Scientology, she says. Jediism is not a joke for them but an inspiration. They don’t believe in “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”, says Singler quoting the opening text that fills the screen of Star Wars. “It’s somewhere between metaphor and literal truth.”

“Feel the force” has become a rather tired cliche. But behind it is a New Age mysticism similar to many of the “holistic” ideas that emerged in the 1960s and 70s. “The Force is what gives a Jedi his power,” says Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Alec Guinness, who initiates young men into Jedi tradition. “It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”

The Jedi belief system is a patchwork quilt of Taoism, Buddhism, Catholicism and Samurai, says Singler. Often the ideas offer a simple dualism of good and evil, light and dark. “Fear is the path to the dark side,” Yoda tells Anakin Skywalker. “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you.”