Star Wars vs World Religions

[Lark]

Could there be a time when more people know the story of star wars than know that of the present popular world religions?

I mean growing up remember a great many movies being broadcast on TV, not as headliners but during the day when the sound card was no longer on, and they were almost all biblically themed, the old Charllton Heston movies like the Ten Commandments, but those movies arent screened anymore or it seems like its more rarely.

Now I know there's probably copyright reasons why those movies were or are screened, its probably cheaper than movies like Star Wars, but the themes and content I think are at least nominally important and those "big themed" or "logos" movies, hell I'd include the Sinbad and Greek Myth movies under this heading too, arent made or screened so much, imagine if movies like Twilight replaced those are the culture meme?

I think it'd be shite, what do you think?

I'm still waiting on atheisms big moral inspirations or sources of imagination and creativity to bring forth movies et al in the way their precursors did.

 

[RaptorWizard]

There already is a Star Wars religion, called Jediism: http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/

Come to think of it, I should probably join that website! Who's with me?

edit - Wait, I already joined that website 2 years ago, I just forgot. At least I could still login as RaptorWizard!

As for it's opening page, it starts as follows:

Jedi Believe
In the Force, and in the inherent worth of all life within it.
In the sanctity of the human person. We oppose the use of torture and cruel or unusual punishment, including the death penalty.
In a society governed by laws grounded in reason and compassion, not in fear or prejudice.
In a society that does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or circumstances of birth such as gender, ethnicity and national origin.
In the ethic of reciprocity, and how moral concepts are not absolute but vary by culture, religion, and over time.
In the positive influence of spiritual growth and awareness on society.
In the importance of freedom of conscience and self-determination within religious, political and other structures.
In the separation of religion and government and the freedoms of speech, association, and expression.

 

[Lark]

There already is a Star Wars religion, called Jediism: http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/

Come to think of it, I should probably join that website! Who's with me?

edit - Wait, I already joined that website 2 years ago, I just forgot. At least I could still login as RaptorWizard!

As for it's opening page, it starts as follows:

Jedi Believe
In the Force, and in the inherent worth of all life within it.
In the sanctity of the human person. We oppose the use of torture and cruel or unusual punishment, including the death penalty.
In a society governed by laws grounded in reason and compassion, not in fear or prejudice.
In a society that does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or circumstances of birth such as gender, ethnicity and national origin.
In the ethic of reciprocity, and how moral concepts are not absolute but vary by culture, religion, and over time.
In the positive influence of spiritual growth and awareness on society.
In the importance of freedom of conscience and self-determination within religious, political and other structures.
In the separation of religion and government and the freedoms of speech, association, and expression.

The line I highlighted seems contradicted by most of the others which are largely just a reflection of the present day, in fact those precepts could not have been derived from the first three times, they could from the others, the prequels, which I dont really consider canonical because they themselves were real reflections of the present day and dont have the certain perrenial quality I believe the others have.

 

[Coriolis]

Could there be a time when more people know the story of star wars than know that of the present popular world religions?

I mean growing up remember a great many movies being broadcast on TV, not as headliners but during the day when the sound card was no longer on, and they were almost all biblically themed, the old Charllton Heston movies like the Ten Commandments, but those movies arent screened anymore or it seems like its more rarely.

Now I know there's probably copyright reasons why those movies were or are screened, its probably cheaper than movies like Star Wars, but the themes and content I think are at least nominally important and those "big themed" or "logos" movies, hell I'd include the Sinbad and Greek Myth movies under this heading too, arent made or screened so much, imagine if movies like Twilight replaced those are the culture meme?

I think it'd be shite, what do you think?

I'm still waiting on atheisms big moral inspirations or sources of imagination and creativity to bring forth movies et al in the way their precursors did.

Myths and stories come and go, though as Joseph Campbell spent his career exploring, common threads and archetypes can be found throughout. I don't think it matters much exactly what the story is; a good story will touch upon these fundamental human themes. (Sadly, Twilight is awful; Star Wars somewhat better; Star Trek better still.)

I don't like to see any of this come at the expense of understanding the true story of our creation. By that I mean what science has learned about the origin and development of the universe, our planet, and ourselves. Yes, this is objective knowledge - or as objective as humans can get - and is often cast as the antithesis of subjective spiritual truth. It is the one thing we should be able to agree upon, though. If we want to understand more about the Creator, understanding the Creation is a good place to start.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I don't like to see any of this come at the expense of understanding the true story of our creation. By that I mean what science has learned about the origin and development of the universe, our planet, and ourselves. Yes, this is objective knowledge - or as objective as humans can get - and is often cast as the antithesis of subjective spiritual truth. It is the one thing we should be able to agree upon, though. If we want to understand more about the Creator, understanding the Creation is a good place to start.

Yes, and not just by Christians or conservatives, either. A lot of New-Age types do the same thing... they view a rationalistic/empirical worldview as the death of all spirituality and morality, although they rarely describe it in these terms. I've never really viewed it as strictly an either/or thing, though. It seems like people on both sides of the right/left or traditional/modern spectrum just want an excuse to not have to worry about boring stuff like science.

I'm an atheist, but not a strict or strong one, and I don't really regard it as a "cause" the way some people might. I would like to check out Spinoza, because I think I would dig him.

I think knowing about religions is useful, though, because it's part of our world too. Good luck changing people's thinking without understanding it, New Atheists.

 

[WALMART]

I'm still waiting on atheisms big moral inspirations or sources of imagination and creativity to bring forth movies et al in the way their precursors did.

Cloud Atlas. Rejoice, that we are on the cusp of understanding.

 

[Lark]

Cloud Atlas. Rejoice, that we are on the cusp of understanding.

Ha! Its awful then.

 

[Standuble]

Heh, two years ago I wrote the main urban dictionary entry for "Jediism" on my mobile phone during a soaking wet bus ride and I said that it needs to distance itself from the movie setting whilst staying true to what the Jedi in the movie valued if it wants to blossom. I also said the same thing about the Sith religion (some very insightful and accurate parts there). I am more or less of the same opinion now. It's all very well having more people know about Star Wars than the Bible but in the end if the Jedi philosophy can't be adapted to stand on its own two feet it will gradually sink into history along with the rest of the ship. That is inevitably what will happen to Star Wars - it's a pop cultural entity from the late 20th century and early 21st century and people can know the story of Star Wars by merely mentioning Luke Skywalker, Yoda, Obi Wan or Darth Vader and making a single sentence statement about them.

I would suggest you start looking for your Jedi Masters in the everyday population. The basement makes for an excellent meditation chamber.

 

[WALMART]

Ha! Its awful then.

you don't even know man

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I will say that I really like the concept of the Force, and relate to it. It's a non-anthropomorphic deity, basically. Obviously, the magic powers aren't real, but I think if God were to exist, it would be something like the Force. I am, at times, inclined to think that there is something connecting or tying the universe together. Part of the reason I think that is that I need there to be a reason for everything.

It's just too hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that the universe just popped into existence. Why? From what? Can we ever really know? I kind of don't think so. How can we even look past the Big Bang? There's a limit in time we can't see, not even as fuzzy static. What lies behind that... my guess is ultimately as good as anyone else's.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Wow, this thread brings me back. Anyway, I stand by much of what I said. I'd list Jedi as my religion on a census form.

 

[Passacaglia]

It's just too hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that the universe just popped into existence. Why? From what? Can we ever really know? I kind of don't think so. How can we even look past the Big Bang? There's a limit in time we can't see, not even as fuzzy static. What lies behind that... my guess is ultimately as good as anyone else's.

I remember that before anyone told me about the Big Bang theory, I had assumed that the universe had always existed. Things don't just pop into existence, and yet here we are, so everything must have always been right? For a kid who didn't know about astronomy, it was a natural assumption to make. I remember thinking that the Big Bang theory was really weird when it was first explained to me, and I still do in a way, even though I trust that astrophysicists probably understand this sort of thing better than I do.

Even today, I like the Big Crunch idea because it intuitively makes sense. Also, as a new BSG fan, I like the 'All of This Has Happened Before, and All of This Will Happen Again' theme.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I like the 'All of This Has Happened Before, and All of This Will Happen Again' theme.

I like the coda that it doesn't have to happen again.