Jediism is a real religion that real people really follow.

What would you say if I told you that Jediism is a real religion that real people really follow? At first glance this Star Wars based order may seem childish, geeky, perhaps even a tad stupid. But once you delve into it's beliefs and philosophies, Jediism is far more realistic and scientific than most of the mainstream religions.

First of all, Jediists don't actually believe Star Wars to be at all factual. According to their website, " Real Jedi do not worship George Lucas or Star Wars or anything of the sort. Jediism is not based in fiction but we accept myth as a sometimes more practical mean of conveying philosophies applicable to life."

Unlike fundamentalist Christians, Jews and Muslims who believe that their Holy Book is the "word of god," Jedi merely see Star Wars (well, some of the characters) as a portrayal of good human values. To be perfectly honest, I find there to be a real beauty in the fact that they understand that it's not real, but nonetheless apply the morals and philosophies to their lives. As well as that, I personally find the "Sixteen teachings of Jediism" much more appropriate than the "Ten commandments of Christianity."

Just one of the many examples is "Thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain." This rule seems pointless. According to it, when you say, "Oh god!" or "Jesus Christ!" when you stub your toe, you have done something sinful and bad. That's bonkers! To me, "Jedi believe that love and compassion are central to their lives," is way more loving, realistic and peaceful.

Unlike the "Do not take the lord’s name in vain rule" that I mentioned earlier, the "Love and compassion" rule appears to be there so that Jedi are able to make the world a better place through the means of caring for every person on the planet. However the "Do not take the lords in vain" rule is only there because this "God" fella seems to be a little bitch who is obsessed with himself and wants to make sure that he is worshipped as much as possible. Not much "unconditional love" there.

Once you think about it, the morals displayed by certain characters in the Star Wars universe can be rather easily applied to real life. To give an example, in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, peace loving Yoda says. "Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering." This is a very inspiring quote as it encourages people to be brave and accepting of other people. One place to apply this fond message is in homosexuality and homophobia; religious nutters should accept the fact that homosexuality is perfectly natural rather than fearing it, hating others for who they are, and bringing emotional (and in some cases physical) pain to people because of who they love.

Another person who pulls at my heart strings is "Obi Wan Kenobi." I absolutely love it when he says "You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine." By saying this, he is inspiring others to never give up and keep trying, no matter what others do or say to stop them.

It's not just Jediism. A lot of the less well known religions are far more pragmatic than some of the mainstream religions, including: Pastafarianism, Satanism, Jainism, and The Prince Phillip movement. On the surface, these religions may seem a bit daft but just like Jediism, once you do a bit of research on them, they actually seem quite reasonable.

For instance, Pastafarianism may seem unbelievably stupid. A flying spaghetti monster seems like the work of a child, but after just a tiny bit of research, I found out that in Pastafarianism, the flying spaghetti monster created the world while he was drunk, and that's why there's lots of suffering in the world.
The Christian bible however does not give a valid explanation for why there is suffering in the world. Having said that the idea of a Flying Spaghetti Monster having created the universe still seems pretty crazy.

So to cut a long story short, Jediism, is a peaceful, loving and realistic religion that should be accepted more in modern society.