BBC Focus Magazine

[nemisis39]

As oppoposed to the other topic

Can comparrison's be drawn with religions used in sci fi writeings films etc, to actual religions, in use past and present. Also could religions be taken up from science fiction works ie: as in the jedi culture

[M Paul Lloyd]

I'm thinking 'Ultraviolet' in this context, not quite sure if it counts as religion but the rulers of the namesakes world seem to be organised in what passes for a form of religious order?

[Dash Lightning]

The Rama series had quite a weird religious twist in it at the end...

[Shadowwolf]

Can comparrison's be drawn with religions used in sci fi writeings films etc, to actual religion

The Cult of the Emperor in W40K.

[Merlo]

Foundation series used Religion to police nuclear power (to great effect)

[The Beige Avenger]

Battlestar Galactica made constant reference to the Greek gods and there is reference to Judaism with the 12 colonies being analogous to the 12 tribes and of course references to monotheism from the Cylons' references of "The one true God". And of course... the father figure being "Adama".

Star Trek had the visit to the super-being claiming to be god they shot with the bird of prey and in the next-gen Q claimed to be god too (in that episode where Picard died, changed the past, saw the future then changed the past back, then didn't die.. all in a day's work).

The Jedi from Star Wars are largely based on Zen Buddhism and Japanese culture with the force being analogous to Qi/Chi/Prana/Ki in eastern philosophies. I believe it (Jedi) was taken into the real world following a kind of protest related to the census of Australia I think... someone remember?

[nemisis39]

i have an freind or two that are avid followers of the jedi culture but i found this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_census_phenomenon

which i think relates to the australian incident i think you mean

In Australia more than 70,000 people (0.37%) declared themselves members of the Jedi order in the 2001 census[2]. The Australian Bureau of Statistics issued an official press release[3] in response to media interest on the subject. The ABS announced that any answers that were Jedi-related in the religion question were to be classified as 'not defined' and stressed the social impact of making misleading or false statements on the census. An ABS spokesperson said that "further analysis of census responses has been undertaken since the release of census data on June 17 to separately identify the number of Jedi-related responses".[2] It is believed that there is no numerical value that determines a religion per definition of the ABS, but there would need to be a belief system or philosophy as well as some form of institutional or organisational structure in place.[4][5]

In the lead-up to the 2006 census, there were some reports of the ABS writing Jedi on the 2006 census could lead to a fine for providing 'false or misleading' information. This is despite previous admissions that they were 'fairly relaxed' about the issue in 2001 and that nobody had been prosecuted in at least 15 years.[6]

The result of the 2001 census can be seen in the "No Religion" figures[original research?]. In 1996, "No Religion" accounted for 16.6% of census respondents — a figure which dropped to 15.5% in 2001.[7]. In 2006, "No religion" increased to 18.7% of census respondents.[8] Those who declared themselves "Jedi" in 2001 were therefore likely to have been of "No Religion" or possibly just spiritually minded people who thought it was humorous.[original research?]

it was also measured in New Zealand, Canada as well as the UK

[M Paul Lloyd]

And i bet not one of them has handled a real light sabre.

[Shadowwolf]

Battlestar Galactica made constant reference to the Greek gods and there is reference to Judaism with the 12 colonies being analogous to the 12 tribes and of course references to monotheism from the Cylons' references of "The one true God". And of course... the father figure being "Adama".

There is also the Mormon influence from the series creator.

[Colm]

The thing I have about all those people declaring themselves "Jedi" is...

Let us assume that stuff is real, the force and Jedis and all that, you still can't just declare yourself Jedi... Aren't they suppose to be like elite monks of the religion? So for a "believer" to declare themselves Jedi is like a Catholic declaring themselves a Cardinal or something. As MPL said, they have probably never handled a real light-sabre! Never mind gone through the years of training it takes to be a Jedi

[theblazeuk]

At some point, some catholic undoubtedly did declare themselves a cardinal (or something similar).

Well, either that or God appointed the first ones. Depends what you believe....

[M Paul Lloyd]

I think it comes down to creating ones god in your own self image.

Me I'm considering Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez as potential.

[Shadowwolf]

The thing I have about all those people declaring themselves "Jedi" is...

Well considering the question being asked, anyone can make-up whatever they like just like every other respondent does.

Of course I did not answer Jedi, weak fools the lot of em!

[Dash Lightning]

What about the new dan brown book, the lost symbol. What do people think about the link between science and mysticism put forward in that? As someone who knows nothing of the type of science in that book I have no idea how much to take seriously (as usual with a good sci-fi)

[The Beige Avenger]

Huge links between "Eastern" philosophies and science... the duality of being, matter - antimatter relationships etc...

Check out Fritjof Capra's book (Tao of physics)... quite interesting.

[nemisis39]

I think it comes down to creating ones god in your own self image.

Me I'm considering Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez as potential.

So were all gods in our own right no wonder Religion is so messed up

[nemisis39]

religion in Sci Fi i think is derived form who is actually writing the book and there own backgrounds play a big part in any type of religion they would involve in there writings or variations there of