The Jedi religion is a fictional religion from the Star Wars series of films by George Lucas.
The Jedi Knights were an order of warrior priests that followed the "light" side of "The Force". Their members progressed through three levels of rank: first the Padawan Apprentice who begins training under a Jedi Knight at a young age, about 12, then Jedi Knight, and finally the level of Jedi Master. Eventually they could become a member of the Jedi Consuol which acts a governing body for the order and an advisor board for the Republican Senate.
Among other tasks, the Jedi were responsible for law enforcement and peacekeeping in the Galactic Republic. To that end, they use The Force and extensive training to become extremely formidible in battle. Their main weapon is the lightsaber which uses a fixed beam of light for a blade which, in the hands of a skilled yielder, can be more than a match for most opponents even when they are armed with ranged weapons.
They were almost completely wiped out by the actions of followers of the "dark side" of the force, primarily the Sith Lords Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker) and Darth Sidious (Senator Palpatine).
The main tenets of "The Force" is of it being an energy field that is generated by all living things and permeates the universe and all the things in it (midichlorians). Its principles resonate with those of certain real world religions like the shinto religion of japan and certain celtic, druidic concepts.
As explained in the movie Star Wars: Episode I, Jedi get their ability to manipulate the Force from a symbiotic organism in their blood (and possibly other tissues) called midichlorians. The higher the midichlorian count in the blood, the stronger the Force is with the particular individual. Anakin Skywalker had a reading of over 20000 which was even higher than master Yoda's.
The actions of Luke Skywalker and his relationship with the Force were a principle plot device in the films. In the novels set after the civil war, Luke's main task is to reestablish the Jedi order by training a new generation of Jedi Knights.
Major Jedi include:
- Yoda
- Mace Windo
- Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Anakin Skywalker before he became Darth Vader
- Luke Skywalker
The Jedi Religion
The religion of "Jedi" has been coded up in several censuses in New Zealand and the UK due to a grassroots movement which urged people to declare their religious affiliation as such in order to protest the inclusion of religion on the census at all. Jediism is still some way from being recognised as an "official" religion, however.