Czech ‘Jedi Knights’ seek official recognition

Around 150 people, self-professed Jedi knights (members of a fictional order made famous in George Lucas’ Star Wars films) are attempting to found an official church of ‘Jediism’ in the Czech Republic. The idea was inspired by a facebook group of more than 30,000 people earlier who registered as Jedi in the Czech census. While that was largely an attempt at humour, the main organiser behind the project to found an actual church says that’s no joke.

'Star Wars'

'May the Force be with you' is one of the most famous of lines ever spoken in a science fiction film, alluding to a make-believe Force governing all life and matter in the Star Wars universe. But the Force – and the Jedi order that learned to use it for good – is after all just that – fiction. Back in the Czech Republic on Planet Earth, some, who have shunned traditional religions, would like to take things full circle, turning ‘Jediism’ into a reality by registering it as a Church with the Culture Ministry. While most are giving any chances of success long-odds, Václav Pekárek, a university student in IT and the initiator behind the project, says he’ll do whatever is needed. A little earlier he told me why for him Jediism was important and discussed why he didn’t incline to more traditional beliefs.

Václav Pekárek

“For me the big difference between Jediism and traditional religions is that there you have one godhead. In Buddhism you have Buddha, in Christianity you have God, and this is kind of mix with which takes from the different religions but is acceptable for us. There is also a moral code by which the Jedi should live, inclining to peace over anger and to maintain a calm balance and if possible to avoid conflict. It’s very democratic and those are principles the Jedi should honour.”

The first step towards official registration is gathering 300 signatures and organisers have already topped 150. But there are other criteria regarding tradition, beliefs, and teachings which may prove more difficult to be approved by the Culture Ministry. For example, since 2000, 11 groups attempted to register new churches in the Czech Republic - half or so were rejected. Václav Pekárek again:

“We are aware of the criteria. We have rules of the order written out and we have a founding document which is ready although there is some legal details that needs to be solved. We need to be able to say when the belief in Jediism formed, whether in the Czech Republic or elsewhere and where it was first mentioned and ‘taught’.”

'Star Wars'

There are also potential legal issues with Lucas Ltd over the company’s IP, or intellectual property, which were faced by a similar organisation in the UK. Should the church in the Czech Republic ultimately fail to get off the ground, it won’t daunt those who really consider themselves Jedi knights, Václav Pekárek says. Chalk it up as a small disturbance in the Force, really.

“We’re prepared we may be turned down, in which cases we’ll try again. And again. And even if we fail there, well, we’ll still have our belief in the Jedi way.”