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Posts tagged The Force
In Search Of The Force? Try The Jedi Church!
Jan 27th
Those Brits sure come up with some fun and interesting stuff. Can you believe that in the 2001 British census 390,000 people claimed “Jedi” as their religion! Obviously Star Wars is a lot more than just a movie to some people. Not only do people claim Jedi as there religion, but they practice it on a regular basis as an official religion.Jedi also appears to be 70,000 Australians’ religion of choice as well. This means that one in 270 Australians consider the force to be their official religion. According to the BBC:
An e-mail was sent around the world in 2001 saying that if 10,000 people declared they were Jedi, it would be recognised as an official religion.
But the Australian Bureau of Statistics said it would be categorised as “not defined”.
Thousands of people in New Zealand and the UK also followed the advice of the e-mail – with Jedi Knight even being included on the list of religions by UK census authorities.
The BBC recently had an article on Jedi worshipers in Britain. In the article they interviewed. The article covered Barney and Daniel who go by the names Master Jonba Hehol and Master Morda Hehol.
According to the article both Barny and Daniel are trying to increase their numbers and want fellow worshipers to join them in worship close to their home on Anglesey. If I’m ever in Wales I’ll have to stop by and take a look.
Their church activities include sermons on “The Force,” light saber training and meditation techniques.
According to the article:
They plan to go to the official opening of a Surrey-based branch or “chapter” of the UK Church of the Jedi in April, and hope to hire an Anglesey venue for their own services.
Already six followers regularly meet in north Wales to discuss setting up the “church”.
All members are currently men, but women are allowed. Those following the dark side of the force can be expulsed from the church.
This has to be one of the oddest things I have ever heard of. 
Ultimate Battle: U.S.S. Enterprise vs. A Star Destroyer – Battle Of The Ships
Dec 15th
You really can’t get much geekier than an argument on who would win between Star Trek’s Enterprise D or E and a Star Wars Star Destroyer. I know this is all Sci-Fi and a ridiculous never-ending argument. I am a huge fan of both genres, so when I got into a friendly argument with my friend at work I reluctantly picked the side of Star Trek.
As this argument ensued at work, people around us started laughing, thinking we had both truly lost our minds. Perhaps we did a little. The argument then turned to Star Wars vs. Star Trek. These were our main arguments in a condensed and far smaller format:
Friend: Star Destroyer big, Enterprise small.
Me: Enterprise faster, more maneuverable.
Friend: Thousands of lasers.
Me: Lasers dude?! You’re kidding me. Phasers kick Lasers in any match.
Friend: Super Star Destroyer and Death Star kill the Enterprise.
Me: Agreed. I don’t think the Enterprise D or E would win those two. So I throw in the Borg.
Friend: <Pure silence ensues.>
Me: Nuff said.
I have found in my own observations that there are a lot more casual Star Wars fans than casual Star Trek fans. I have also found, again in my own observations, that there are a lot more die-hard Star Trek fans than there are die-hard Star Wars fans. This means in most “forum” based arguments on this topic, Star Wars will almost always win by sheer numbers.
Many people try to throw The Force into the mixture. I used to think this was a big deal as well, especially when watching the classic trilogy of Star Wars (ANH, ESB, ROTJ). The Force kicks trash in those movies. Then the prequel Star Wars movies came out. TPM, AOTC & ROTS have changed my mind on this. I now think The Force would be a minuscule influence in any such fight.
In The Phantom Menace we discover that Midichlorians actually dictate one’s power with the force. It’s not something you can get stronger with (except training), unless there are synthetic Midichlorians being produced and injected into the blood stream. You will also discover in Revenge of the Sith that a bunch of clone troopers can EASILY wipe out the Jedi. I can’t even begin to tell you how disappointed I was watching the Jedi get seemingly killed in seconds by a blaster!
A lot of the argumentative stats in this epic battle are taken from non-canon books, video games and other non-canon sources. This includes both sides of the argument. And let’s not throw in the Expanded Universe from Star Wars into the argument. The Expanded Universe of Star Wars books contradict themselves on every level.
I have done my own research and have found the following sites to be useful when determining who would win a U.S.S. Enterprise D/E vs. Star Wars Star Destroyer battle.
List of Ultimate Star Wars vs. Star Trek Sites:
ST-V-SW.net (Great arguments in favor of Star Trek <when looking at sheer firepower and defense capabilities>. Well researched data with sources to back it up.)
StarDestroyer.net (Great arguments in favor of Star Wars. Seems to utilize a lot of non-canon data.)
Answers.com also has a nice article on the subject that you can read here.
There are a lot of awesome ships in the Sci-Fi universe not limited to just Star Wars or Star Trek. Let’s throw an Asgard or Replicator ship into the mixture, or perhaps a Battlestar from Battlestar Galactica. The Battlestars look awesome!
TheForce.net has some great Star Trek, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica specs, although who knows if the sources are accurate. You can find them here.
Again, I realize this argument will never come to an end, but it sure is fun!
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