A Question on the Church of Jediism

Curious, is this site endorsed by us? http://www.jediism.net/

Forgive me if this is inappropriate or offensive, but I honestly am knowledgeable of the other Jedi groups. I know the one that the site mocks, Daniel Jones's Church of Jediism, never really appealed to me. When I first looked into Jediism in the late summer of '09, I had several online conversations with Mr. Jones himself, and he was polite and all, but it seemed there was nothing deep or spiritual about the group, and that most of the "Jedi" in question knew nothing about Star Wars outside of the movies (I have to say that the Expanded Universe books, as well as the two KOTOR games contributed greatly to my understanding of the Force and spirituality in general). Other than that, I had no problem with them, just declined to join because it didn't seem to serious to me. Conversely, I joined the TOTJO only hours after reading its beliefs because it expounded the philosophy ahd religious beliefs I myself have always held and promoted.

So anyway, just wondering, is this site endorsed/run by us, and if so, does TOTJO have any major issues with Jones or his organization?

P.S. First journal entry coming soon, the Basic Studies material is very interesting and thoroughly enjoyable.

*Am not knowledgeable

This website is not owned by totjo, it's owned by someone who supports totjo.

We had major issues with them but they haven't done or tried to do anything that would harm us in a while.

I want a disclaimer first off that I don't want this topic to descend into a flame war as has happened before.

Star Forge wrote: Curious, is this site endorsed by us? http://www.jediism.net/

I believe that Br John is the owner of that site. But TOTJO does not own it.

In short CoJ is a for-profit company with a single shareholder, Mr Jones, and is not an officially licensed church. (It was the last time I checked, if I am wrong then I apologise!)

Mr Jones is, again as far as I've been made aware, an ex-scientologist. Which you may see nothing wrong with of course, but it should at least present an air of caution.

He has made a few public, and rather embarrassing (from my point of view) appearances that seem more like publicity stunts than worthy achievements.

From the brief look I had (and again I'm sorry if what I say is wrong) it seemed to me that his teachings required payment, named as a suggested/forced 'donation'. Scientologist aspects again arise.

Star Forge wrote: I had several online conversations with Mr. Jones himself, and he was polite and all, but it seemed there was nothing deep or spiritual about the group

I mean no offence to him but that doesn't surprise me a great deal.

Star Forge wrote: and that most of the "Jedi" in question knew nothing about Star Wars outside of the movies (I have to say that the Expanded Universe books, as well as the two KOTOR games contributed greatly to my understanding of the Force and spirituality in general).

I know barely anything about Star Wars beyond the films so I would hardly hold that against him.

Star Forge wrote: Other than that, I had no problem with them, just declined to join because it didn't seem to serious to me.

Again this sadly does not surprise me.

Star Forge wrote: So anyway, just wondering, is this site endorsed/run by us, and if so, does TOTJO have any major issues with Jones or his organization?

As I said I believe Br John owns it, it is mainly to draw attention to the fact (which as far as I'm aware is still true) about CoJ being a for-profit company.

As an example of their past actions they did, perhaps against greater wisdom, try to copyright the word Jediism placing it under ownership of one person. We opposed that rather strongly.

Star Forge wrote: P.S. First journal entry coming soon, the Basic Studies material is very interesting and thoroughly enjoyable.

I'm glad you're interested in the lessons. I hope you'll find them enlightening. I did.


As I said at the beginning with my disclaimer, I hope this doesn't erupt. Just know that there have indeed been a great many issues in the past. Perhaps both sides weren't as courteous and communicative as they could have been. But still, there are indeed a few very major issues that certainly I am still concerned about. But again they may have been resolved in the time of me last reading about CoJ and now.

Asking Br John might be your best bet, he will likely respond to this thread in his own time anyway. As will Baral Fobre, who was an ex-leader/council member of theirs.

EDIT:

I had originally written down a key section on endorsement that I have no changed as it was wrong. You can read the altered line as the response to the first quote.

I also apologise to any person/s if I have inadvertently said things that I shouldn't have. If that's the case then feel free to edit such sections out.

TOTJO is spiritual in nature, is a real institution, and is not a fan club. Before I discovered TOTJO, I was under the impression that all Jedi groups where somewhat tongue-in-cheek, mostly because of the impression I got from CoJ. I can see the frustration many Jedi have with them, as they, or more specifically, Jones, has become the de-facto public face of Jediism, and therefore grossly misrepresents our beliefs, goals, and values. As I said, I looked at his group before, but it did not seem to have any depth or real value as a religious institution. Just seemed to be all for fun.

You should have seen me, a couple of years ago, when they renamed their organization to "church of Jediism".This is when I joined TOTJO actually, working stuff out with some members here behind the scene. And also to complain about the doctrine

TOTJO owns Jediism.net. I forgot there was a page there. Looking at its date I see it's from the time when CoJ was trying to trademark "Jediism". We might want to revise that page.

As I said not everything I said was 100% accurate but just as far as I was aware.

We do?

In this case we should probably change that page then.

........wow. I just visited the church of the jedi page. Thank you for labeling it as "fake for profit". I'm glad I came across TotJO before I did that site.

"Church official laser

The church of Jediism openly encourages youths to wear hoodies in public places. However what's a hoodie with no power? With this 1 Watt laser you will be able to cause any nearby planes to crash."

WHAT?! Yeah, because that's something a Jedi would do.

"Unlike real Jediism, our doctrine is all about dressing up and playing with lightsabers"

*facepalm*
It's also interesting to see them using a scientology machine to keep track of your metachlorian count. So I do thank you very much for putting up that description about churchofjediism. I pledge to be very active in promoting TotJO so that people can see that there is a serious group out there who aren't a bunch of star wars geeks. I want to show others that there is depth behind what goes on here. Even though I joined just yesterday, I am still looking through all the material here. Trying to be as knowledgable as I can about all of this and teach others about it (see, told you in my introduction last night I love teaching, lol). When I become passionate about something, I support it with every fiber of my being, but without coming off as some obsessed crazy person

It'll probably take a while, but i'll work out some material to put out there. I want to make sure than when I do put myself out there with the information, that I it is correct and that it doesn't come off as "trolling" and that it comes off as a true Jedi (noble, humble).

I do like how CoJ does profess out front that the site is "not like the real Jedi" but it still kind of bothers me. Guess that's something i'll learn to let go of throughout my training, lol.