May the Force be with you?

New Jedi Church Uses the Force; Followers of Lord Vader Not Welcome.

Two UK brothers are founding a Jedi church in Wales that will feature sermons on "the Force," light saber training, guided visualizations, and meditation techniques.

Lifelong "Star Wars" fans, Barney and Daniel Jones--a.k.a. Master Jonba Hehol and Master Morda Hehol--told the BBC they formed a solid grasp of the Jedi "faith" by watching the films "multiple dozens of times."

"We had a knowledge of the Force from that and the teachings of Yoda," Barney said. "We've read the teachings on the internet. Our father is a karate black belt, we used to train with him, which is where we got the martial arts."

Don't expect their vestments to include collars or chasubles. "My brother and I will wear the Jedi robes, the dark brown robes," he said. "The congregation would be in black. Really to bring a sense of unity to the meetings."

Though the church now has only six members--all male, natch--the twentysomething brothers have more than a prayer their flock will multiply: in the 2001 census, almost 400,000 people in the UK declared the Jedi faith as their religion.

Barney and Daniel will require members to remain on the light side of the Force. Spiritual disciples of Darth Vader, the BBC reported, "would be advised they are following the wrong path and could face expulsion."

"Obviously, if someone starts to try and use the good force for greed and power, they are going to bring negative interference into the meetings," Barney explained.

"We cannot have the Force disrupted by negative interference."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I wonder if they will meet in their parents' basement :). It is of note that these gentleman have sloughed off "mainline" religion and have effectively created their own religion by cherry picking the sayings of Yoda from dozens of viewings Star Wars. I wonder about the American church, and if we have cherry-picked the sayings of Jesus and the Bible in such a way to conform it to a religion that pleases us.