(THE GUARDIAN) — A Star Wars-inspired organisation has failed to use the force of its arguments to convince the charity watchdog that it should be considered a religious organisation.
The Temple of the Jedi Order, members of which follow the tenets of the faith central to the Star Wars films, sought charitable status earlier this year, but the Charity Commission has ruled that it does not meet the criteria for a religion under UK charity law.
In a ruling that saw lawyers scrutinising the precise nature of Jediism and the force, the power that Jedi believe underpins the universe, the commission wrote that Jediism “lacks the necessary spiritual or non-secular element” it was looking for in a religion.
