Join our live lecture on the mythology of Star Wars: https://www.religiondepartment.com/theherojourney

"Militant Space Amish" was not on my bingo card for today

You left out the cost of actually leaving these groups, often shunning, and sometimes death. It's less costly to remain in the group.

I think it’s important to note that the children of the watch (the Cult Pedro/Din is in) didn’t come into existence because of the night of 1000 years and the empires purge of mandalore, they were a splinter sect/successor organisation of “Death watch” a religious fundamentalist terrorist group during the Clone wars that opposed Mandalore turning into a pacifist constitutional monarchy under duchess Satine, wanting to reinstate autocracy and Mandolorian warrior rituals. The Death watch didn’t have the “don’t remove your helmet” rule but they did maintain a belief in Mandolorian creed and the Darksaber dictating right to rule. Bo Katan herself used to be a member of death watch before they were overtaken by the Sith Lord Darth maul, who claimed the Darksaber, killed Duchess Satine and basically turned Death watch into his Army. Fans including myself have assumed (although this isn’t confirmed) the Children of the watch came into existence as a more orthodox splinter group once Death watch was taken over by a non Mandolorian sith who didn’t practice their rituals. Following the strictest possible interpretation of their Mandolorian religion to prevent them from ever being taken over by non mandos ever again. And that strict adoration to the creed allowed the children of the watch to Survive in the aftermath of the Empires purge.

The “never take off the helmet” is a definite CRED for the children of the watch.  But I’d argue that the more costly religious display for Mandalorians is the expectation to go to battle and potentially die for the creed or the covert.

1:50 Even the titular Mandalorian himself says "Weapons are my religion" in the first season

Wasn't waiting for a Star Wars video from you. "A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one."

I love that a fictional religion can be examined just like one that exists in the real world.

In the Brazilian Portuguese version of The Mandalorian, the local translator (whether accidentally or intentionally) made an interesting change to the now-iconic phrase 'This is the way.' Instead of using a literal translation like 'Este é o caminho' ('This is the way'), they opted for 'Como deve ser' ('As it should be').

While this might sound minor, I believe this shift subtly alters the tone of the Mandalorian creed. It transforms the expression from a rigid declaration like 'That's the way it is (and to hell with the rest)' into a more nuanced philosophy, meaning 'Whether good or bad, this is the right thing to do.'

About children mostly adopting the same strict beliefs.  These groups often have fairly severe penalties for leaving the group.  It's an incentive to stay true to the group.

The free-rider problem actually makes some things click into place for me about how religions in dungeons and dragons should behave. These religions can confer great benefits to its believers (there's probably at least one cleric within a few day's walk of your village who can cure wounds with a wave of the hand, and at least a few clerics in the kingdom who can literally raise the dead), but fundamentally these benefits are similar to the benefits you get from being a part of any religious community that cares for its members.
The incentive for free-riding is much higher, so it seems like the religious group should have much more costly demands to filter out the people who would take advantage of their clerics' valuable spell slots.

Please do more videos like this. I would absolutely love to see you speak about religion in the elder scrolls. Especially the dark elves and Tribunal

Most nerds: Immediately seek out the nearest Jedi temple or bounty hunter recruitment center.

Dr Henry: Immediately starts interviewing ppl about their religious practices.

Dr Henry’s brother EC Henry: immediately goes to the nearest shipyard to design new starships.

"Costly Signaling" finally i found the word to describe how techno minimalism became so popular, its a flex of "i'm so technologically advance i can make complex thing looks simple"

"Religions need to be strict in order to survive," is a position I came to independently.
I had no idea there was data backing it up.

The Mandalorian reminds me of the Komuso, Buddhist monks in feudal Japan who played the bamboo flute as a form of meditation and wore woven baskets on their heads. Like the Children of the Watch, they never took off their headgear in public... they never showed their faces.

I live in a town south of Orlando called Ashton that was founded as a shaker community, that was very successful in agriculture, but the shakers eventually disappeared due to taking a vow of celibacy and the town was swallowed by Narcoossee and Saint Cloud.

I’m kind of curious, because one of the things he didn’t really hit on was the idea of persecution. Many of the groups he’s mentioned like the Jews, and the Amish have faced systemic persecution, which is part of their identity. This is also the case with the Mandalorians.

It’s fairly impressive that the Shakers have lasted until today at all. And, notably, they easily outlasted many “free love” tending spiritual communities.

I don’t know if the video will touch upon this but there’s also the cost of leaving a strict religious community. These communities want your time and resources and if/when you need to leave for any reason you find yourself behind everyone in your age group and without the resources they have. And this is just the material resources, there’s also the emotional toll, if you leave you leave behind every relationship you have from kinship to kindred-ship. I think the daunting ordeal of leaving a strict religious community should be considered when trying to understand why these communities still thrive.