Jedi - the faith in the Star Wars films - will become an official religion

[Helena]

am totally suprised,amazed wot ppl can think and wanna achieve....

star war religion,star war followers, wot do they believe in?

is this the truth...????.....turning a movie into a religion.....

Jedi is the faith espoused in the Star Wars films
It's official: "Jedi Knight" is ON the list of religions for the 2001 UK census.

A campaign to get people to write the entry on their census forms has succeeded in the term being included on the list of religions, alongside Church of England, Roman Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu.

Sufficient numbers of people wrote the entry in for it to be allocated its own code for the census processing team to use.

But officials from the Office of National Statistics are keen to point out that just because Jedi Knight has been given its own code, that does not confer on it the status of official recognition.

Yoda, Jedi master
"Presbyterian my real religion is"
"We are not defining what a religion or a faith might be," a spokeswoman said. "We are recognising what some may have entered on their census form and ensuring that our coding framework will cater for it."

Other religions which are included on the list, alongside the better known cases, are the Church of Free Love, Wiccan, Divine Lightmission, and Coleraine Christian Centre.

Shortly before the census last April, an e-mail was circulated in the UK stating that if 10,000 people put Jedi on the census form, it would become a "fully recognised and legal religion".

A similar thing had previously happened in New Zealand, when citizens were led to believe they needed 8,000 signatures to make Jedi an official religion.



The list of religions - posted on the statistics office website, and available under "Internet links" - is simply the list of answers to the religion question.

It is not yet clear how many people will have written Jedi on their form, as the counting process is still going on. Results are to be published in Autumn 2002.

And even then, the information might not be easy to obtain, as it will not be published separately in the official census reports released by the statistics office. Anyone wishing to find out the number would need to commission a special report to be produced.

also on the list are:
Druidism
Satanism
Free thinker
Wicca
Celtic Pagan

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1589133.stm



astagfirulla...

[Muezzin]

Don't joke about persecution, ta.

Besides, the Jedi were already persecuted under Order 66.

[Trumble]

am totally suprised,amazed wot ppl can think and wanna achieve....

star war religion,star war followers, wot do they believe in?

is this the truth...????.....turning a movie into a religion.....

It's a very old story! As I recall, 'Jedi' won't actually be included on the next census form. The whole thing came about pretty much as a joke after people read that something of a Jedi band-wagon had started with regard to a New Zealand census. It was rumoured in the UK that if a certain number (might have been 50,000, I can't recall now) put something down as an 'other' for their religion, that 'other' would get its own tick-box next time, but that actually wasn't the case... I don't know if that was simply untrue, or whether they found a loophole somewhere. I'm not sure "free thinker counts", but I don't see any reason why the others shouldn't be included next time if they got the numbers in 2001.

There was never any serious attempt to create a real 'Jedi' religion, it was just a bit of fun.

[Helena]

so ur saying,this is all a joke? huh...but it was on da newspaper of metro....dnt get it.....

[Trumble]

so ur saying,this is all a joke? huh...but it was on da newspaper of metro....dnt get it.....

No, it actually happened with many thousands saying they were 'Jedi' on the census forms. But they were just doing that for a laugh (nobody likes filling in compulsary government forms!), not because they seriously believe 'Jedi' to be a real religion.

[Muezzin]

No, it actually happened with many thousands saying they were 'Jedi' on the census forms. But they were just doing that for a laugh (nobody likes filling in compulsary government forms!), not because they seriously believe 'Jedi' to be a real religion.

Exactly. And it's quite a funny joke at that

Ah man, I'm running out of material. I need to make people laugh. I need to learn me some Jedi mind tricks...

[Rou]

so ur saying,this is all a joke? huh...but it was on da newspaper of metro....dnt get it.....

lol the metro is no gospel...it stated that it is looking to get it stated as a religon and i doubt it will...

actully what am i saying!??

most likly it will looking at the crazy world today....

however a religon is not to follow a film let them follow what they wish it is but a joke to them otherwise why state a religon out of something that is a film?there is no basis to the religon...

and if they make it a religon it but shows the mockery of the world powers at the moment

[afriend]

Hahaha...The Metro....Such funny times I've had reading that paper....it's the official paper of our poor, shabby school.

[Helena]

but the source i provided from above is from the BBC...isnt that acceptable?.....

[Muezzin]

Sure. I just don't see what the fuss is about. I mean, if they so wish, people have the right to say that the religion they truly believe in is based upon the worship of the finer points of a puddle of turd, and I'll respect their beliefs without agreeing with them.

I still think this news item is funny.

[Sum-Muslim-Gal]

salam

lol..if this article is true then its something i can mention in my sociology essay..
i think its all to do with new religious movements and new age movements thats why they making new religion up...
well we studying religion in A2 got to say itss sooooo interesting!!!

wasalam

[Muezzin]

New age movements have about as much to do with the religion of the Jedi as an antelope has to do with a writing desk.

[stannis]

Celtic Pagan

A real religion that has existed for thousands of years. It was one of the primary faiths in the British Isles and some parts of Europe. It should be recognised.

[Hisbul_Aziz]

Exactly. And it's quite a funny joke at that

Ah man, I'm running out of material. I need to make people laugh. I need to learn me some Jedi mind tricks...

You ,can probably ,trick people in thinking ur jokes are funny ,jk / But 4 me it cumes naturally

[T@z@belle]

Exactly. And it's quite a funny joke at that

Ah man, I'm running out of material. I need to make people laugh. I need to learn me some Jedi mind tricks...

jedi....wot da hell so wot do they do worship luke skywalker or somin???no realllyy this is some kinda joke innit??

[Muezzin]

jedi....wot da hell so wot do they do worship luke skywalker or somin???

The Jedi don't seem to worship anything in Star Wars.

no realllyy this is some kinda joke innit??

Yes. The people who said they were Jedi on the census were just having a laugh. I found it funny.

[Fishman]

I wouldn't be suprised if some people do believe in Jedi and the Force...

[Warthog]

I wouldn't be suprised if some people do believe in Jedi and the Force...

When will people become tolerant and stop making fun of my religion?

[H4RUN]

^may the force be with you...

[Pygoscelis]

Well the star wars Jedis seem to be based heavily on eastern philosopy/religion. The whole idea of the force is just a rip off of chi isn't it?