"Jedi" Religion Most Popular Alternative Faith In England 262
Census numbers show that 176,632 people in England and Wales ask themselves, "What would Yoda do?" Although the number of people who list their religion as "Jedi" has dropped by more than 50% in the past 10 years, It remains the most popular "alternative" faith in England. From the article: "The new figures reveal that the lightsabre-wielding disciples are only behind Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism in the popularity stakes, excluding non-religious people and people who did not answer."
Survey with "Jedi" option available (Score:5, Insightful)
I for one (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:So it's the number one "Made Up" religion (Score:5, Insightful)
No, the number one "made up" religion is Christianity.
Re:Although amusing (Score:3, Insightful)
if they get control of the republican Senate, then there might be a problem...
Thank heavens we're still a constitutional monarchy!
Re:Survey with "Jedi" option available (Score:4, Insightful)
As someone who has been at least nominally Wiccan for the past 30 years, I suspect your only exposure to Wiccans has been the teenage angst-filled dressed like a goth crowd. There are others out there who don't fill the stereotype who are otherwise normal people. We blend in.
Just sayin'
Re:Survey with "Jedi" option available (Score:4, Insightful)
Because getting rid of the state religion, and the state relationship with the church of england would be problematic. It's not that it can't or won't be done, but there's quite a lot of legal effort involved in the powers of parliament vs the sovereign vs the church as an independent entity.
In some respects it's the same reason why none of the countries have actually settled the legal inheritance issue of if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have a daughter and then a son (just a daughter, or multiple daughters doesn't require any rewrite), because it's not that we can't sort this out. But it's a lot of legal paperwork that can be deferred 50 or 60 years if they never have a son after a daughter.
Re:Survey with "Jedi" option available (Score:5, Insightful)
it is an entirely fictional belief system.
So
Like all the other belief systems then.
Re:Survey with "Jedi" option available (Score:5, Insightful)
> The census is supposed to be an accurate snapshot of the state of Britain, if people lie on it, they should be prosecuted.
For what crime? Governments have no business demanding to know a persons religion, and people have no obligation to report their religion to their government. Besides, the 'jedi' option is counted as 'no religion' by the ONS, which is probably accurate in the vast majority of cases, so the statistics are not meaningfully affected.
> You cannot be a Jedi as it is an entirely fictional belief system.
As opposed to other religions? Let's not go there (but if you do, please start with scientology).
Re:Survey with "Jedi" option available (Score:4, Insightful)
Your comment implies that you think you've set some kind of clever rhetorical trap. I'm mildly curious what the punchline is, so...
A-theist: Not religious.
A-gnostic: Lacking knowledge of god(s).
Okay, trap sprung, ow m' leg. Now what?
Re:Survey with "Jedi" option available (Score:4, Insightful)
Because census results are aggregated and by putting ANY region you're increasing government funding for pro-religion programs.
You might think it's a joke but you're basically voting for your taxes to be used for brainwashing kids.
Re:Soooo... (Score:5, Insightful)
Freedom of Conscience (Score:2, Insightful)
Every time I see this story come up, I look for one phrase- 'Freedom of Conscience'. If Humans spent thousands of years, and millions of lives fighting for a fundamental Human Right, I might expect some to remember this fact when events directly relating to the subject come up.
Freedom of Conscience means that your spiritual beliefs belong to you, the individual, and may never be defined by the State. You are free to believe in what you wish, observe your spiritual beliefs in any way you deem fit, and change those beliefs as often as you like. (And for the dribbling cretins that hang around Slashdot, this does not mean freedom from lawful punishment if one's actions in the name of one's spiritual beliefs infringes the laws of the land).
Anglo Saxon nations (UK, USA, Canada, NZ, Australia) have Freedom of Conscience as a Human Right for all their citizens, even when freedom of expression is not a right. You spiritual beliefs may not be tested, defined or forceably characterised by the State.
For those dimbulbs on Slashdot, this means it is IMPOSSIBLE to illegally answer a question about your religion on a UK or USA census, by definition.
Why do so few people understand the right of 'Freedom of Conscience'? Because this right threatens organised religion. If the people that belong to organised churches get it into their head that their understanding of their own spiritual existence trumps the 'teachings' of the church, that church will rapidly lose power.
It is no accident that when Census time comes around, sites like this are spammed with nonsense about the 'illegality' of answering the 'religious' questions whosoever the respondent may wish. The spam is purposeful, deliberate, pro-organised religion propaganda that plays on people's ignorance of their rights.
It should be noted that most non-Anglo-Saxon nations do not have the right of freedom of conscience. Even many first world European nations lack this. Instead, at best, you get the right to join one of a number of State authorised organised religions, or sometimes to be an official non-member of any. The battle for people to have the right of 'Freedom of Conscience' was fought and won in the UK, and fought and lost in nations like Germany. In Germany, the State can officially rule Scientology 'illegal', something that could never happen in the UK or USA.
Those that play on people's ignorance of 'Freedom of Conscience' and spam garbage about how 'Jedi' respondents have broken the law and should be prosecuted, are actually attempting to persuade citizens of Britain and the USA to accept the situation found in backwards nations like Germany or Indonesia. Their tactic is to use ignorance of fundamental Human Rights to eventually wither those rights into non-existence. They are the religious bigots that love the power wielded by organised religion, and hate the power potentially wielded by the free-thinking individual.
Freedom of conscience will die in the UK, just as freedom of expression has (Brits have been successfully prosecuted in the last few years for simply expressing anti-war sentiments in public). The method of killing rights here is to give useful pressure groups ever more power over members of their communities. This tactic is overseen by organisations like 'Common Purpose'. It is the old tactic of divide-and-conquer by 'tribal loyalty' , where no matter who you are, you are forced to belong and submit to a given tribe, the leaders of which all share 'common purpose' with the leaders of the other tribes.
In the meantime, while they still can, the sensible thinking part of the UK populace will express their love of freedom through acts like ticking 'Jedi'. For each individual, in is a small and tiny voice in the gathering storm saying "I am not a number, I am a free Man".