"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)
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It's an empty text field on the census, to avoid the toss-up between "You didn't list my religion" and "Please turn to page 9,126 for question two".
Re:Survey with "Jedi" option available (Score:5, Interesting)
There was a write-in option ("other, please specify"), and this was the most popular write-in.
Far more interesting to me is that Christianity declined to less than 60% of the population, while No Religion almost doubled to get around 25%. That's a massive attitude shift for a 10 year period. Really brings into question why we have a state religion- although I suspect the figures will have to sink even lower before we can use census data as an excuse to separate church and state.
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.
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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.
I was under the impression that they sorted this out very recently: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20600543 [bbc.co.uk]
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The Christian church in England gets tax breaks, six unelected members in the House of Lords, and all manner of other allowances. It's about time these allowances were reduced in l
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Umm, how many elected members are there in the House of Lords? I'm just curious why there's a qualifier?
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Really brings into question why we have a state religion
To crown sovereigns and to decide on royal divorces without interference from a foreign power. This is really the only reason. I don't see England getting rid of state religion without getting rid of the monarchy. However, in practice, UK is a secular state. The state religion is not forced to anyone, it is more a mere folklore than a real endorsement by all the government officials.
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Folklore is an exemplary way of looking at it. Also, the bishops in the Lords are usually left-wing intellectuals, rather than taking the role of conservative demagogues. We therefore don't really care/notice them.
Re:Survey with "Jedi" option available (Score:4, Informative)
because
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
The sith should not need to hide in the shadows pretending to be jedi any longer.
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Re:Survey with "Jedi" option available (Score:5, Insightful)
it is an entirely fictional belief system.
So
Like all the other belief systems then.
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Oh; but without the lovely patina of legitimacy that age lends to even the most childish iron-age bullshit...
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, Interesting)
I put myself down as Jedi in the 2000 census. However, I won't do it again, because the pesky Government looks at the stats and says "X% of people in the UK are religious, so we can open more faith schools". The fact that those faith schools cater for a minority of the total population is neither here nor there, they do it anyway.
I'll put "Jedi" on trivial things (ie. not many), but not on the census anymore.
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Are they allowed to open any flavor of 'faith school' that they want, based on the overall number of non-atheists? Shouldn't an uptick in Jedi require them to open more Jedi Academies, rather than more of some other denomination's preferred facility?
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I do not dispute that such statistics can be useful in a variety of situations, I just disagree (a lot) with tehcyder, who suggests failing to provide accurate information should be a crime.
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You cannot be a Jedi as it is an entirely fictional belief system.
I didn't realize there was a way to evaluate a religion to determine its validity as a religion...
I suppose we could use the "from my ass" method for data acquisition and apply an "internet forum consensus" procedure. That's a pretty popular approach.
The alternative, I suppose, is to use the gestapo tactics you'd necessarily need to employ to assess the accuracy of census participants responses (for purposes of identifying the liars so that they may be prosecuted) to see if any of alleged Jedi are practici
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I think this partly accounts for the big drop. These people are dying. Your age, occupation and religion were your credentials. My late mother insisted I filled in her online census as a Christian, having never attended a service in my adult life. Even up to her death bed, God, Christ, saints, whoever, were never mentioned, no prayers undertaken, nor was there felt a need for them. But she was happy to be labelled a Christian, as that was her view of what respectable people were.
These generations are va
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Regardless of your actual faith, why wouldn't you choose this option?
Because you're not a childish twat?
If you want to make a protest about being asked to choose a religion, do it properly. Just write atheist or agnostic, according to your view of things.
Saying "Jedi" is probably funny if you're a backward fourteen year old, but then you wouldn't be doing the census in the first place. I find it hard to believe that adults would do this sober.
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Atheist and agnostic are not religions.
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, Informative)
An atheist is a not(theist); someone who not(believes in deities). The person may or may not be religious, but atheism itself is not a religion, since it contains no belief system.
Agnostic is someone who believes that the existence of deities is unknown and/or unknowable. The person may or may not be atheist and/or religious.
Atheism Theory vs Atheism Application... (Score:3)
Your statement that an atheist does not believe is accurate. However that is the theory of the term. In application, many (not all) atheists demonstrate themselves to have just as much faith as theists, in that they believe there to be no deity. While they are believing there to be no god, they are still nonetheless
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Atheism IS the belief system there is not god. Otherwise you would be agnostic.
False dilemma: one can be both.
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And therefore celebrates Newtonmas instead. Or possibly Crimbus. Keep your winterbush trimmed and wet, because Winterman cometh!
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A lot of people would have had a few drinks before they got around to filling in the census form.
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If you want to make a protest about being asked to choose a religion, do it properly. Just write atheist or agnostic,
But that's not a protest, if the person is non-religious, then that's merely a statement of fact and/or uncertainty. Writing "Jedi", or "Flying Spaghetti Monster" or some other gag faith is a much stronger protest, because it mocks the very idea of religion as something special, something society should make special allowances for (tax exemptions, special schools, fawning faux-respect from public figures). And it always prompts someone complain, "You can't be Jedi/FSM/etc! That's just something someone made
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.
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Re:Survey with "Jedi" option available (Score:5, Funny)
emacs? Really? Why not just go full-tween and call yourself a wiccan?
vi will still be here when you've out-grown that phase.
We'll be praying for you.
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'
Well (Score:2, Funny)
Mass murderers, child molesters and republicans also blend in.
Just sayin'
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Why list republicans? They are just a subset of the first two groups...
TIL (Score:3)
Why list republicans? They are just a subset of the first two groups...
Jedi and Wiccans?
Huh.
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The US Republican Party is not a right wing party anymore. They have been effectively hijacked by nut jobs, extremists, and the whining classes. Which is too bad. The US could use a sane conservative political party.
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Census also showed there were : 56,620 Paganists, 39,061 Spiritualists, 2,418 Scientologists and 20,288 Jainists ...and 4 million who did not put any religion ....
Re:Survey with "Jedi" option available (Score:4, Funny)
...and 4 million who did not put any religion ....
Thank God for that!
Wait. Well, you know what I mean..
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As a Jedi, I prefer the term "thank Disney."
Seriously, though... does Disney own the copyright to this "religion," then? Can you actually copyright a religion, or is it protected in some manner?
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Can you actually copyright a religion
Sure, just look at scientology.
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The truly enlightened pagen worships jove. Full emacs needs to go on a diet, and vi, well, let's just say that they spell it e-VI-l for a reason...
Although amusing (Score:4, Funny)
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if they get control of the republican Senate, then there might be a problem...
Thank heavens we're still a constitutional monarchy!
Ew. (Score:2)
You may have just invoked Rule 34 on Queen Elizabeth and Hayden Christensen.
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Maybe not, but I'm thinking poster was referring to the Galactic Republic Senate (or at least I hope so)
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Galactic_Senate [wikia.com]
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"Isn't the Senate Democratic now?"
The Republicans effectively control the Senate and will continue to do so until either of the following happens: 1. The Democrats have 60 Senators (excluding Blue Dog Democrats) or 2. The filibuster is reformed to require actual filibustering instead of the mere threat of filibustering.
You can't filibuster a budget resolution, only a simple majority is required. That's the big lie the Dems keep pushing to avoid taking responsibility for not passing a budget. They don't want to pass one because if they do, they either have to take responsibility for the ballooning deficit *or* for cutting handouts to their constituencies.
I for one (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I for one (Score:5, Funny)
Giant?! Heretic! True believers only believe in the FLYING Spaghetti Monster!
We must engage in battle, for I will not let this blasphemy stand!
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Re:I for one (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I for one (Score:5, Funny)
Why can't we just agree that the universe is ruled by some kind of pasta and coexist peacefully.
Re:I for one (Score:5, Funny)
Who invited the Unitarian?
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Made my day..
Where are modpoints when you need them?
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Why can't we just agree that the universe is ruled by some kind of pasta and coexist peacefully.
...because, silly twit, the purpose of religion is to start violent arguments and wars.
Anyone violently disagree? Good! You are a true believer...
Anerisian Heresy! (Score:2)
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Ah, Eris? Why use Latin when you can use Greek?
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So it's the number one "Made Up" religion (Score:2)
Re:So it's the number one "Made Up" religion (Score:5, Insightful)
No, the number one "made up" religion is Christianity.
All religions are "made-up" (Score:2)
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All religions are "made up".
Surely you meant to say, all religions except mine are made up.
How many are "Sith"? (Score:2)
I don't worry about the people who consider themselves Jedi. But we really should be keeping an eye on the people that choose "Sith".
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I don't worry about the people who consider themselves Jedi.
Indeed, I suppose it's a testament to how liberal the UK is that we allow mentally ill people to complete the census too.
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Reading through all the comments here, you (tehcyder) seem to be popping up quite a lot. Do you have a beef with:
Kopimism (Score:2)
Pfff... (Score:3)
Evangelion NERV Church in India [youtube.com]
Jedi is just a renamed Christianity Clone - (Score:4, Funny)
Virgin birth: Check
Holy Ghosts: Check
Passover: Many people Pass Over re-watching Ep 1 due to Jar Jar Binks: Check
"Alternative" to what? (Score:3)
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Badly worded title. What they mean is that it was the most popular write-in option (the list only included the obvious major religions).
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I think the assumption is that people don't actually believe in the Jedi Faith.
People actually believing in imaginary* friends telling them what to do differ quite a lot of people following a set of philosophical guidelines.
*By necessity, most of them must be imaginary since most religions are exclusive in some fashion
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I think the assumption is that people don't actually believe in the Jedi Faith.
Then why the fuck bother writing that you do? As a political gesture it's up there with drawing a funny moustache on a candidate's election poster.
It seems to me the sort of thing that only sounds funny when you're a very, very drunk student.
People should have the courage of their convictions and just write "atheist" or "none" or something.
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They are treating the field on religion with the importance they feel it deserves. Strong convictions in this matter are for people who actually care, like theists and petty anti-theists. For the rest of us, it's no different than asking our favorite color of socks.
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Plaid of course
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"Courage"? WTF are you talking about. I find your post insulting and offensive.
Why the fuck should they restrict themselves for your benefit?
Jedi is just as likely to be true as any of the other fantasy options.
I'm personally surprised there are not more professed Cthulhu worshipers.
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Historians have a strong consensus that Jesus of Nazareth [wikipedia.org], Mohammed [wikipedia.org], and Gautama Buddha [wikipedia.org] were real, historical people, and it's on their words major religions are based. So even if you don't believe in the Divinity of, well, anything, to put these major religious figures on the same level as a green rubber puppet is just ignorant of history and culture.
Dear Sir Garlon,
Please read: Misquoting Jesus, by Bart Ehrman. Or Forged, by Bart Ehrman. Or Jesus, Interrupted, by Bart Ehrman. Ehrman is an apostatic ex-born-again Christian who is currently a professor of religious studies at UNC-Chapel Hill (who happens to live about a mile away from where I'm sitting right now at Duke, where his wife works). He started studying the Bible thinking it was God's word, but the facts (as he will exhaustively and clearly teach you, if you bother to actually try to lea
fuck Jedi (Score:5, Funny)
I worship gaffer tape. It has a light side and a dark side, just like the Force, and it binds the Galaxy together. Difference being, it's real, tangible, and doesn't require faith because its physicality is a reassuring proof of its ubiquity.
Just proves power of social media (Score:2)
While there might actually be respondents who believe themselves to be disciples of Jedi principles, the other 99.999% would have just seen a facebook friend post, "Hey! Wouldn't it be funny if we all put Jedi on the census form as our religion".
I found a more interesting blog post at the time about Lockheed Martin having a fixed price contract to collate the census data and if enough people answered honestly but took measures that would interfere with the automated form scanning, then the costs incurred in
Really? No Apple Fanboyism? (Score:2)
if history is any guide (Score:3)
In a century or two, people will have forgotten the light-hearted unbelieving nature of this, and the Jedi will be true believers.
Re:Soooo... (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, and even then, they dropped by 50%.
It's me, or the redaction looks quite Monty Python-esque?
-The most popular religion is Jedi cult.
-Hummm... no; Christianity is.
-Well, the Jedi cult is the most popular after Christianity.
-Hummm... no; Islam is.
-Well, the Jedi cult is the most popular after Christianity and Islam.
-Hummm... no; Hinduism is.
-Well, the Jedi cult is the most popular after Christianity and Islam and Sikhism.
-Hummm... no; Judaism is.
-Well, the Jedi cult is the most popular after Christianity and Islam and Sikhism and Judaism.
-Hummm... no; Buddhism is.
-Well, the Jedi cult is the most popular after Christianity and Islam and Sikhism and Judaism and Buddhism.
-Hummm... yes.
-A-HA!
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Came here to post exactly this :-D
Mod up please!
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Ooops - you forgot Hinduism.
So the Jedi cult is the most popular cult in the entire country! Except for Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism.
Re:Soooo... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Now this deserves to be modded up to five. I have often encountered self-professed Christians who have no idea of the actual teaching of Christ, or even the basic principles of Christianity. And then there are the people who call themselves Christians, but have not been to church in years.
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Please don't remind us that one must now associate Star Wars with Disney. It makes me feel funny.
There is a disturbance in the Force : A giant mouse and another, a Mini mouse.
--
Is it Goofy yet?
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Please don't remind us that one must now associate Star Wars with Disney. It makes me feel funny.
Star Wars has always been on the same cultural level as Disney, i.e. very popular, sentimental, technically accomplished, childishly political, soulless trash.
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talking mutant... whateverthefuck Jar Jar is...
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What's wrong with the Cenus anyway?
The Census question [google.co.uk] [warning - PDF] on religion is "What is your religion: None/Christian/Buddhist/Hindu/Jewish/Muslim/Sikh/Other (write in).
Some people feel that, despite the "None" option, this exaggerates the number of religious people by not distinguishing between those with a serious religious commitment and those who just tick the name of their preferred provider of wedding, funeral and baby-naming services (or feel obliged to tick 'Christian' because their parents had them baptised).
If the Jedi
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If being an atheist, Christian or Jedi ever becomes a matter that gets you brought to the attention of the Secret Service in the UK, we're beyond fucked already.
The forms linked from this page [hmgcc.gov.uk] give you a good idea of what will bring you to the attention of SIS and friends.
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Is it not suspicious also that their main feature is a little stick that gets bigger when you hold onto it. Admittedly it is a kickass weapon, but the feminist within would prefer if there was a less masculine option
Surely the feminist within enjoys watching a couple of guys trying to hit each other with theirs [urbandictionary.com].
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The only people who'll pretend to be outraged by this will be the Daily Mail, and we'll all giggle at them when someone makes a joke about them on Have I Got News For You.
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Why would they be mentally ill? It's a meta-joke about organised religion, thousands of people chare it and participate in it. It shows that their humanity is leavened with a lovely dose of wit.
For many, even being asked about their religion is seen as an act of oppression. This is their reaction.