May the Farce be With You
Here is something I really, really did not know, or probably even want to know, before a friend emailed me a link today:
In the 2001 United Kingdom census, 390,000 people - 0.7 per cent of the population - listed Jedi as their religion.
They are not alone - 20,000 Canadians also listed their religion as Jedi in 2001...
Some may list such a choice only as a joke, but there are apparently real churches set up in the model of the Jedi religion as detailed in the Star Wars franchise:
The two cousins and Barney Jones' brother, Daniel, set up the Church of
Jediism, Anglesey order, last year. Jedi is the faith followed by some
of the central characters in the "Star Wars" films.The group, which claims about 30 members, says on its website that
it uses "insight and knowledge" from the films as "a guide to living a
better and more worthwhile life."
Oh, but it gets even better:
A man who dressed up as Darth Vader has been spared jail time for assaulting the founders of the Jedi Church in Britain.
Twenty-seven-year-old Arwel Wynne Hughes was given a suspended sentence for the crime by a judge in Wales on Tuesday.
Prosecutors told Magistrates' Court in Holyhead that Hughes attacked
Jedi church founder Barney Jones - a.k.a. Master Jonba Hehol - with a
metal crutch, hitting him on the head.He also whacked Jones' 18-year-old cousin, Michael Jones - known as
Master Mormi Hehol - bruising his thigh in the March 25 incident.
dearieme:
In Britain people called themselves Jedi partly as a protest against the bloody cheek of the Government being ever more intrusive into our lives.
May 13, 2008, 2:52 pmFlatland:
I would be interested to see what type of cult breaks away from this church.
May 13, 2008, 2:53 pmAri:
Imagine a person running for elected office and when asked to place one's hand on a bible of choice, the person says the Star Wars Screenplay.
May 13, 2008, 5:32 pmTim Worstall:
Dearieme is correct. It was an online two fingers at the Census. Ran like wildfire through (this was pretty much before blogs) the Usenet and bulletin boards.
May 14, 2008, 1:05 amAvatar300:
"I would be interested to see what type of cult breaks away from this church."
I believe that would be the Sith.
May 14, 2008, 7:10 am