(no subject)

[winneganfake]

Only in Wales. I swear, only in Wales.

Two brothers are setting up a new church. The church of Jedi.

I suppose it's no worse or silly than any other religion/spirituality/imaginary friend/bacon-of-the-month-club out there.

Comments

[q99.livejournal.com]

It's not surprising- Jediism has been on the books for awhile in the UK.

[(Anonymous)]

An organized international movement to have people put "Jedi" as their religion on census forms has been around since 2001 and gotten rave responses. Jedi's are the second most populous religion in New Zealand, at 1.5% of the population, beating out Buddhism and Hinduism. Australia refused to count censuses with "Jedi." Many people do it as a joke, or as a way to annoy the government or hide their real religion, but it is clear that many really do think the Jedi philosophy best fits their actual beliefs. I've seen it called Hinduism for Whitefolk. Indeed, I've seen people say Jedi as a joke, but if you poke a bit more they mean it as more than a joke too, but the joke-stance is just so much more socially acceptible. The Jedis were the 4th largest religious group in Wales in the 2001 census at 0.7% of the population. It is a natural for the Jedi's to start organizing. However as you point out, they have a lot of trouble navigating the whole "is it a joke/or are you serious?" question. I am definately waiting to see how many answer Jedi in the US 2010 census.

-Brian M. (a religion Professor, who just came out of teaching his World Religions class).