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{{About|the census phenomenon|the church of Jediism limited|Jediism}}
{{About|the census phenomenon|the church of Jediism limited|Jediism}}


The '''Jedi census phenomenon''' is a [[grassroots]] movement that was initiated in 2001 for citizens of a number of [[Anglosphere|English-speaking countries]] (but not the U.S.), urging them to record their [[religion]] as "[[Jedi]]" or "Jedi Knight" (after the quasi-religious order of Jedi Knights in the fictional ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[fictional universe|universe]]) on the national [[census]]. This gave rise to a movement to establish "genuine" [[Jediism]].
The '''Jedi census phenomenon''' is a [[grassroots]] movement that was initiated in 2001 for citizens of a number of [[Anglosphere|English-speaking countries]], urging them to record their [[religion]] as "[[Jedi]]" or "Jedi Knight" (after the quasi-religious order of Jedi Knights in the fictional ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[fictional universe|universe]]) on the national [[census]]. This gave rise to a movement to establish "genuine" [[Jediism]].


It is believed the majority of self-reported Jedi claimed the religion for their own amusement, to poke fun at the government,<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web| url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=2352142| title=Jedi Order lures 53,000 disciples| publisher=New Zealand Herald| date=2002-08-31| first=Alan| last=Perrott| accessdate=2006-04-05}}</ref> or as a protest against the inclusion of the religion question on the census form.
It is believed the majority of self-reported Jedi claimed the religion for their own amusement, to poke fun at the government,<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web| url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=2352142| title=Jedi Order lures 53,000 disciples| publisher=New Zealand Herald| date=2002-08-31| first=Alan| last=Perrott| accessdate=2006-04-05}}</ref> or as a protest against the inclusion of the religion question on the census form.

Revision as of 14:08, 15 December 2010

This article is about the census phenomenon. For the church of Jediism limited, see Jediism.

The Jedi census phenomenon is a grassroots movement that was initiated in 2001 for citizens of a number of English-speaking countries, urging them to record their religion as "Jedi" or "Jedi Knight" (after the quasi-religious order of Jedi Knights in the fictional Star Wars universe) on the national census. This gave rise to a movement to establish "genuine" Jediism.

It is believed the majority of self-reported Jedi claimed the religion for their own amusement, to poke fun at the government,[1] or as a protest against the inclusion of the religion question on the census form.

Other news reports also interpreted the exercise as a massive practical joke.

Impact

Australia

In Australia more than 70,000 people (0.37%) declared themselves members of the Jedi order in the 2001 census[2]. The Australian Bureau of Statistics issued an official press release[3] in response to media interest on the subject. The ABS announced that any answers that were Jedi-related in the religion question were to be classified as 'not defined' and stressed the social impact of making misleading or false statements on the census. An ABS spokesperson said that "further analysis of census responses has been undertaken since the release of census data on June 17 to separately identify the number of Jedi-related responses".[2] It is believed that there is no numerical value that determines a religion per definition of the ABS, but there would need to be a belief system or philosophy as well as some form of institutional or organisational structure in place.[4][5]

In the lead-up to the 2006 census, there were some reports of the ABS writing Jedi on the 2006 census could lead to a fine for providing 'false or misleading' information. This is despite previous admissions that they were 'fairly relaxed' about the issue in 2001 and that nobody had been prosecuted in at least 15 years.[6]

New Zealand

Over 53,000 people listed themselves as Jedi in New Zealand's 2001 census. New Zealand had the highest per capita population of reported Jedi in the world that year, with 1.5% marking "Jedi" as their religion. The city of Dunedin had the highest population of reported Jedi per capita.[1] Statistics New Zealand treated Jedi responses as "Answer understood, but will not be counted". If Jedi were counted it would have been the second largest religion in New Zealand. The percentages of religious affiliations were:

There was a dramatic fall in the number of New Zealand Jedi five years later, with some 20,000 people giving this as their religion in the 2006 census.[7]

England and Wales

In England and Wales 390,127 people (almost 0.8%) stated their religion as Jedi on their 2001 Census forms, surpassing Sikhism, Judaism, and Buddhism, and making it the fourth largest reported religion in the countries.[8] In the 2001 Census 2.6% of the population of Brighton claimed to be Jedi. The percentages of religious affiliations were:

It was confirmed prior to the census that citizens were not liable for a fine in relation to question 10 (on religion).[9] This was based on section 1(2) of the Census (Amendment) Act 2000,[10] which amended section 8 of the Census Act 2000 to state that "no person shall be liable to a penalty under subsection (1) for refusing or neglecting to state any particulars in respect of religion". The change in the law was implemented by The Census (Amendment) Order 2000[11] and The Census (Amendment) Regulations 2000.[12]

Jedi was assigned its own code in the United Kingdom for census processing, the number 896.[13] Officials from the Office for National Statistics pointed out that this merely means that it has been registered as a common answer to the "religion" question. John Pullinger, Director of Reporting and Analysis for the Census, noted that many people who would otherwise not have completed a Census form did so solely to record themselves as Jedi, so this joke helped to improve the quality of the Census. It did not appear to occur to him that people that would put a joke answer against one question on their form, may not have been fully candid in the rest of the form either. The Office of National Statistics revealed the total figure in a press release entitled "390,000 Jedis there are".[14]

In June 2005, Jamie Reed, newly-elected Labour Member of Parliament for Copeland in Cumbria, declared himself to be the first Jedi Member of Parliament during his maiden speech.[15] The statement, made in the context of an ongoing debate regarding the Incitement to Religious Hatred Bill, was confirmed by Reed's office to be a joke instead of a serious statement of faith. Nevertheless, during a subsequent Committee debate on the Bill, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Beaconsfield, Dominic Grieve, sought to exclude Jedi Knights explicitly from the protection of the proposed Act.[16] Similarly, in April 2006, Edward Leigh, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Gainsborough, asked whether he would be allowed to set up a Jedi knights faith school during a Committee debate on the Education and Inspections Bill.[17]

On November 16, 2006, two Jedi delivered a protest letter to UN officials in recognition of the International Day for Tolerance. They requested that it be renamed the "UN Interstellar Day of Tolerance" and cited the 2001 Census showing 390,000 Jedi in England and Wales.[18]

Scotland

In Scotland 14,052 people stated that Jedi was their current religion (14,014 "Jedi", 24 "Jedi Order" and 14 "Sith") and 2,733 stated that it was their religion of upbringing (2,682 "Jedi", 36 "Jedi Order" and 15 "The Dark Side").[19]

The proportion of people stating their religion as Jedi in Scotland was lower than that in England and Wales, at 0.277%.[20]

In April 2009, it emerged that eight police officers serving with Scotland's largest police force in Strathclyde listed their official religion as Jedi in voluntary diversity forms. The details were obtained in a Freedom of Information request by Jane's Police Review.[21]

Canada

In the 2001 census, 21,000 Canadians put down their religion as Jedi Knight. This fact has been referenced by the prime minister's office as a rationale for making the 40-page long census form voluntary.[22]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Perrott, Alan (2002-08-31). "Jedi Order lures 53,000 disciples". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2006-04-05.
  2. ^ a b "May the farce be with you". The Sydney Morning Herald. 27 August 2002. Retrieved 26 March 2006.
  3. ^ "Census of Population and Housing — The 2001 Census, Religion and the Jedi". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2006-04-05.
  4. ^ "mrsa.com.au". Jedi followers need more than cyber support. Retrieved 26 March 2006.
  5. ^ "snopes". Retrieved 7 August 2006.
  6. ^ "Come to your census - no kidding, they're serious". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 August 2006. Retrieved 29 August 2006.
  7. ^ "The fate of the Jedi". No Right Turn. 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2007-09-16. A story in the Dominion-Post has the answer: '... census general manager Nancy McBeth told The Dominion Post there were more than 20,200 followers of the force — down from 54,000 in 2001.' {{cite web}}: External link in |quote= (help)
  8. ^ "Ethnicity and Religion: 'Jedi'". Census 2001. Retrieved 20 November 2006.
  9. ^ "theregister.co.uk". UK Jedi get green light. Retrieved 26 March 2006.
  10. ^ "opsi.gov.uk". Census (Amendment) Act 2000. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
  11. ^ "opsi.gov.uk". The Census (Amendment) Order 2000. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
  12. ^ "opsi.gov.uk". The Census (Amendment) Regulations 2000. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
  13. ^ "Census of Population and Housing — The 2001 Census, Religion and the Jedi" (PDF).
  14. ^ National Statistics Online (2001), "390,000 Jedis There Are"
  15. ^ "publications.parliament.uk". House of Commons Hansard Debates for 21 June 2005. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
  16. ^ "publications.parliament.uk". Racial and Religious Hatred Bill: Standing Committee Debates. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
  17. ^ "publications.parliament.uk". Education and Inspections Bill: Standing Committee Debates. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
  18. ^ "Jedi demand Britain's fourth largest 'religion' receives recognition". Daily Mail. London. 16 November 2006.
  19. ^ "scottishpf.org". The Pagan Federation (Scotland): Complete data for the: Q13 'Another Religion' (Current Religion) and Q14 'Another Religion' (Religion of Upbringing) write-in boxes, Scottish Census of 2001. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
  20. ^ "scotland.gov.uk". Analysis of Religion in the 2001 Census: Summary Report. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
  21. ^ "Force is strong for Jedi police". BBC News. 16 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
  22. ^ http://westernstandard.blogs.com/shotgun/2010/07/does-canada-lead-the-world-in-jedi-knights.html
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