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Canadian Census: 20,000 Jedi Worshippers
Lev13than writes "Canada.com is reporting that some 20,000 Canadians listed "Jedi" as their religion in the last national census (2001). Apparently this is the offshoot of an Internet joke which originated in Australia a few years back. The results are interesting on a couple of levels. While it show that some people may have too much time on their hands, it also raises questions of privacy rights, Internet activism and data integrity. Although it's not statistically significant given Canada's population of 31.5 million, 20,000 lightsabre-wielding census-takers is nothing to sneeze at. StatsCan's full report (with no mention of Jedis) can be found here."
There are about 20,000 single guys who enjoy D&D and star wars in Canada!
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Free your mind.
"Virgin (Y/N)?"
The coolest voice ever.
How else can you explain all the Americans who can't figgure out where the heck Canada is! And yes I'm Canadian :)
p.s. This isn't the country you're looking for.
I stole this Sig
I think you mean census respondents... census-takers are the people who come to your door asking you to fill out the census form. If one of those folks whipped out a lightsaber on me I think I'd try to do an extra-good job of filling in the little bubbles...
In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
*waves hand* There is nothing to see here. Move along.
(standard disclaimer: IANAL)
I know in the US someone can register for religious recognition if they have something like 100 followers. (i dont know the exact number) The application can be accepted as long as no animal or person is sacrificed or otherwise eliminated as part of the religion's practice. Other requirements probably have to be met, but I do know that religious killings are a no-no.
Canada probably has something similar. Maybe someone should consider institutionalizing the Jedi religion and filing the proper paperwork.
The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
Which brings up a question; Should Religion be a question on a national census form?
If people are getting offended by the race question on the U.S. census form, I can just imagine the number of people that are going to get pissed off by a religion question.
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Mike
I'm going to kick the next person that I see with their karma rating in their sig.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/new_me
The force will be with you, always, you hoser!
Homer: "Marge, anyone could miss Canada. All tucked away down there."
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Nothing like a sucky sequel to weed out the unbelievers.
All of a sudden, I have this vision of a bunch of Christians in ancient Corinth, huddled around the latest of Paul's writings. "Wait, this sucks so much compared to his first letter! That's it, I'm leaving!"
;-)
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Why do you think we're so damn good at hockey?
This is left as an exercise for the reader.
Hell - people believe in a lot of religions. At least this one has special effects you can actually see ... something other religions fail at miserably. I mean it's all fiction, might as well pick one that comes with a movie.
If I was gonna pick though, I'd want something Romulan. Romulan chicks are hot!
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
I find their lack of faith disturbing.
[ducks]
In the UK, some 390,000 individuals are followers of the force But as the original Canada.com article notes, the Jedi religion choce may have been a protest agains the government surveying religious preference.
That would make them Sith, eh? :-P
"Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far
What angers me is that everybody assumes that these people do not actually Worship jedi!
Articles and films already exist regarding this spiritual movement.
Plus, we already admit that other such religions exist:
- Star Trek - Leonard Nimoy Should Eat More Salsa Foundation
- Hicks - Love thy Mullet
- Plastic surgery - Cosmetics for the holy
Anyway...
Davak
So if as the article claims:
"Statistics Canada didn't report the number of people who responded Jedi in tables listing response rates for other religions, saying that their analysis did not include the "media-driven'' response, in part because the sample was so small. However, statisticians did when asked produce tables showing a much smaller number of Rastafarians, Scientologists and Satanists."
How do they know that 20,000 Canadians declared themselves to be Jedi? Could it be (gasp) just a number that the web site made up so it could write a story about the NZ and UK census returns?
Sailing over the event horizon
like Oprahism?
Anyone remember the Star Trek religion on futurama? All the worshippers were killed by being tossed into volcanoes, the method most befitting virgins.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
A few years ago, BEFORE the Episode 1 came out, we named our soccer team "The Jedi". I played fullback and during one game I was having a particularly easy time thwarting the the opposing teams attempts to get by me. Finally one play I miscalculated and a player with the ball slipped by me and started to rush up the field, about 2 seconds after he got by he collapsed with a leg cramp and had to roll himself off the field. For the rest of the season my team was convinced I had used The Force :)
I stole this Sig
When I first read about this phenomonon, I thought it sounded familiar to something some prankster did many years ago. Now, in this Age of Google, I have found the original article.
The article deals with the propogation of "memes" -- infectious ideas that take on a life of their own (e.g. "All your base..."). It discusses in particular how the author faced what he thought was a rather impudent question on his college admission form -- asking for his religion -- and, with his cheeky response, inadvertently started a meme. It also discusses how the meme was extinguished by the college administration.
The religious meme thing is about one-third of the way down, but I recommend reading the whole article. It's a good read.
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
16% of Canadians have "no religion", from 12% in the 1991 census. That's nearly 5 million people in a country of 30 million. Europe and the U.K. have similar makeups. B.C. leads Canada in the "no religion" category at 35% and it is also the largest religious group in the Province.
Also quite interesting was the shift from mainstream Protestantism to groups such as "born again" and "evangelical christian" (121% increase)and perhaps "no religion" (43% increase) or the eastern religions (roughly 85% increase). Not sure if that indicates an ideological shift or one of identity with respect to "christian". Certainly the rise in Muslin, Sikh, etc. practice can be traced to immigration, Canada has experienced enourmous diversity since the 1991 census.
I tried to find similar information on the U.S. Census website, but was unable.
Now, we get to the bottom of a comment where Slashdotters rarely spend time. This is where the real meat and potatoes of many comments are made. Not is this case. I am taking this space to talk of my collection of women's undergarments. Why was this not included on the census form? Surely there are large numbers of lingerie collecting atheist computer geeks out there, how could this be overlooked?
Do or do not, eh.
Some, maybe alot, are sincere. The rest put "Jedi" because there's no checkmark for "bugger off".
They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
There's not an organized society for the Jedi religion like there is for other larger religions is there???
I would imagine that some enterprising individuals will take advantage sooner or later. At least here in the United States, a religion gets tax-free benefits. Wouldn't it be cool if someone organized a religion and then created a business underworld to avoid the government ala scientology?
For example,
A business could hire a Jedi employee. But instead of paying him/her with US currency, they could be paid in Jedi Dollars - JD (insert creative currency name here). The JD's could then be spent at any participating Jedi establishment - merely tax free. If so inclined, the Jedi could ask the employer to pay in a portion of taxable US dollars or the employee could trade them at market rate.
The opportunity is endless. When someone does implement it, I sure hope that they aren't as crooked as those fucking scientologists.
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
Charlton Heston, as Moses in the 10 Commandments. That bit where he parts the red sea is pretty damn spetacular. Definatly on par with yoda i'd say.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
The Jedi religion didn't come from New Zealand. It began a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
I don't think it does perfectly describe any of the major religions. The people that "organised" these religions did not go on to create "a business underworld to avoid the government".
Yes, there are "followers" of major religions that use others' beliefs to their advantage, but that was not the intent of those that "developed" the religion, unlike the parent post's comment.
I live in Canada, and it is a little known fact (even among Canadians) that failing to answer a Stats Can survey can net you a lengthy jail term. Don't believe me?
From the statistics act: http://www.statcan.ca/english/about/statact.htm
False or unlawful information
31. Every person who, without lawful excuse,
(a) refuses or neglects to answer, or wilfully answers falsely, any question requisite for obtaining any information sought in respect of the objects of this Act or pertinent thereto that has been asked of him by any person employed or deemed to be employed under this Act, or
(b) refuses or neglects to furnish any information or to fill in to the best of his knowledge and belief any schedule or form that the person has been required to fill in, and to return the same when and as required of him pursuant to this Act, or knowingly gives false or misleading information or practises any other deception thereunder
is, for every refusal or neglect, or false answer or deception, guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both. 1970-71-72, c. 15, s. 29.
I think this was a subtle form of protest. You should see the stuff I told them the last time they chose me. My NYT mandatory registration lists me as a 13 year old lawyer from Afghanistan who makes USD $150,000 a year. Let's see what the marketing Noobs make of that one, LOL... And I resent the government doing this sort of thing even more. BTW, even though they don't identify individuals, localized statistical data is available right down to your postal code, which is a tax subsidized godsend to direct marketing agencies.
My rights don't need management.
1. There's more freaky people with no life in Australia.
2. Australians are more likely to take the piss out of something they think is stupid or pointless.
Nerd: Derogatory term typically directed at anybody with a lower Slashdot ID than you.
OK, I'm late enough that probably no one will see this comment, let alone mod it up, but what the heck ...
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In the Star Wars movies, the method for becoming a Jedi was to meet one and train under him (or her?). How does anyone outside of the movies do this? Have you ever met an actual Jedi Master?
I am both a disciple and a teacher in one of the traditions Lucas imitated when he wrote ANH. For the record, Kadampa Buddhism, which was practiced in Tibet until recently. If someone comes up to me and tells me they are a Kadampa, but they have never met a Kadampa before and have never received teachings directly, I know they are mistaken. This is a tradition that must be passed on person-to-person. I always thought Jedi was too.
Or maybe I'm just taking this way too seriously
Wangden
-- "You're not fooling me, young man - it's turtles all the way down!"
I'm anywhere from 11 to 80 years of age, with my birthday falling between Jan 1 and Dec 30, and tend to make over $100,000 every year as an unemployed home maker that specializes in a technical career field. I am of multiple genders, races, and religions. I always live at 1234 Somewhere Ave. My phone number is 911-123-4567 feel free to call day or night. Now of course if it's for something important like pre-ordering Star Wars Galaxies (ok so I'm a nerd get over it), I tend to be honest enough with my info to get my credit card approved, but nothing more.