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."

Comments

In other news....

[Gortbusters.org]

There are about 20,000 single guys who enjoy D&D and star wars in Canada!

They might just as well have put

[Faust7]

"Virgin (Y/N)?"

Census takers

[worst_name_ever]

20,000 lightsabre-wielding census-takers is nothing to sneeze at.

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...

Religion Question?

[mharris007]

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.

Re:Religion Question?

[RestiffBard]

For the people that are going to say its no one's business about this or that or how many toilets they have and so forth allow me a moment. First off, the toilet question was a real question from the 2000 US Census.

Now, before people get up in arms there are legitimate reasons for wanting this data. And they in no way harm any citizen. They are designed to help citizens.

For instance, the Marklar race respond that on average they earn 12,000 a year and have no indoor toilet. This lets the government know 1. Marklars may not be getting the racial equality that in the US should be mandatory. 2. Marklars are not properly being serviced by their government. This is rudimentary but you get the idea (i hope).

as for the questions, a curious thing happened in 2000. people complained about the questions, race, toilets, salary etc... Trent Lott, then Senate Majority Leader said that if people didn't want to answer the questions then the Census had no right to compel people to do so.

Here's the funny part. 1. the Census is meant only to count heads. 2. the other questions on the Census are tacked on by Congress 3. Congress in fact gives the Census the mandate to compel people to answer. 4. Trent Lott is an obvious asshat.

Finally for all of you clever people that thought the Census wouldn't count you if you closed the blinds when ever an enumerator came by you're wrong. Enumerators, towards the end of the Census would park at the end of your street and count people entering and leaving. How many cars in the driveway? How many people-size shadows behind the curtains? They would make an educated guess at the number and put that down.

Where is the 2000 Census data now? Arizona. In a big vault for the most part.

How do I know? That's where I Fed-Exed it. I was a Census Clerk for 2000. No, I really didn't care what you wrote down.

By the way, James Weatherby of 3247 Main St. has 5 bathrooms.

Re:Religion Question?

[dillon_rinker]

Gnostics believe that you can know. Agnostics believe you can't know. Diagnostics believe in a deeper knowledge of the divine through a better understanding of diesel mechanics.

Re:Religion Question?

[daveo0331]

Excerpt from Census form:

9. Describe your religious beliefs:

a. Christian conservative
b. Other Christian
c. Please add my name to John Ashcroft's list of "suspicious persons"

Originated in NZ then UK

[MrOrn]

Actually the Jedi answer for the census form started in New Zealand, then spread to the UK around April 2001. Australia's census wasn't until October.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/new_med ia /1271380.stm

Use the Force eh?

[oogoliegoogolie]

The force will be with you, always, you hoser!

OSQ

[Cyno01]

Homer: "Marge, anyone could miss Canada. All tucked away down there."

Re:Significant sosiology phenomena

[anagama]

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!

Obvious...?

[DirtyJ]

From the report: Prior to 1971, fewer than 1% of the Canadian population reported having no religion. In 2001, that percentage increased to 16% of the population.

I find their lack of faith disturbing.

[ducks]

Re:hmmm...

[Greyhand]

If someone set up an "official" jedi religion, George Lucas would sue the hell out of them. This in turn would set a precident allowing religions to be sued.

1. Someone creates the official jedi religion
2. George Lucas sues them
3. Precident set : religions can be sued
4. I sue the major world religions for upsetting world peace
5. PROFIT!!!!

But because its Canada..

[marcushnk]

That would make them Sith, eh? :-P

Overall Religious stats are quite telling

[Hamster Lover]

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?

Words of Wisdome to Canadian Jedi

[Jedi Holocron]

Do or do not, eh.