Supermarket Bans Jedi Knight

The employees at Tesco seem to be immune to mind tricks, and have kicked out the founder of the International Church of Jediism. Daniel Jones, 23, who founded the religion based on the Star Wars movies, was asked to leave because his robes were against store rules which forbid the wearing of 'hoodies' in their premises. "I told them it was a requirement of my religion but they just sniggered and ordered me to leave," he told The Daily Telegraph newspaper. "I walked past a Muslim lady in a veil. Surely the same rules should apply to everyone." It's exactly this kind of stuff that turns young Jedis to the dark side.

Comments

Re:Discrimination

[Chelloveck]

This must be some fundamentalist Jedi Orthodox sect. I see nothing in the Holy Films that says Jedi must follow a dress code. The robes appear to be a fashion statement, or perhaps a uniform in the same manner as a priest's collar. Hoods are quite obviously optional, as even the most devout Jedi frequently appear without them.

So no, it's not religious discrimination, even if you grant that "Jedi" is a religion. If I were to run around shirtless for religious reasons (and just where in the Bible does it ever say Jesus wore a shirt?) I expect I'd still be kicked out of restaurants and other places with "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service" signs. And I'd expect to be locked up for public indecency if I practiced the viewpoint that if God hadn't intended for us to be seen naked, He darned well would have given us clothes at birth.

All appearances to the contrary aside, you can't just make up any old shit and claim religious protection. Or rather, you can but don't expect the rest of the world to play along. At the very least you need a substantial number of other whack-jobs with the same belief system to back you up on it.