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"Jedi" Religion Most Popular Alternative Faith In England
Census numbers show that 176,632 people in England and Wales ask themselves, "What would Yoda do?" Although the number of people who list their religion as "Jedi" has dropped by more than 50% in the past 10 years, It remains the most popular "alternative" faith in England. From the article: "The new figures reveal that the lightsabre-wielding disciples are only behind Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism in the popularity stakes, excluding non-religious people and people who did not answer."
Regardless of your actual faith, why wouldn't you choose this option?
Believe in the giant spaghetti monster.
Tomorrow is another day...
No, the number one "made up" religion is Christianity.
if they get control of the republican Senate, then there might be a problem...
Thank heavens we're still a constitutional monarchy!
How many pretend to be Christian, I wonder? Probably more than pretend to be Jedi.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
Every time I see this story come up, I look for one phrase- 'Freedom of Conscience'. If Humans spent thousands of years, and millions of lives fighting for a fundamental Human Right, I might expect some to remember this fact when events directly relating to the subject come up.
Freedom of Conscience means that your spiritual beliefs belong to you, the individual, and may never be defined by the State. You are free to believe in what you wish, observe your spiritual beliefs in any way you deem fit, and change those beliefs as often as you like. (And for the dribbling cretins that hang around Slashdot, this does not mean freedom from lawful punishment if one's actions in the name of one's spiritual beliefs infringes the laws of the land).
Anglo Saxon nations (UK, USA, Canada, NZ, Australia) have Freedom of Conscience as a Human Right for all their citizens, even when freedom of expression is not a right. You spiritual beliefs may not be tested, defined or forceably characterised by the State.
For those dimbulbs on Slashdot, this means it is IMPOSSIBLE to illegally answer a question about your religion on a UK or USA census, by definition.
Why do so few people understand the right of 'Freedom of Conscience'? Because this right threatens organised religion. If the people that belong to organised churches get it into their head that their understanding of their own spiritual existence trumps the 'teachings' of the church, that church will rapidly lose power.
It is no accident that when Census time comes around, sites like this are spammed with nonsense about the 'illegality' of answering the 'religious' questions whosoever the respondent may wish. The spam is purposeful, deliberate, pro-organised religion propaganda that plays on people's ignorance of their rights.
It should be noted that most non-Anglo-Saxon nations do not have the right of freedom of conscience. Even many first world European nations lack this. Instead, at best, you get the right to join one of a number of State authorised organised religions, or sometimes to be an official non-member of any. The battle for people to have the right of 'Freedom of Conscience' was fought and won in the UK, and fought and lost in nations like Germany. In Germany, the State can officially rule Scientology 'illegal', something that could never happen in the UK or USA.
Those that play on people's ignorance of 'Freedom of Conscience' and spam garbage about how 'Jedi' respondents have broken the law and should be prosecuted, are actually attempting to persuade citizens of Britain and the USA to accept the situation found in backwards nations like Germany or Indonesia. Their tactic is to use ignorance of fundamental Human Rights to eventually wither those rights into non-existence. They are the religious bigots that love the power wielded by organised religion, and hate the power potentially wielded by the free-thinking individual.
Freedom of conscience will die in the UK, just as freedom of expression has (Brits have been successfully prosecuted in the last few years for simply expressing anti-war sentiments in public). The method of killing rights here is to give useful pressure groups ever more power over members of their communities. This tactic is overseen by organisations like 'Common Purpose'. It is the old tactic of divide-and-conquer by 'tribal loyalty' , where no matter who you are, you are forced to belong and submit to a given tribe, the leaders of which all share 'common purpose' with the leaders of the other tribes.
In the meantime, while they still can, the sensible thinking part of the UK populace will express their love of freedom through acts like ticking 'Jedi'. For each individual, in is a small and tiny voice in the gathering storm saying "I am not a number, I am a free Man".