The Jedi census phenomenon is a grassroots movement that was created in 2001 for citizens of a number of English-speaking countries to record their religion as "Jedi" or "Jedi Knight" on the national census. The campaign was loosely organized by circulating e-mails claiming that if enough people entered "Jedi", it would be recognized as an official religion by the government. The emails also implored people to report their religion as "Jedi", "because you love Star Wars" or "just to annoy people". Australian Star Wars Appreciation Society president Chris Brennan reported to The New Zealand Herald that while a minority were "true hard-core people that would believe the Jedi religion carte blanche", the majority of self-reported Jedi claimed the religion for their own amusement, or to poke fun at the government. Other news reports also interpreted the exercise as a massive practical joke.

At least one Universal Life Church congregation and four real independent churches based on the Jedi religion exist. In 2003 Jedi Sanctuary was chartered by the Universal Life Church. In 2005 Temple Of The Jedi Order, founded by Rev. John Henry Phelan, was incorporated as a Texas non-profit religious corporation. The Temple's ministers may legally conduct marriages in the United States. In 2010 Coelescere Covenant (also known as "The Jedi Way"), founded by Rivan Elan, stood up as a Nebraska religious Non-Profit (Dom) Corporation.

In 2007 brothers Barney Jones and Daniel Jones set up a 30-member Jedi church in Holyhead on Anglesey in Wales, based on improving life using the Jedi principles. An attack on one of the founders on March 25, 2008, attracted coverage in the popular press. In 2008 Reverend Josh McNamara founded the Oklahoma congregation of the Temple Of The Jedi Order.

"Jedi" is currently the tenth most commonly listed religion on Facebook.^[1]

Contents 1 Impact 1.1 Australia 1.2 New Zealand 1.3 Canada 1.4 England and Wales 1.5 Scotland 2 Statistics 2.1 Jedi in England and Wales 3 Related movements 4 Notes and references 5 External links 5.1 In other languages

ImpactEdit

AustraliaEdit

In Australia more than 70,000 people declared themselves members of the Jedi order in the 2001 census. The Australian Bureau of Statistics issued an official press release^[2] 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".^[3]

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 organizational structure in place.^[4][5]

In the lead-up to the 2006 census, there were some reports of the ABS hinting (without humour) that 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 ZealandEdit

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 percent marking "Jedi" as their religion. The city of Dunedin had the highest population of reported Jedi per capita.^[7] 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:

• Christian: 58.9%
• No religion: 29.6%
• Object to answering: 6.9%
• Jedi: 1.5%
• Buddhism: 1.2%
• Hindu: 1.2%

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.^[8]

CanadaEdit

In the Canada 2001 Census, some 20,000 people reported their religion as Jedi.^[9]

England and WalesEdit

In England and Wales 390,127 people (almost 0.8 percent) 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 country. The highest percentages of such responses were typically in cities with high student populations.^[10] In 2012, the census number dropped to 176,632 people, but still making it the most popular alternative faith in the country.^[11]

It was confirmed prior to the census that citizens were not liable for a fine in relation to question 10 (on religion).^[12] This was based on section 1(2) of the Census (Amendment) Act 2000,^[13] 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^[14] and The Census (Amendment) Regulations 2000.^[15]

Jedi was assigned its own code in the United Kingdom for census processing, the number 896.^[16] 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. The Office of National Statistics revealed the total figure in a press release entitled "390,000 Jedis there are".^[17]

Politicians continue to refer to the phenomenon. 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.^[18] 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.^[19] 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.^[20]

On November 16, 2006, two self-proclaimed 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.^[21]

ScotlandEdit

In Scotland 14,052 people stated that Jedi was their current religion (14,014 "Jedi", 24 "Jedi Other" and 14 "Sith") and 2,733 stated that it was their religion of upbringing (2,682 "Jedi", 36 "Jedi Other" and 15 "The Dark Side").^[22]

The proportion of people stating their religion as Jedi in Scotland was slightly lower than that in England and Wales, at 0.277%.^[23]

In 2009, the BBC reported that eight officers and two civilian staff members in the Strathclyde Police listed their religion as "Jedi" in voluntary diversity surveys.^[24]

StatisticsEdit

The Jedi Religion claims a number of adherents throughout the world. Whether for serious reasons, or just to poke fun at bureaucracy, many citizens have claimed on census forms to follow the path created by George Lucas for his Star Wars series of films.

Jedi in England and WalesEdit

According to the UK Office of National Statistics, in England and Wales, in 2001 there were 390,127 Jedi, making up 0.7% of the population.

The results, broken down into districts of England and principal areas of Wales are:

Area	Total	Jedi	%
Brighton and Hove	247817	6480	2.61%
Oxford	134248	2742	2.04%
London Borough of Wandsworth	260380	5024	1.93%
Cambridge	108863	2022	1.86%
Southampton	217445	3944	1.81%
London Borough of Lambeth	266169	4745	1.78%
Exeter	111076	1942	1.75%
Reading	143096	2500	1.75%
Bristol	380615	6642	1.75%
London Borough of Islington	175797	2904	1.65%
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham	165242	2690	1.63%
Nottingham	266988	4187	1.57%
London Borough of Camden	198020	3074	1.55%
Bournemouth	163444	2515	1.54%
Norwich	121550	1849	1.52%
Cheltenham	110013	1633	1.48%
City of London	7185	103	1.43%
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames	147273	2103	1.43%
Manchester	392819	5476	1.39%
Ceredigion	74941	1036	1.38%
London Borough of Hackney	202824	2746	1.35%
Portsmouth	186701	2511	1.34%
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames	172335	2306	1.34%
London Borough of Haringey	216507	2837	1.31%
Bath and North East Somerset	169040	2204	1.30%
London Borough of Tower Hamlets	196106	2546	1.30%
London Borough of Southwark	244866	3059	1.25%
Guildford	129701	1599	1.23%
Winchester	107222	1318	1.23%
London Borough of Westminster	181286	2191	1.21%
Canterbury	135278	1633	1.21%
North Dorset	61905	744	1.20%
Runnymede	78033	935	1.20%
Waverley, Surrey	115665	1375	1.19%
Isles of Scilly	2152	25	1.16%
Warwick	125931	1454	1.15%
Milton Keynes	207057	2389	1.15%
Rushmoor	90987	1049	1.15%
St. Albans	129005	1473	1.14%
Plymouth	240720	2735	1.14%
Windsor and Maidenhead	133626	1485	1.11%
London Borough of Lewisham	248922	2747	1.10%
Cardiff	305353	3367	1.10%
Worthing	97568	1070	1.10%
Hart	83505	915	1.10%
Bracknell Forest	109617	1192	1.09%
Wokingham	150229	1620	1.08%
Wycombe	162105	1740	1.07%
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea	158919	1685	1.06%
Newcastle upon Tyne	259536	2747	1.06%
Leeds	715402	7543	1.05%
North Hertfordshire	116908	1220	1.04%
East Hampshire	109274	1137	1.04%
Watford	79726	829	1.04%
Welwyn Hatfield	97553	1013	1.04%
Adur	59627	617	1.03%
Tunbridge Wells	104030	1068	1.03%
West Berkshire	144483	1483	1.03%
Southend-on-Sea	160257	1637	1.02%
Charnwood	153462	1558	1.02%
Mendip	103869	1041	1.00%
Harlow	78768	786	1.00%
Basingstoke and Deans	152573	1513	0.99%
Northhampton	194458	1926	0.99%
Colchester	155796	1534	0.98%
Chelmsford	157072	1543	0.98%
London Borough of Bromley	295532	2890	0.98%
Sheffield	513234	5015	0.98%
York	181094	1768	0.98%
South Oxfordshire	128188	1249	0.97%
London Borough of Merton	187908	1830	0.97%
Mole Valley	80287	778	0.97%
London Borough of Greenwich	214403	2073	0.97%
Lancaster	133914	1286	0.96%
East Hertfordshire	128919	1224	0.95%
Reigate and Banstead	126523	1194	0.94%
West Oxfordshire	95640	902	0.94%
Durham	87709	825	0.94%
Woking	89840	844	0.94%
Carrick	87865	825	0.94%
Hastings	85029	794	0.93%
London Borough of Ealing	300948	2761	0.92%
Surrey Heath	80314	735	0.92%
Swindon	180051	1646	0.91%
Dacorum	137799	1255	0.91%
Stevenage	79715	724	0.91%
Uttlesford	68946	620	0.90%
Poole	138288	1241	0.90%
Mid Sussex	127378	1143	0.90%
Epson and Ewell	67059	598	0.89%
Rushcliffe	105599	940	0.89%
Spelthorne	90390	803	0.89%
Isle of Wight	132731	1176	0.89%
South Hams	81849	725	0.89%
Elmbridge	121936	1074	0.88%
Kennet	74838	654	0.87%
Eastleigh	116169	1015	0.87%
North Wiltshire	125372	1095	0.87%
Bedford	147911	1290	0.87%
Worcester	93353	814	0.87%
Crawley	99744	862	0.86%
Lincoln	85595	736	0.86%
Vale of White Horse	115627	993	0.86%
London Borough of Waltham Forest	218341	1865	0.85%
Leicester	279921	2371	0.85%
Cherwell	131785	1108	0.84%
Brentwood	68456	572	0.84%
Mid Bedfordshire	121024	1002	0.83%
Lewes	92177	762	0.83%
Chiltern	89228	732	0.82%
Bridgnorth	52497	429	0.82%
London Borough of Hounslow	212341	1731	0.82%
London Borough of Sutton	179768	1463	0.81%
Chichester	106450	866	0.81%
Eastbourne	89667	729	0.81%
Mid Devon	69774	567	0.81%
West Devon	48843	393	0.80%
Taunton Deane	102299	823	0.80%
London Borough of Barnet	314564	2530	0.80%
Aylesbury Vale	165748	1331	0.80%
London Borough of Croydon	330587	2654	0.80%
North Devon	87508	702	0.80%
South Cambridgeshire	130108	1034	0.79%
Stroud	107898	855	0.79%
South Bedfordshire	112637	888	0.79%
West Wiltshire	118150	931	0.79%
South Northamptonshire	79293	624	0.79%
Salisbury	114613	892	0.78%
Gwynedd	116843	906	0.78%
Babergh	83461	646	0.77%
Sevenoaks	109305	846	0.77%
Coventry	300848	2321	0.77%
Rochford	78489	604	0.77%
Torridge	58965	451	0.76%
Shepway	96238	734	0.76%
Test Valley	109801	837	0.76%
High Peak	89433	681	0.76%
London Borough of Hillingdon	243006	1839	0.76%
Maldon	59418	448	0.75%
Cotswold	80376	604	0.75%
Derby	221708	1662	0.75%
Horsham	122088	915	0.75%
Huntingdonshire	156954	1176	0.75%
Kettering	81844	613	0.75%
Teignbridge	120958	903	0.75%
Weymouth and Portland	63648	475	0.75%
Thanet	126702	942	0.74%
East Northamptonshire	76550	569	0.74%
Medway	249488	1851	0.74%
North Somerset	188564	1394	0.74%
Rutland	34563	255	0.74%
Preston	129633	952	0.73%
Rugby	87453	638	0.73%
Swansea	223301	1623	0.73%
Ashford	102661	745	0.73%
Hertsmere	94450	685	0.73%
New Forest	169331	1228	0.73%
Peterborough	156061	1131	0.72%
Three Rivers	82848	600	0.72%
Basildon	165668	1198	0.72%
Daventry	71838	519	0.72%
London Borough of Brent	263464	1903	0.72%
Epping Forest	120896	873	0.72%
Dartford	85911	620	0.72%
St Edmundsbury	98193	706	0.72%
Luton	184371	1316	0.71%
Braintree	132179	942	0.71%
Oadby and Wigston	55795	391	0.70%
Slough	119067	828	0.70%
Castle Point	86608	601	0.69%
Broxtowe	107570	746	0.69%
West Dorset	92360	639	0.69%
Liverpool	439473	3020	0.69%
Kingston upon Hull	243589	1667	0.68%
Tonbridge and Malling	107561	736	0.68%
Penwith	63012	431	0.68%
North Cornwall	80509	550	0.68%
Malvern Hills (see Great Malvern)	72172	493	0.68%
Ipswich	117069	799	0.68%
Christchurch	44865	302	0.67%
South Bucks	61945	414	0.67%
Chester	118210	790	0.67%
London Borough of Enfield	273559	1828	0.67%
Gosport	76415	510	0.67%
London Borough of Bexley	218307	1456	0.67%
South Norfolk	110710	736	0.66%
Swale	122801	814	0.66%
East Devon	125520	832	0.66%
Arun	140759	932	0.66%
Macclesfield	150155	991	0.66%
Mid Suffolk	86837	573	0.66%
Purbeck	44416	293	0.66%
Trafford	210145	1358	0.65%
South Gloucestershire	245641	1574	0.64%
London Borough of Harrow	206814	1319	0.64%
Tandridge	79267	505	0.64%
Melton	47866	304	0.64%
Salford	216103	1364	0.63%
Calderdale	192405	1211	0.63%
Kerrier	92517	581	0.63%
South Somerset	150969	945	0.63%
South Lakeland	102301	640	0.63%
Gloucester	109885	686	0.62%
Gedling	111787	697	0.62%
Suffolk Coastal	115141	711	0.62%
Torbay	129706	800	0.62%
Stockport	284528	1752	0.62%
Rother	85428	526	0.62%
London Borough of Havering	224248	1365	0.61%
West Somerset	35075	212	0.60%
Havant	116849	705	0.60%
East Cambridgeshire	73214	437	0.60%
Broxbourne	87054	517	0.59%
Stratford-on-Avon	111484	660	0.59%
Pembrokeshire	114131	673	0.59%
Craven	53620	316	0.59%
Thurrock	143128	842	0.59%
Gravesham	95717	559	0.58%
Harrogate	151336	881	0.58%
Restormel	95562	556	0.58%
Harborough	76559	442	0.58%
South Kesteven	124792	717	0.57%
Stafford	120670	692	0.57%
Fylde	73217	417	0.57%
Monmouthshire	84885	482	0.57%
Tendring	138539	782	0.56%
Birmingham	977087	5478	0.56%
Dover	104566	586	0.56%
Tewkesbury	76405	427	0.56%
Bromsgrove	87837	490	0.56%
Vale of Glamorgan	119292	662	0.55%
Telford and Wrekin	158325	874	0.55%
Congleton	90655	499	0.55%
Broadland	118513	647	0.55%
Breckland	121418	659	0.54%
North Norfolk	98382	532	0.54%
Sedgemoor	105881	572	0.54%
Hinckley and Bosworth	100141	538	0.54%
Kirklees	388567	2083	0.54%
Caradon	79649	426	0.53%
London Borough of Redbridge	238635	1276	0.53%
Oswestry	37308	199	0.53%
Rossendale	65652	350	0.53%
Derbyshire Dales	69469	369	0.53%
East Riding of Yorkshire	314113	1666	0.53%
Wealden	140023	742	0.53%
Blaby	90252	472	0.52%
Eden	49777	260	0.52%
Wychavon	112957	590	0.52%
Powys	126354	658	0.52%
Chorley	100449	523	0.52%
East Dorset	83786	436	0.52%
Erewash	110099	571	0.52%
Maidstone	138948	719	0.52%
Tameside	213043	1101	0.52%
Forest of Dean	79982	411	0.51%
Redditch	78807	403	0.51%
Herefordshire	174871	893	0.51%
Wellingborough	72519	369	0.51%
Fareham	107977	546	0.51%
North West Leicestershire	85503	430	0.50%
Shrewsbury and Atcham	95850	477	0.50%
King's Lynn and West Norfolk	135345	669	0.49%
Bury	180608	890	0.49%
Forest Heath	55510	273	0.49%
Wyre	105618	515	0.49%
Tamworth	74531	361	0.48%
Scarborough	106243	508	0.48%
Lichfield	93232	444	0.48%
Tynedale	58808	280	0.48%
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham	163944	778	0.47%
Wirral	312293	1471	0.47%
Newcastle-under-Lyme	122030	574	0.47%
Pendle	89248	419	0.47%
Bradford	467665	2185	0.47%
Middlesbrough	134855	629	0.47%
Rhondda Cynon Taf	231946	1075	0.46%
Stoke-on-Trent	240636	1113	0.46%
South Derbyshire	81562	377	0.46%
Newark and Sherwood	106273	491	0.46%
London Borough of Newham	243891	1125	0.46%
Flintshire	148594	685	0.46%
South Ribble	103867	477	0.46%
Newport	137011	628	0.46%
Crewe and Nantwich	111007	507	0.46%
South Shropshire	40410	184	0.46%
Blackpool	142283	645	0.45%
Ellesmere Port and Neston	81672	370	0.45%
Amber Valley	116471	527	0.45%
Waveney	112342	508	0.45%
North Kesteven	94024	424	0.45%
Solihull	199517	899	0.45%
Conwy	109596	492	0.45%
Warrington	191080	855	0.45%
Vale Royal	122089	544	0.45%
Corby	53174	236	0.44%
Wyre Forest	96981	429	0.44%
Sunderland	280807	1242	0.44%
Carmarthenshire	172842	756	0.44%
North Tyneside	191659	836	0.44%
Tessdale	24457	105	0.43%
Great Yarmouth	90810	388	0.43%
North East Lincolnshire	157979	669	0.42%
Chesterfield	98845	418	0.42%
Ashfield	111387	469	0.42%
East Staffordshire	103770	436	0.42%
South Holland	76522	319	0.42%
Fenland	83519	348	0.42%
Wolverhampton	236582	984	0.42%
Sefton	282958	1172	0.41%
West Lancashire	108378	448	0.41%
Selby	76468	315	0.41%
Ribble Valley	53960	222	0.41%
Bridgend	128645	528	0.41%
Carlisle	100739	411	0.41%
Nuneaton and Bedworth	119132	484	0.41%
Oldham	217273	869	0.40%
Bolton	261037	1042	0.40%
Wrexham	128476	511	0.40%
Bassetlaw	107713	426	0.40%
Denbighshire	93065	368	0.40%
Richmondshire	47010	185	0.39%
Alnwick	31029	122	0.39%
East Lindsey	130447	505	0.39%
North Warwickshire	61859	238	0.38%
Boston	55750	214	0.38%
Barrow-in-Furness	71980	275	0.38%
North Shropshire	57108	218	0.38%
Rochdale	205357	778	0.38%
Wakefield	315172	1193	0.38%
Staffordshire Moorlands	94489	341	0.36%
Darlington	97838	353	0.36%
Hambleton	84111	303	0.36%
Halton	118208	425	0.36%
West Lindsey	79515	283	0.36%
Castle Morpeth	49001	174	0.36%
Mansfield	98181	348	0.35%
Torfaen	90949	322	0.35%
South Staffordshire	105896	373	0.35%
North Lincolnshire	152849	531	0.35%
Anglesey	66829	231	0.35%
Ryedale	50872	175	0.34%
Burnley	89542	303	0.34%
Redcar and Cleveland	139132	470	0.34%
Berwick-upon-Tweed	25949	87	0.34%
North East Derbyshire	96940	321	0.33%
Cannock Chase	92126	305	0.33%
Barnsley	218063	721	0.33%
Caerphilly	169519	557	0.33%
Blyth Valley	81263	267	0.33%
Hyndburn	81498	262	0.32%
Gateshead	191151	607	0.32%
Blackburn with Darwen	137470	431	0.31%
Stockton-on-Tees	178408	553	0.31%
Chester-le-Street	53692	166	0.31%
Wigan	301415	922	0.31%
Dudley	305155	919	0.30%
Doncaster	286866	857	0.30%
Bolsover	71766	212	0.30%
Allerdale	93492	274	0.29%
Sotuh Tyneside	152785	446	0.29%
St. Helens	176843	485	0.27%
Wansbeck	61138	167	0.27%
Rotherham	248175	677	0.27%
Copeland	69318	187	0.27%
Neath Port Talbot	134468	353	0.26%
Sandwell	282904	742	0.26%
Walsall	253499	658	0.26%
Derwentside	85074	211	0.25%
Hartlepool	88611	195	0.22%
Wear Valley	61339	122	0.20%
Merthyr Tydfil	55981	111	0.20%
Blaenau Gwent	70064	130	0.19%
Knowsley	150459	272	0.18%
Sedgefield	87206	153	0.18%
Easington	93993	152	0.16%

Related movementsEdit

For the Australian census of 2006 there was a movement for people to list their religion as 'Pastafarian', a reference to the parody religion worshipping the Flying Spaghetti Monster.^[25] A similar "Elf census phenomenon" took place in Russia during the last two censuses (2002 and 2010), when many Tolkien fans listed their ethnicity as "elf". Jediism is a religious movement very similar to this.

Notes and referencesEdit

External linksEdit

• National Statistics Online (2001), "390,000 Jedis [sic] There Are"
• Jedi census phenomenon on Wikipedia
• Article about this phenomenon at Snopes.com
• JEDI Census, unofficial web page for the campaign
• Feel the Force, a fanfilm on the subject