NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Jedi census phenomenon

The Jedi census phenomenon is a grassroots movement that was created in 2001 for citizens in a few English-speaking countries to record their religion as "Jedi" or "Jedi Knight" (after the fictitious quasi-religious order of Force-attuned knights in the Star Wars universe) on the national census. 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.^[1] Other news reports also interpreted the exercise as a massive practical joke. A grassroots movement (often referenced in the context of a political movement) is one driven by the constituents of a community. ... Definitions of the Anglosphere vary: Countries in which English is the first language of a large fraction of the population are shown in blue. ... Jedi Knights and Jedi Knight redirect here. ... The Force is a binding, ubiquitous power that is the object of the Jedi and Sith monastic orders in the Star Wars universe. ... This article is about the series. ... A fictional universe is an imaginary world that serves as the setting or backdrop for one or (more commonly) multiple works of fiction or translatable non-fiction. ... Image:1870 census Lindauer Weber 01. ... For the officer of arms, see New Zealand Herald Extraordinary. ... A blank check (carte blanche) is a check that has no numerical value written in, but is still signed. ... An office cubicle with all the contents covered in aluminum foil. ...

Origins

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". Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Impact

Australia

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. However, 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] Australian Bureau of Statistics logo The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is the Australian government agency that collects and publishes statistical information about Australia. ...

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 organisational 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 Zealand

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. Also, 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". However, if Jedi were counted it would have been the second largest religion in New Zealand. The percentages of religious affiliations were: Dunedin (ÅŒtepoti in Maori) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the region of Otago. ... Statistics New Zealand (Te Tari Tatau) is a New Zealand government department, and the source of the countrys official statistics. ...

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] For other uses, see Christian (disambiguation). ... Buddhism is a variety of teachings, sometimes described as a religion[1] or way of life that attempts to identify the causes of human suffering and offer various ways that are claimed to end, or ease suffering. ... This article discusses the adherents of Hinduism. ...

Canada

In the Canada 2001 Census, some 20,000 people reported their religion as Jedi.^[9] The Canada 2001 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. ...

England and Wales

In England and Wales 390,127 people (0.7 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 the 2001 Census 2.6 percent of the population of Brighton claimed to be Jedi. The percentages of religious affiliations were: For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This article is about the country. ... Sikhism (IPA: or ; Punjabi: , , IPA: ), founded on the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev and nine successive gurus in fifteenth century Northern India, is the fifth-largest religion in the world. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Buddhism is a variety of teachings, sometimes described as a religion[1] or way of life that attempts to identify the causes of human suffering and offer various ways that are claimed to end, or ease suffering. ... For other places with the same name, see Brighton (disambiguation). ...

It was confirmed prior to the census that citizens were not liable for a fine in relation to question 10 (on religion).^[11] This was based on section 1(2) of the Census (Amendment) Act 2000,^[12] 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^[13] and The Census (Amendment) Regulations 2000.^[14]

Jedi was assigned its own code in the United Kingdom for census processing, the number 896.^[15] 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. Office for National Statistics logo The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the United Kingdom government executive agency charged with the collection and publication of statistics related to the economy, population and society of the United Kingdom at national and local levels. ...

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.^[16] 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.^[17] 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.^[18] 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- â†’ Deaths in June June 27: Shelby Foote June 27: John T. Walton June 26: Richard Whiteley June 25: John Fiedler June 25: Chet Helms June 24: Paul Winchell June 21: Jaime Cardinal Sin June 20: Jack Kilby... Jamieson Ronald Reed (born August 4, 1973 [1] in Whitehaven) is the newly elected Labour Member of Parliament for the UK constituency of Copeland, elected in the 2005 general election. ... The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... Copeland is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... Cumbria (IPA: ), is a shire county in the extreme North West of England. ... A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected representative in such bodies as the House of Commons or the United States House of Representatives. ... The Conservative Party, officially though less commonly known as the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. ... Beaconsfield is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... Dominic Charles Roberts Grieve (born May 24, 1956) British politician and barrister He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Beaconsfield and is the shadow Attorney General. ... April 2006 : â† - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- â†’ Marcos Pontes, Brazils first astronaut, reaches the International Space Station. ... Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (born 20 July 1950) is a politician in the United Kingdom. ... Gainsborough is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

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.^[19] is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The International Day for Tolerance is an annual observance declared by UNESCO in 1995 to generate public awareness of the dangers of intolerance. ...

Scotland

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").^[20] This article is about the country. ...

The proportion of people stating their religion as Jedi in Scotland was slightly lower than that in England and Wales, at 0.277%, but this still made it the third largest reported religion in Scotland.^[21]

This may have been influenced by the fact that in Scotland it was indicated on the 2001 Census form that answering questions 13 and 14 (on religion) was voluntary but, in contrast to the position in England, that those providing false information could still be liable to a fine.^[22] That difference was despite the fact that the Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2000^[23] made exactly the same amendments to the Census Act 1920 as its English counterpart. The change in the law was implemented by The Census (Scotland) Amendment Order 2000^[24] and The Census (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2000.^[25]

Related movements

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.^[26] The Australian census is run by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. ... Flying Spaghetti Monsterism (FSM) is a satirical parody religion created in 2005 to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. ... A recent parody religion, Pastafarianism was created in 2005 to protest a decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to allow intelligent design to be taught in science classes alongside evolution. ... Bobby Henderson redirects here. ...

Notes and references

^ Perrott, Alan (2002-08-31). Jedi Order lures 53,000 disciples. New Zealand Herald. Retrieved on 2006-04-05.
^ Census of Population and Housing - The 2001 Census, Religion and the Jedi. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved on 2006-04-05.
^ smh.com.au. May the farce be with you. Retrieved on 26 March, 2006.
^ mrsa.com.au. Jedi followers need more than cyber support. Retrieved on 26 March, 2006.
^ snopes. Retrieved on 7 August, 2006.
^ smh.com.au. Come to your census - no kidding, they're serious. Retrieved on 29 August, 2006.
^ Perrott, Alan (2002-08-31). Jedi Order lures 53,000 disciples. New Zealand Herald. Retrieved on 2006-04-05.
^ The fate of the Jedi. No Right Turn (2006-12-08). Retrieved on 2007-09-16. “A story in the Dominion-Post has the answer: '... census general manager Nancy McBeth told The Dominion Post there were more than 20,200 followers of the force - down from 54,000 in 2001.'”
^ canada.com. Some 20,000 Canadians worship at the altar of Yoda. Retrieved on 19 June, 2006.
^ statistics.gov.uk. Ethnicity and Religion: Jedi. Retrieved on 20 November, 2006.
^ theregister.co.uk. UK Jedi get green light. Retrieved on 26 March, 2006.
^ opsi.gov.uk. Census (Amendment) Act 2000. Retrieved on 14 August, 2007.
^ opsi.gov.uk. The Census (Amendment) Order 2000. Retrieved on 14 August, 2007.
^ opsi.gov.uk. The Census (Amendment) Regulations 2000. Retrieved on 14 August, 2007.
^ Census of Population and Housing - The 2001 Census, Religion and the Jedi.
^ publications.parliament.uk. House of Commons Hansard Debates for 21 June 2005. Retrieved on 20 March, 2008.
^ publications.parliament.uk. Racial and Religious Hatred Bill: Standing Committee Debates. Retrieved on 14 August, 2007.
^ publications.parliament.uk. Education and Inspections Bill: Standing Committee Debates. Retrieved on 14 August, 2007.
^ Jedi Knights demand Britain's fourth largest 'religion' receives recognition.
^ scottishpf.org. The Pagan Federation (Scotland): Complete data for the: Q13 'Another Religion' (Current Religion) and Q14 'Another Religion' (Religion of Upbringing) write-in boxes, Scottish Census of 2001. Retrieved on 14 August, 2007.
^ scotland.gov.uk. Analysis of Religion in the 2001 Census: Summary Report. Retrieved on 14 August, 2007.
^ gro-scotland.gov.uk. 2001 Census Form. Retrieved on 14 August, 2007.
^ opsi.gov.uk. Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2000. Retrieved on 14 August, 2007.
^ opsi.gov.uk. The Census (Scotland) Amendment Order 2000. Retrieved on 14 August, 2007.
^ opsi.gov.uk. The Census (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2000. Retrieved on 14 August, 2007.
^ FSM - You know it makes Census. noodlynation.blogspot (July 25, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-07-27.

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