Today is the day that the Jedi come out and play. Supposedly 10,000 people are required to claim that their religion is “Jedi” on the Australian national census to be held tonight for “Jedi” to be recognised as an official religion in Australia; (How Ron L. Hubbard is that?). It didn’t work in 2001, so I doubt it will work this time around … maybe the force is stronger with this one?
ABS recognises that people have a wide range of belief systems [1]
If your belief system is “Jedi” then answer as such on the census form. But if you would normally answer Anglican or Jewish or Buddhist or something else to the question “what is your religion?” and for the census you answer “Jedi” then this may impact on social services provision if enough people do the same.
The five years have come and gone and once again the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is asking us all for information about where we live, who we live with, how much we earn and what, if any, our religious beliefs are.
In 2001, an email campaign successfully encouraged 70,509 Australians to report their religion as Jedi, the powerful religious force attributed to Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars movies. [3]
Feel the power of the Dark Side!
Bloody Sith!
The Dark Side all right — couldn’t access eCensus with Firefox v1.5.0.6 and had to use IE. Not happy Jan!
[1.] Census of Population and Housing – The 2001 Census, Religion and the Jedi [Australian Bureau of Statistics]
[2.] May the farce be with you (August 27 2002) [SMH]
[3.] Census parties the new rage (August 6, 2006) [SMH]
