Jedi census phenomenon
The Jedi census phenomenon was a grassroots movement in 2001 for citizens in a few English-speaking countries to record their religion as "Jedi" or "Jedi Knight" (after the fictitious religious order of Force-attuned knights in the Star Wars films) on the national census. Their motivations were unknown, but 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 "either did so for a laugh or to poke borax[1] at the Government."[2] Other news reports also interpreted the exercise as a massive practical joke.
Origins
The campaign was loosely organized by circulating emails 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". Other reasons that have been suggested for this behaviour have included frivolity, a protest or mockery of the census or religion, or a simple desire to gain notoriety as someone who declared themselves as a Jedi.
Impact
Australia
In Australia more than 70,000 people declared themselves members of the Jedi in the 2001 census. The Australian Bureau of Statistics issued an official press release[3] following a large number of media enquiries on the subject, prior to the 2001 census. The ABS stated that the code for 'not defined' would be substituted for any respondents entering 'Jedi' in the religion question, and stressed the social impact of making misleading or false statements on the census.
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'. However, an ABS spokesperson said that "further analysis of census responses has been undertaken since the release of census data on 17 June to separately identify the number of Jedi-related responses".[4] 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.[5]
New Zealand
Over 53,000 people listed themselves as Jedi in New Zealand and 20,000 listed themselves as Jedi in Canada. New Zealand has the highest per capita population of purported Jedi in the world, with 1.5% marking "Jedi" as their religion on the census. Statistics New Zealand treated Jedi responses as "Answer understood, but will not be counted". However if Jedi was counted it would be the second largest religion in New Zealand. The percentages of religious affliations were:
- Christian: 58.9%
- No religion: 29.6%
- Object to answering: 6.9%
- Buddhism: 1.2%
- Hindu: 1.2%
England and Wales
It was confirmed prior to the census that citizens were not liable for a fine in relation to question 10 (on religion). [6] In England and Wales 390,000 people (0.7%) 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 such responses were typically in cities with high student populations. The percentages of religious affiliations were:
- Christian: 72.0%
- No religion: 14.8%
- Chose not to respond: 7.7%
- Muslim: 3.1%
- Hindu: 1.1%
- Jedi: 0.7%
Jedi is still not recognised as an "official" religion in any nation where the movement took place, and in fact there is no such concept in the United Kingdom. However, it was assigned its own code in the United Kingdom for census processing: 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.
One possible reference to this phenomenon emerged in June 2005 when Jamie Reed, newly-elected Labour Member of Parliament for Copeland in Cumbria, declared himself to be a Jedi during his maiden speech. The statement, made in the context of an ongoing debate regarding an "Incitement to Religious Hatred" bill, was confirmed by Reed's office to be a joke instead of a serious statement of faith.
Notes and references
- ^ The phrase "to poke borax at", also "to poke borack at", is an Australasian idiom of declining usage meaning "to ridicule". The phrase is of no apparent relation to borax, the chemical compound. Dennis, Anthony (November 8, 2003). "Word rescuers sift for gems". Fairfax Digital. Retrieved 2006-04-05.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Perrott, Alan (2002-08-31). "Jedi Order lures 53,000 disciples". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2006-04-05.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ "Census of Population and Housing - The 2001 Census, Religion and the Jedi". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2006-04-05.
- ^ "smh.com.au". May the farce be with you. Retrieved 26 March.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "mrsa.com.au". Jedi followers need more than cyber support. Retrieved 26 March.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "theregister.co.uk". UK Jedi get green light. Retrieved 26 March.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help)
See also
- List of places by Jedi (England and Wales)
- UK Census
- Matrixism: The Path of the One
- Joke political party
- Animals as electoral candidates