400,000 Jedi in Britain

[Hito]

Source:CNN.Com

Sunday, February 16, 2003 Posted: 9:51 PM EST (0251 GMT)

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- It's official -- "Star Wars" has created almost 400,000 Jedis in Britain.

More than 390,000 people listed their religion as "Jedi" on their 2001 census form, more than those who said they were Jewish, Buddhist or Sikh, the Office for National Statistics said Thursday.

The Jedis declared their belief after a campaign on the Internet asked people to "do it because you love Star Wars" or "just to annoy people."

"Star Wars devotees stated their faith as 'Jedi' in the mistaken belief that if 10,000 did so it would be recognized as an official religion," a national statistics spokesman said.

In the films, the Jedi knights are a noble order of protectors unified by their belief in a universal power called the Force.

Hmmmm. I wonder if they could petition the UN or the EU to make it an official religion. They could claim religious persecution and get reparitions from the British government .

[moovok]

I can just see a kid now:

"Sorry sir, its against my religion to use these primitive weapons. A lightsabre, okay, but a scapel, sorry."

I hate to tell you Hito, but thats really old news. Thats been going around for over a year now.

Actually the final figures only came out this week (until now it's only been an estimate).

"May the Force be With you."