Thanks to The Witchs' Voice for finding this Sunday Herald article.
Back at census time, a number of people decided to write in Jedi in the religion box on the form. Some thinking it would be funny, a few actually serious.
I remember reading a couple of interesting sites where people were sincerely trying to build a recognizable religion around the ideas that George Lucas built with bits and pieces of existing philosophy and ideas. The Jedi isn't new other than it may be the first time that some of those elements have been brought together before. In a way, just New Age Samurai.
So it turns out that at least in Scotland a lot of people claimed to be practicing Jedi. 14,000 of them Enough so that Jedi is listed as the fourth largest religion in Scotland.
Now, in England and Wales the number is 390,000, although the UK didn't take those people seriously and listed them as Atheists.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Truth really is stranger than fiction.
Posted by fictionman at March 28, 2004 11:54 AM