Census 2011 data on religion reveals Jedi Knights are in decline (UK)

[cbayer]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/11/census-data-religion-jedi-knights

Pagans rank highly with 56,620 adherents, but high-profile Scientology is followed by only 2,418, and 14m have no religion
Robert Booth
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 11 December 2012 08.29 EST


Sir Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi: perhaps the best-known Jedi to wield a lightsabre. Photograph: AP
The people of England and Wales may be turning their backs on religion in their droves, with 14 million now saying they have no faith, but the remaining believers appear to be showing greater diversity of belief than ever before. Asked what religion they were, 6,242 answered Heavy Metal, 1,893 said they were Satanists and 650 said they were New Age.

At the last census in 2001 there was a campaign to encourage people to answer the question with Jedi, and around 330,000 did so. But the force is apparently on the wane according to Tuesday's figures with 176,632 describing themselves as Jedi Knights.

Even so, the grouping, named after the fictional good guys in the Star Wars films, remains the biggest single category after the leading faiths of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism. It ranked higher than followers of other established religions, including Rastafarians (just 7,906 in England and Wales), Jains (20,288) and Baha'i (5,021).

Pagans ranked highly with 56,620 adherents, while 11,766 identified their religion as Wicca and 4,189 said they were druids. All of them scored more highly than Scientology, the church whose figurehead member is the Hollywood star Tom Cruise. Despite building high street branches and a major London HQ, only 2,418 people said they followed the belief system. A total of 29,267 people described their "religion" as atheist while slightly more, 32,382, said they were agnostic.