'Jedi Knight' Most Followed Alternative Religion in UK, Says Survey
Census figures taken from respondents in England and Wales showed the most popular alternative religion were people who identified themselves as "Jedi Knights."
The census figures revealed that 176,632 people in England and Wales thought of themselves as Jedi Knights, which made it the seventh most popular faith overall and the highest followed faith encompassed by the option of "Other Religions."
The Star Wars devotees were squarely behind other religious such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism in the number of people who follow and identify with a particular religion.
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The results do mirror a larger social trend that has seen a decline in membership from longstanding religions and an increase in secularism and alternative faiths.
One of the more prominent alternative faiths that have garnered international support is the "Church of Kopimism" which is known as the file sharing church in Norway. Members gather every week to share files of music, films and other content. The content they consider "holy" are the files that are presented at the Church and the Church's followers also regard copying as a sacrament.
Residents of England and Wales chose overwhelmingly the option not to state a personal faith. Over 13.8 million people refused to identify with a faith at all. Individuals specifically identifying as Atheists totaled 29,267.
The city of Norwich was revealed to be the area with that highest proportion of nonreligious individuals with 41.5 percent of residents declining to identify with a particular religion. Norwich did have the third highest portion of Jedi Knights, according to the survey.
The Jedi Church is an online organization and has orders in several U.S. states and countries abroad. According to its website, "The Jedi church has no official doctrine of scripture. The Jedi church recognizes that all living things share a living force and that all people have an innate knowledge of what is right and wrong, and the Jedi church celebrates this like no other religion."
