The 2011 UK Census

[laserbream]

My fellow island dwelling Pastafarians, we will soon have only 4 short years to prepare for the 2011 census!

Would it not be a triumph to show up those Jedi nonces, with their padawan this and anakin that? George Lucas has already dealt them a mighty blow with his cunningly awful prequels and I say that it is time to strike while the iron isn't totally cold!

I say we look to the future distant as it may seem, for he who sows durham wheat today will reap a rich harvest of pasta tomorrow. RAmen!

[SC-Pastafarian]

Would it not be a triumph to show up those Jedi nonces, with their padawan this and anakin that? !

I had always heard that Jedi managed to become a recognized religion (or whatever the term is) in the UK from their last census, but never knew if it was actually true or not. I'm assuming this means it did happen?

[St John the Blasphemist]

Nope not true. The census only takes statistics. If you want FSMism regarded as a proper religion in your country then you should go through the proper channels. Scientology has never been regarded as an 'official' religion in Australia, even though it calls itself a church, probably because religions here have no tax exemptions (except in fundraising for legitimate charitable causes). Since, according to some sources, Scientology presumably became a religion to obtain tax exempt status, they had no point in doing it here. Yep--God pays tax Down Under.

More info here.

The [U.K.] Office of National Statistics simply assigned the response "Jedi Knight" a numeric code to simplify the process of tabulating census results, as is typically done when many people answer a question by writing in a response not offered as a choice on the census form. This no more means that Jedi is an "official" religion than the election bureau's assigning a numeric code to "Mickey Mouse" (who usually receives at least several hundred write-in votes in every major election) means that a cartoon rodent is a qualified candidate for political office.

St John the Blasphemist
Saint of Illegitimate Charitable Causes

[SC-Pastafarian]

Hmmm. Either way... I'd say getting them to list it (whether its recognized or not) would still be pretty friggen sweet.

[deadgenome]

The last one found that there were a million people missing, 800,000 of them men between the ages of 20 and 30. I love that statistic, it's great for dealing with people that are anti-immigration.

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on the Jedi thing

390,000 people entered their religion as Jedi Knight (more than either Sikhs, Buddhists or Jews), with some areas registering up to 2.6% of people as "Jedi"

[laserbream]

Hmmm. Either way... I'd say getting them to list it (whether its recognized or not) would still be pretty friggen sweet.

Exactly! Let's leave recognition down to The Big Guy (pasta be upon him) and focus on puzzling the hell out of future sociologists (FSM knows they will be in need of a laugh, they just won't be getting out enough and it won't be healthy spending all night poring over old books).

[Jocky]

I'd say getting them to list it (whether its recognized or not) would still be pretty friggen sweet.

I agree.

Perhaps the census would be an ideal time to try and attract media attention to the true message of pastafarianism. The Jedi business got a lot of coverage last time round, and it it totally devoid of any true message beyond "I like SF movies better than going to church".

[deadgenome]

We had better get a move on if we want to make an impact against other comedy religions. Bob Dobbs, of the The Church of the SubGenius for instance, is already doing quite well in UK politics, getting more votes in Brighton than the UK Independence Party in the 2001 general election while standing on behalf of "The Free Party".