Friday, March 29, AD 2024 7:32am

And the winner is…

 

In most matters “of this world,” it’s all about “winners and losers.”  “Winners” are lauded and celebrated.  At best, “losers” are lamented and, at worst, forgotten.

Consider the state of religion in the United Kingdom.

When it comes to the battle of faith in the British Isles, the Anglican Communion is surely a big-time loser.

But, if the Anglican Communion is losing, who’s winning?

Yes, indeed, it’s the Jedi Knights!

The Jedi’s “Star Wars Credo” is on the rise…making it the seventh most popular religion on the British Isles.

According to an article in The Telegraph, the 2011 census indicates that 176, 632 citizens of England and Wales self-identified as Jedi Knights.  The Jedi now constitute 0.31% of all people’s stated religious affiliation in England and Wales.  Excluding non-religious people and those who did not answer, only Christianity (in aggregate), Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism, and Buddhism rank higher.

However, it looks like even the Jedi’s are losers, too.  In the 2001 census, 390,127 people self-identified as followers of the fiction.  That’s a 54% decline in only one decade.

One potential future winner may be the religion of Heavy Metal.  The 2011 census indicates that 6,242 people on the British Isles subscribe to its credo, roughly 21% of the total number of people self-identifying as Atheists.  Then, too, it may be those who checked the “No Religion” box will end up being the really big winners in the future.  13.8 million citizens of the British Isles professed no credo in 2011.

Jedi’s.  Heavy Metal.  Atheists.  Agnostics.  “Religions” of this world.

Jesus said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away” (Mark 13:31).

Now, there’s the all-time winner because his words are not of this world.

 

 

To read the article in The Telegraph, click on the following link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9737886/Jedi-religion-most-popular-alternative-faith.html

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Paul W Primavera
Wednesday, December 12, AD 2012 7:34am

Can you imagine the outcry if the certificate depicted in this blog post had been one of a Christian Knight holding erect for battle a sword as Luke Skywalker is doing for a fictional pagan belief system?

Hmmmmm…I repeat myself with the phrase “fictional pagan.”

Pinky
Pinky
Wednesday, December 12, AD 2012 10:09am

The article was entitled “Jedi Religion Most Popular Alternative Faith”, but according to the article, the most popular alternative faiths are Islam and Hinduism. 🙂

Recent years haven’t been very good for heavy metal or Star Wars. Maybe I’m a fundamentalist, but give me the first movie and some Deep Purple or Judas Priest. It’s funny that there’s a concentration of heavy metal people around Liverpool. If I’d grown up around Beatles fanatics, I might have worshipped heavy metal myself.

Robert A. Rowland
Robert A. Rowland
Wednesday, December 12, AD 2012 1:41pm

There is no fathoming British history, but I did indeed learn to appreciate their stamina when stationed there in the middle 50s.

Scott W.
Scott W.
Wednesday, December 12, AD 2012 2:44pm

Well, to give the nerds credit, at least people are starting to get that everybody worships something, even if they are tongue-in-cheek when doing it. Now, if we could get them to recognize just how much they worship Caesar, we might get somewhere.

philip
philip
Wednesday, December 12, AD 2012 4:18pm

This posts begs the question: “When the Son of God returns will He find Faith on Earth?”

The (Freethinkers) have run an advertisement in our local paper last week. They are seeking to expand membership. This is a great thing.
An opportunity to welcome them home when they wake-up from their nightmare.
May the FORCE of TRUTH be with you.

solly gratia
solly gratia
Thursday, December 13, AD 2012 6:08am

Don’t believe the hype, most of those Jedis are just cultural Jedis. And notice how no one counts the Sith – we don’t want to go upsetting them, do we.

But seriously, over 50% of the English and Welsh (not Scotland or Northern Ireland) population still identify as Christian! And add in other religions, serious or not, and add in all those who read their horoscope, meditate, etc, and that’s quite a healthy proportion of the population who don’t buy into reductionist materialism. So much for ‘modern times’ and the end of sky fairies.

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