Australian Jedis

[Corylax18]

I didn't know this, but there are apparently more practicing "Jedis" in Australia then I realized. 

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/newsy/return-of-the-jedi-64000-australians-claim-jedi-is-their-religion

That's only about .26%, but again, more than an established religion. 7th day Adventist is essentially a massaged version of Christian Protestantism, so maybe plain old "protestant" stole some of the vote. 

I think its hilarious, not everybody does though. Apparently Athiests are not keen on imaginary religions either. 

[Ethernut]

That's hilarious! I'd think it fair to say many of us truly have many religions.. You know, the old favorites, Cigars, Cars, Liquor, Ladies, etc.. Along with others perhaps, more substantive. 

[JohnS]

For those of you who require context, Australian citizens are participating in a compulsory census on Tuesday 9th of August (next week), and indicating your religion correctly allows the Federal Government to allocate funding towards services for people better. Most people put the faith they were born into on the census. There's been a 'push' this year to encourage people to indicate 'no religion' if they are not practising their faith (from the Atheist lobby). It's all very interesting.

[Jeremy Festa]

I have a couple mates who are practicing Jedis and were part of the movement to get people to put "Jedi" down as their religion in the last two censuses. In saying that.... it goes as far as them waving two fingers aside as they approach automatic doors at the servo, or any elevators they encounter, as if they used the force to open them. It's awesome when you time it perfectly.  

Also, ordering food and drink with certain phrases is quite amusing. 

Getting dates can be a little more challenging for them. 

[El Presidente]

2 hours ago, Jerocco said:

I have a couple mates who are practicing Jedis and were part of the movement to get people to put "Jedi" down as their religion in the last two censuses. In saying that.... it goes as far as them waving two fingers aside as they approach automatic doors at the servo, or any elevators they encounter, as if they used the force to open them. It's awesome when you time it perfectly.  

 

[Ken Gargett]

5 hours ago, Corylax18 said:

not keen on imaginary religions either. 

isn't "imaginary religions" tautological? 

as for being a practicing jedi, that tends to be funny for about six seconds. and in my fortunately limited experience, those people tend to be about as far from a "jedi" as it is possible to be. i suppose it is a change from them dressing up as Uhura. 

[ayepatz]

You're being very un-Dude, @Ken Gargett. You should try my religion.

[JohnS]

15 minutes ago, ayepatz said:

You're being very un-Dude, @Ken Gargett. You should try my religion.

The Dude Abides!  

[MIKA27]

I've been a practising Jedi since I first Watched a New Hope when I was a kid. Could never work out how to use the force.

[MIKA27]

LOL ALSO THIS: So Many Australians Are Claiming 'Jedi' As Their Religion That It's Becoming A Problem

A battle over government, religion, and Star Wars is brewing in Australia. We will hold our national census on August 9 and a group of people are begging fellow citizens to not put “Jedi” down as their religion.

Here’s the problem: On the 2011 census (it takes places every five years) 64,390 Australians put “Jedi” down as their religion, an increase of from 58,053 on the 2006 census, according to The Brisbane Times. Numbers like that put “Jedi” right behind Sikh on the list of religions in the country. It seems unlikely that all these people truly believe themselves to be actual Jedi, and most of them make the claim as a harmless way to declare their Star Wars fandom and give the government the middle finger at the same time.

However, a group called the Atheist Foundation of Australia is leading a campaign to get people to stop making this joke. Their reasoning is, that when officially counted, Jedi gets classified as a “Not Defined” religion instead of “No Religion.” When that happens, they believe “it makes Australia seem more religious than it really is.” Which, again, doesn’t sound like a problem, but “sata on religious affiliation is used for public policy, city planning, community support facilities and more,” according to this cute infographic.

The AFA is concerned that if the government tabulates more people as religious, they will aim policy and tax dollars that way, instead of accurately serving the atheist percentage of the population.

It seems like a pretty big leap for Australian officials to gear policy and planning toward religion because a small percentage of people play a joke. But it’s not unfathomable, and that’s why this argument is so interesting.

 

[Fuzz AI]

But what if I have started my own cult, I mean, religion?

[gweilgi]

I plan to enter my personal faith.

I am a born-again Pastafarian.  I bear witness to the might and glory of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, all hail its noodly appendages forever and ever, ramen.

 

 

[Fuzz AI]

1 hour ago, gweilgi said:

I plan to enter my personal faith.

I am a born-again Pastafarian.  I bear witness to the might and glory of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, all hail its noodly appendages forever and ever, ramen.

 

 

So you have been touched by His Noodly appendage?

[Ken Gargett]

i think my point has been admirably proved by the subsequent posts. 

[Jeremy Festa]

i think my point has been admirably proved by the subsequent posts. 

Genius


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[OZCUBAN]

7 hours ago, MIKA27 said:

I've been a practising Jedi since I first Watched a New Hope when I was a kid. Could never work out how to use the force.

Your a Sith for sure 

[MIKA27]

1 hour ago, OZCUBAN said:

Your a Sith for sure 

[...]

2 hours ago, OZCUBAN said:

Your a Sith for sure 

Rule of two anyone?

[garbandz]

MAY THE FARCE BE WITH YOU

[ethosan]

20 hours ago, gweilgi said:

I plan to enter my personal faith.

I am a born-again Pastafarian.  I bear witness to the might and glory of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, all hail its noodly appendages forever and ever, ramen.

 

 

LOL One of Dawkins best lines.

[MIKA27]

The Australian Census Website Is Down

Tonight is Census night, on the first year that the majority of Australia is expected to complete the quadrennial count of our country’s population online. The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ servers were load-tested at 150 per cent of the expected usage levels, but despite that, a number of users are still having trouble loading the page.

According to the ABS, 16 million Australians — 65 per cent of the population, or over 6 million households — are expected to complete the Census entirely online. To do this, letters were sent to each Australian household with a unique twelve-digit code that allows a form to be completed online on the census.ABS.gov.au website. That website, at the moment, is not responding for some users as of 7:55PM tonight.

Developing....

[gweilgi]

The one simple message has been dinned into Australian heads over and over and over again: "August 9 is census night".  So why are they surprised that their system went down when most of Australia tried to complete the census on that particular date?  What moron decided that 150% of expected usage was enough?  And do they really believe anyone buys that fairy-tale of nebulous nefarious malicious hacker attacks?  

In the dictionary, under the heading "clusterf*ck", it says "synonym for inevitable colossal cock-up" and "also see Big Government IT Project".

 

 

[Ken Gargett]

37 minutes ago, gweilgi said:

The one simple message has been dinned into Australian heads over and over and over again: "August 9 is census night".  So why are they surprised that their system went down when most of Australia tried to complete the census on that particular date?  What moron decided that 150% of expected usage was enough?  And do they really believe anyone buys that fairy-tale of nebulous nefarious malicious hacker attacks?  

In the dictionary, under the heading "clusterf*ck", it says "synonym for inevitable colossal cock-up" and "also see Big Government IT Project".

 

 

of course, if it is some sort of hack (though i do agree with you), and info is lost and aussies suffer identity theft, missing funds etc etc, watch them run away from "hack" then.

morons.

[JohnS]

2 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

of course, if it is some sort of hack (though i do agree with you), and info is lost and aussies suffer identity theft, missing funds etc etc, watch them run away from "hack" then.

morons.

Hence why I requested a paper copy and intend to fill it in when the 'excitement' dies down.

[perkinke]

This is what happens when people lose their sense of humor. But hey, worked for L. Ron, why not George Lucas? How much government money is allocated for religions in Australia? I mean is this a real problem or just an annoyance for statistics nerds?