In The Name Of The Jedi

Here at Empire Online we're always happy to follow up leads from our readers. So when we received the umpteenth email urging us to take a look at the government's statistics website we sallied forth only to find an official looking document that includes the entry 'Jedi Knight' under a list of answers to the question 'What religion are you?' So what gives? When we last spoke to the Census department in April about a viral email which urged Star Wars fans to list their religion on the UK Census as Jedi, we were met with the wearied response that you could list your religion as Toasted Cheese Sandwiches but it still wouldn't make it onto the list of official UK religions. Today we were met with some equally jaded feedback from the government department responsible for sifting through the mountains of Census forms. 'The file in question is a coding frame,' explained a spokesperson. 'It's used to classify the answers we got to that particular question.' So will Jedi Knights make it on to some official documents when the census results are published? 'We don't have the power or the desire to recognise new religions,' she sighed. 'But if somebody wants to know how many people put Jedi Knight as their religion, once the Census is published, that might be possible.'