Thursday, October 13, 2011

Jedis Fastest Growing Religious Minority in Hungary

pestiside.hu

The number of Hungarian Jedis is growing at an incredible rate, writes Bors, based on the fact that the Facebook community called "Admit in the census that you're a Jedi!" (Vállald a népszámláláson, hogy jedi vagy!) had received over 13,000 "likes" in just a week. (It currently stands at almost 17,500.) Those who want to proclaim their allegiance to the Force can do so by writing "Other: Jedi" in the "religion" field of the offline census forms currently being filled out by both Hungarians as well as the gaggle of non-Hungarians who have not yet decided to depart this dark and desolate corner of the universe. (Index.hu points out that Jedis will not be able to proclaim their faith if they fill out the form online, because there they will be faced with a set number of choices.)

Hungarian Jedis interviewed by the tabloid said they started the campaign not only because it's "fun," but also because they feel this belief system to be very positive, explaining that Star Wars creator George Lucas had created the belief system followed by the franchise's protagonists by kneading together elements of Buddhism, Taoism and Christianity.

They also said they hoped to get Jediism accepted as an official church in Hungary, pointing to the recent success of such a campaign in the United Kingdom. But this seems far from certain, given the current government's move to restrict the number of officially-recognized religious groups, as well as the general tendency in Hungary for the Dark Side to prevail.

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