New Star Wars film is increasing the Jedi church membership

 Yes there's such a thing. From The Telegraph (UK).

Yes there's such a thing. From The Telegraph (UK).

More than a thousand people a day are signing up as members of the Church of Jediism, leading figures in the organisation said

Leading figures in the Church of Jediism, the religion inspired by the fictional warriors who battle against the Dark Side, have told The Daily Telegraph that the group is signing up more than a thousand new members a day, as excitement builds ahead of tomorrow’s launch of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Jediism started as a joke, ahead of the 2001 census, in which respondents were asked to declare their religion for the first time. At the time, 390,000 people declared that they were Jedis, a number that fell by more than half, to 177,000, at the following census, in 2011.

Now the organisation, described by its members as “a set of philosophies based on focusing, learning and becoming one with the Force”, claims to have more than 250,000 followers. Patrick Day-Childs, a member of the church’s five-strong UK ruling council, said that more than a thousand people a day are signing up for the religion. He said: “It’s gone up substantially in the past couple of days. The real test will be in a couple of weeks when the film hype has died off. “

Daniel Jones, who founded the religion and who goes by the Jedi name Morda Hehol, said: “We’ve been rushed off our feet. People want to know more about it. It’s great for us.”

Following the church involves learning about the principles of Jediism, which include tenets such as: “There is no emotion; there is peace,” and “There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.” Mr Day-Childs said: “I think people are shying away from traditional religion because it doesn’t reflect their views. We’ve got no problem with homosexuality or anything like that. We are very accepting.”

Members are allowed to wear robes, but Mr Jones was ejected from a Tesco, in Bangor, in 2009, for refusing to pull down his hood. Mr Day-Childs said: “We encourage people to wear them for events, but if I’m brutally honest, they’re not really very practical.”

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[Mary]

Tom, May the Force be with you! Mary