The results from the Australian census came out a few days ago. In spite of the fact that
Over 70,000 Australians are Jedi, the
Australian Bureau of Statistics will
not recognise Jedi as a
religion.
Some Statistics from the census:
On Census Night, 7 August 2001, there were 18,972,350 people
(9,362,021 males and 9,610,329 females) counted in Australia
(1). This represents an increase of 1,079,927 people (6.0%)
since 1996 and an increase of 2,122,016 people (13%) since
1991 .
In 1901, data on Christian religions were released for all
States and Australia, but data for other religions were
available for some States only. Christians represented 95.9%
of the population, with four major religious denominations
accounting for 87.1% of the population. These were the Church
of England (39.7%), Roman Catholic (22.7%), Wesleyan and
other Methodists (13.4%) and Presbyterian (11.3%).
In 2001, Christians represented 68.0% of the population, with
the two major denominations, Anglican and Catholic,
accounting for 46.5% of the population. Buddhism accounted
for 1.9% of the population and Islam for 1.5%. In 2001,
around a quarter (25.3%) of the population stated they had
'No religion' or chose not to answer the question.
(quoted from the Australian census website)
Apparently people who listen to the
midichlorians were included in the "'No religion' or 'No answer'" category.
Here's the good news:
As far as I know the Bureau of Statistics did not carry out its threat of $1000 fines for each of Australia's
Jedi. I havn't got a fine yet anyway. =)
Reference:
www.abs.gov.au