MORE than 176,000 people described their religion as "Jedi
Knight" in the last census in 2011, new figures have
shown.
While the largest religion was Christian - selected by 33.2
million people, or 59 per cent of the population of England and
Wales - the second largest group was "No Reli-gion", which
accounted for 14 million people, or 25 per cent of the
population.
For the first time, however, the Office of National Statistics
has released the results of those who did not choose one of the
main religions offered on the form but instead wrote in their own.
After Jedi Knight, the second most common "religion" was "Pagan" -
chosen by 56,620 people. Third most common were the 39,061
Spiritualists, and then 32,382 Agnostics, and 29,267 Atheists.
Among other answers given by at least 100 people were "Mixed
Religion", "Wicca", "Heavy Metal", and "Own Belief System".
The most common of the main faiths other than Christianity was
Islam, which was claimed by 2.7million census respondents, and then
Hinduism (816,000 people).Answering the religion question on the
census was optional, however, and four million people (7.2 per cent
of the population of England and Wales) - the third largest group -
did not state any religion.
The large figure for Jedi Knight is a throwback to the previous
census in 2001, when 390,127 people chose it in protest against the
inclusion of the religious question in the census.
