Census 2011: Jedis, Scientologists And Satanists Make Up 'Other Religions'

Census Reveals More Jedis Than Satanists And Scientologists

The Sith Lord has been hard at work in England and Wales since the rise of the Jedis in 2001, with the Jedi population declining by more than half in the last decade.

In 2001 in England and Wales 390,127 people said they belonged to the Star Wars cult, surpassing Sikhism, Judaism, and Buddhism, and making it the fourth largest reported religion.

Jedis have declined in the UK, but it is still the most popular 'other religion'

But in 2011, just 176,632 Jedis remain in the UK.

However they are still the largest "other religion" by far named by participants in the 2011 census.

Paganism was the second highest "other religion", with 56,620 designating themselves pagan. Alternative religions listed by people on the census include Spiritualism, Wicca, Pantheism and Witchcraft.

Satanism, alarmingly, has 1,893 adherents.

The "other religion" box was often used by people on the census to express no religion. Despite there being a "no religion box", 29,267 wrote atheist under "other religion".

Other terms used included "Own Belief System", "Humanist", "Realist" and "Heathen".

More than 30,000 described themselves as "agnostic".

There are two million households in England and Wales where people are in mixed race relationships, or household members are different ethnic groups - a 47% increase since in 2001. And 23,566 people described themselves as being Mixed Religion.

Alternative religions like paganism and wicca were listed in the census

Some of the more obscure religions listed include Scientology, which has around 2,400 adherents. There are 7,906 Rastafarians. And 6,242 described their religion as "Heavy Metal".

Far Eastern religions have small numbers of followers in the UK, and they include British people who are Taoist, Shintoism and Confucianists.

There are also a number of African religions listed, including 588 people listing "Traditional African Religion" and 208 listing "Vodun".

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