May the Force Be With You

Self-described Jedi alleges discrimination
By QMI Agency

Chris Jarvis of Southend, England, says wearing his hood up is his religious right.

The subscriber to the Jedi Faith - from the Star Wars fictional universe - was asked to remove his hood in a Southend Jobcentre recently, reports the U.K.'s Daily Mail.

But instead of using the Force to convince staff they didn't really want him to comply with the dress code, Jarvis alleged he was being discriminated against.

"I am a Star Wars follower. It means following the way of the Jedi," Jarvis told the Daily Mail. "The main reason is I want to wear my hood up and I have got a religion which allows me to do that.

"Someone with their own religious views is allowed to wear what their religion says - the Sikhs are able to carry a great big dagger. My religion allows me to wear my hood."

The father of three wrote Jobcentre Plus to complain of the incident. They sent him back an apology letter.

"We as an organization have a duty of care to both customers and staff, therefore for security reasons we ask customers to remove their hoods. I have spoken to member staff and it was not their intention to offend your beliefs," the letter says.

Despite the apology, Jarvis intends to sue, the Daily Mail reports.

In a 2001 census, about 30,000 people in the U.K. listed Jedi as their religion, making it the fourth most popular belief system in the country.

In the 2001 Canadian census, 20,000 people identified as followers of the Jedi faith.

Other English-speaking countries saw similar numbers. A widespread Internet campaign helped spark the Jedi census phenomenon.

I had no idea Jedi was the fourth largest religion in England. Seems pretty stupid but when you really start looking into Scientology I don't guess its most different. Its just science fiction. Not to mention all religion may well be ficition. But I suppose there does need to be some line drawn between centuries old, well accepted fiction and decades old, George Lucas/L. Ron Hubbard created religion. I may want to start the first Church Wooderson and get thousands of members but that doesn't give me carte blance to commit statutory rape. Letting this guy wear his hood is a slippery slope. I side with the judge.