Apparently, 20,000 people on the last Canadian census declared their religion to be “Jedi.” According to the Vancouver Sun:

It’s also a “religion” that’s growing around the world. In the United Kingdom, for example, there are more Jedis than Jews: 400,000 Jedis compared to 260,000 Jews. In a 2002 Australian census, more than 70,000 people named Jedi as their faith.

Dion can understand why. “[Jedi knights] have qualities people aspire to,” he said in an interview from his office Tuesday. He wasn’t wearing robes at the time, merely a golf shirt and black trousers.

“They do the right thing generally. And of course myself and a lot of people I know have the same kind of aspirations. We try to do the right thing all the time. And we follow Star Wars.”

By the way, of those 20,000 Canadian Jedi, over half live in British Columbia — Canada’s acknowledged drug capital and the source of “B.C. bud,” a marijuana strain so intense that the U.S.’s drug czar calls it the “crack” of marijuana.

(Thanks to Slashdot for this one!)