'I find your lack of faith disturbing.' [Darth Vader]

While browsing the internet I decided to see how the media portrayed the Jedi Religion. Living in Great Britain I thought what better way to do this than to have a look on the good old BBC’s news website.
These are the articles I found on the national section of the BBC’s news website in chronological order...

The gospel according to Luke (Skywalker)
Tuesday, 6 March, 2001, 15:00 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1204829.stm

'You may be a fan of the Star Wars films, but are you a follower? Moves are afoot to have the fictitious Jedi philosophy the movies espouse recognised as a proper religion.'

Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola suggested George Lucas should turn the Jedi philosophy invented for Star Wars into a religious movement.

Star Wars fans have distilled the movie into religious cannon taking the film scripts as scriptures and creating such websites as The Jedi Creed, http://jedicreed.org/

Star Trek also has its own sci-fi followers who seek spiritual guidance.

Jedi e-mail revealed as hoax
Wednesday, 11 April, 2001, 09:32 GMT 10:32 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/new_media/1271380.stm

An email stating if the Jedi faith will become and official religion if enough people list it as such in a forthcoming British census has been revealed as a hoax. Despite this fans have been urged to go ahead with the plan, although the Home Office has said that however many people go through with the plan the Jedi faith will not be added to the census.

Jedi makes the census list
Tuesday, 9 October, 2001, 16:06 GMT 17:06 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1589133.stm

Jedi Knight is officially listed as a religion on the 2001 census following a campaign, although officials from the Office of National Statistics have pointed out that it’s the addition to the census does not offer the status of official recognition.

Jedi 'religion' grows in Australia
Tuesday, 27 August, 2002, 07:29 GMT 08:29 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2218456.stm

70, 509 people in Australia declared themselves followers of the Jedi faith on their census forms, believers in the “force”; although only 5, 000 are probably true believers.

Census returns of the Jedi
Thursday, 13 February, 2003, 15:15 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2757067.stm

The 2001 census revealed that Jedi is the chosen religion for 390, 000 people. The response for the support of the Jedi faith was strongest from students and the towns of Brighton and Hove. The article ends with the question, ‘could this mean an invite for Yoda, the Jedi Master, to give BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the day?’

The overall view I personally gain from reading the BBC’s articles is one that despite being written about in a well supported and positive light is also being perceived something of a satirical ‘faith’. For on thing all the articles are listed in the entertainment section of the website, despite the fact that the articles mentioned that Jedi had been included as an official religion on the 2001 census and therefore would suggest that such articles might be listed on the religions & ethics section of the BBC’s website.