Sit vis nobiscum
February 6th, 2004
Brighton, it seems, is strong with the Force.
You might remember an email that did the rounds a couple of years ago, just prior to the 2001 census. The message urged recipients to declare their religion as Jedi under the false assertion that if enough people did so, Jedi would have to be officially recognised as a religion in the UK.
The results of the census are now online and surprise-surprise, Brighton comes out top of the knights, with a considerably higher percentage of Jedi’s here than anywhere else. 2.6% of us, in fact.
Now I’m quite a fan-boy when it comes to Star Wars, but even I, a man who privately fantasises about the brown robe and lightsabre (although it’s not something I’d ever tell anyone), didn’t put Jedi down.
The number of people (or should I just come right out and say ‘students’) who must therefore be even more sad than I is mind boggling.
On a side note Alec Guinness, who by taking a percentage made more money out of Star Wars than all his other films put together, saw at least one parallel with religion. He actually hated the movie and when approached by a fan with "may the force be with you" would dryly reply "and also with you" .
This is funny if you’ve ever gone to church yourself.
My last tenuous religion / Star Wars connection is that the Latin for ‘may the force be with you’ is sit vis nobiscum.