Short answers, pulled from the story.
Jediism is a philosophy and online community based on the belief system of the fictional Jedi characters from Star Wars. Whether it qualifies as a real religion is disputed; in 2016, the Charity Commission for England and Wales ruled that the Temple of the Jedi Order did not "promote moral or ethical improvement" for charity law purposes, though the Temple of the Jedi Order received IRS tax exemption in the United States in 2015.
The Jedi census phenomenon began in 2001 when an email campaign spread across multiple countries urging people to write "Jedi" as their religion on national census forms. The majority of respondents are assumed to have done so as a joke, but the scale of the response generated widespread press coverage.
The Temple of the Jedi Order was registered in Texas in 2005 and was granted IRS tax exemption in 2015.
Daniel Jones founded the Church of Jediism in 2007 at age 23, alongside his brother Barney. Jones cited the 2001 UK census as evidence of Jediism's public recognition and claimed there were "more Jedi than Scientologists in Britain."
In 2009, Daniel Jones was removed from a Tesco supermarket in Bangor, North Wales, after refusing to lower his hood on religious grounds. Tesco responded by noting that Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and Luke Skywalker all appeared hoodless without crossing to the Dark Side.
Jediism draws on a Jedi code of 21 maxims and, at the Temple of the Jedi Order, 16 teachings based on the fictional Jedi. These include principles such as "Jedi are mindful of the negative emotions which lead to the Dark Side" and "Jedi are guardians of peace and justice." Followers distinguish their practice from Star Wars fandom, arguing the moral code is genuine rather than fictional.