The BBC reports that the 2011 Census is underway. As always, the form is compulsory but the Census is also anonymous, so your answers “can’t be used against you”, as noted on a few council websites.

The thing is, your answers can be used against the country. Many thorny issues in the UK (such as faith schools) are to do with religion, and a government can use Census results to justify policy. If you’re religious, fair enough—tick the relevant box. But if you’re not, tick the closest answer to ‘none’—don’t get smart and say you subscribe to a faith made up by George Lucas, because otherwise when government simply splits the results into ‘religious’ and ‘not religious’, you’re batting for the other team.

UPDATE: Apparently, the ONS is wise to Jedis. However, the general point stands—only select a religion if you’re actually religious.