London, England - The United Nations has rejected a call by "Jedi Knights" in England for recognition of the Jedi faith as an official world religion.
Two Jedi had earlier turned up at the UN's London HQ to demand official recognition of their religion.
Self-proclaimed Jedis Umada and Yunyun; 27-year-old John Wilkinson and 24-year-old Charlotte Law - timed their "protest" to coincide with today's UN International Day of Tolerance, which they'd like renamed "Interstellar Day of Tolerance".
"For the last ten years the United Nations has marked the International Day of Tolerance. While we support this important work, we feel the UN needs to move with the times. Like the UN, the Jedi Knights are peacekeepers and we feel we have the basic right to express our religion through wearing our robes, and to be recognised by the national and international community." Ananova quoted Umada and Yunyun as saying.
"We therefore are calling upon the United Nations Association to change November 16 to the UN Interstellar Day of Tolerance, to reflect the religious make-up of our twenty-first century civilisation," they added.
However, the spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations said that Annan would not make any such move.
"The UN is not in the business of certifying religions. With or without light sabres," Rawstory.com quoted Annan's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric as saying.
When pressed for further clarification, he added, "If I could be transported to another planet right now, I would."
In the 2001 UK Census 390,000 people listed their religion as Jedi Knight making it the fourth biggest belief in the country. There are also said to be 70,000 Jedi knights in Australia, 53,000 in New Zealand, and 20,000 in Canada.