The management of a Tesco store in North Wales stands accused of religious intolerance because it forced a man wearing ceremonial garb to either remove part of it or leave the store.
Which sounds terrible, especially in this day and age.
Except that the garb in question was a long brown robe and hood, and the creed in question was the Jedi religion, based on the beliefs espoused by Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films.
According to published reports, the store requested that Daniel Jones (who goes by the Jedi name “Morda Hehol”) take off his hood while in the store....apparently for security reasons. Jones...er, Hehol...said that taking off the hood violated the tenets of his religion.
No word yet on whether the case will be submitted to the Confederacy of Independent Systems to be adjudicated.
Which sounds terrible, especially in this day and age.
Except that the garb in question was a long brown robe and hood, and the creed in question was the Jedi religion, based on the beliefs espoused by Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films.
According to published reports, the store requested that Daniel Jones (who goes by the Jedi name “Morda Hehol”) take off his hood while in the store....apparently for security reasons. Jones...er, Hehol...said that taking off the hood violated the tenets of his religion.
No word yet on whether the case will be submitted to the Confederacy of Independent Systems to be adjudicated.
- KC's View:
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So here’s my question. If this guy really is a Jedi, why didn’t he just do a Jedi mind trick and get the manager to let him keep shopping?
This is pretty funny, and silly on the face of it...but it actually points to a broader problem that a lot of retailers are going to face. as the population gets more diverse, stores are going to find people shopping their aisles who have unfamiliar and even, in some cases, uncomfortable beliefs. And they’re still shoppers, and should be respected.
And if a manager finds that tough to do sometimes, he should just use the Force.
