A Tesco supermarket in Bangor, North Wales has been accused of religious discrimination after they ejected a Jedi from their store because he wouldn’t remove his hood.
23 year old Daniel Jones, also known as Morda Hehol, founded the Church of Jediism in January 2008. The Jediism Handbook clearly states that all Jedi “must wear a hood up in any public place of a large audience; this shows symbolism of your faith”.
Morda Hehol was going about his business in the supermarket when he was accosted by three members of Tesco staff who ordered him to remove his head covering or leave the shop. Even when the Jedi explained that his religion commanded that he must wear a hood in public the three staff members simply sniggered and then ejected him from the building.
In a statement given to the press, Tesco were unrepentant:
“Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Luke Skywalker all appeared hoodless without ever going over to the Dark Side and we are only aware of the Emperor as one who never removed his hood. If Jedi walk around our stores with their hoods on, they’ll miss lots of special offers.”
Besides completely missing the point, Tesco don’t have this policy for other religious groups. Whilst in the supermarket Morda Hehol witnessed at least one Muslim woman wearing a veil, she was not asked to remove it.