There are more Jedi and Pastafarians in New Zealand than Destiny Church members

Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Among the data released today by Stats New Zealand, one piece of information stood out among social media users: the surprisingly low number of official members of Brian Tamaki's Destiny Church.

There are only 1722 Destiny Church members in New Zealand according to Census data released today.

The number looks even smaller when compared with other minor religions in New Zealand.

For example, a total of 20,409 people listed their religion as Jedi in the 2018 Census.

Destiny Church has less than half the number of members of the often mocked, but clearly more popular, Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in New Zealand.

The colander-wearing religious group has 4248 members in New Zealand, according to the latest census data, meaning there are more than double the number of Pastafarians in New Zealand than there are Destiny Church members.

There are also more Russian Orthodox followers than Destiny Church members and twice as many Destiny Church members as members of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship.

There are almost as many Wiccans (1482) and nearly as many Rastafarians (1707).

Some Kiwi social media users were pleased with the statistic.

Most pleasing statistic from the 2018 census? The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has more than twice as many adherents as the Destiny Church.

— Level-headed guy (@PhilBStewart) September 23, 2019

Also, there are twice as many pastafarians as Destiny Church followers, and ten times as many Jedi. Which one is the joke again?

— Idiot/Savant (@norightturnnz) September 22, 2019

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has twice as many followers as Destiny Church. Is there hope for a Pastafarian Party to make it into Parliament at last? #CensusNZ

— Alex O'Connor (@aoc_nz) September 23, 2019

Things of note in the NZ 2018 Census that made me laugh...

- Over 2.26 mil put down "No Religion"
- 1,722 people actually put down "Destiny Church" as their religion
- 20,409 put down "Jedi" as a religion (Nice)
- So many people put down their church as a religion (OMEGALUL)

— Chad (@YaBroChad) September 23, 2019