Star Wars Religion

Find religion in 'Star Wars,' many do [Excerpts]

ORLANDO, Fla. - To some Christian viewers, the climactic tableau of "Star Wars: Episode III -(KRT) - Revenge of the Sith" could be a slightly off-kilter Nativity scene:

A wise man rides in from the desert on a camel-like creature. He presents an infant - perhaps the "chosen one" who will redeem the universe, according to prophecy - to his adoptive parents. The question is inescapable: Is little Luke Skywalker a stand-in for Jesus?

"The image of an out-of-the way place, the birth of a child, the promised one, the one that provides hope - there's a lot of parallels to the birth of Christ," says Dick Staub, author of "Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters."

Much of the debate centers on the nature of the Force, which Lucas told Time magazine in 1983 was God. Sixteen years later, Lucas told Bill Moyers that he put the Force into Star Wars "to try to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people - more a belief in God than a belief in any particular religious system."

Some Christians compare the Force to the Holy Spirit. Others reject this notion because, with a light side and a dark, the Force has a duality. Also, as Obi-Wan Kenobi explains to Luke, the Force can be commanded.

"Theologically, there seem to be nods in many directions, from Zen Buddhism to Confucianism to Hinduism to Christianity," Kidd says.

Dr. John Porter, a University of Arizona trauma surgeon, believes Taoism is the predominant theme.

"One way to describe the Force is the universal energy that surrounds all beings and connects everything - that's the Tao," says Porter, author of "The Tao of Star Wars."

However, "The Dharma of Star Wars" argues that the series is essentially Buddhist.

"The quest for peace, for justice - I can apply Buddhism to those themes very easily," says Matthew Bortolin, author of "The Dharma of Star Wars."

The diminutive character Yoda is very much like a Zen master. "Meditation is confronting ourselves and the Dark Side elements within us," he says "Buddhism is about the human condition.

Lucas has described himself as a "Buddhist Methodist."

However, no religion has an exclusive claim on the Star Wars imagery, says Rabbi Scott Sperling, who discussed "Star Wars" in an adult-education class in the early 1980s at the Synagogue for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles.

A small Presbyterian church in Cincinnati completed the first month of a three-month course called "The Gospel According to Star Wars" just as the latest installment opened in theaters (Pinsky, The Orlando Sentinel, June 2, 2005).