RE: Star Wars: Might be a religion soon...

Wouldn't be the first time pure fiction became religion. Just look at L Ron Hubbards scientology.

 

The question is can Star Wars become a religion? What exactly is a religion merely a belief or a series of practices or actions intended to bring about an godly reward. I think the latter, Star Wars lacks the content to be a religion. People will have to stick to the eastern stuff they have and just color it with Star Wars jargon.

 

The whole 'force' thing and Jedi knights are presented as religious. Ever since the first movie came out in 1976.

 

I wouldn't doubt it at all. I knew a guy who loved Star Wars, and got life meaning from it, thought they were praying to God(in the scene, where Luke it in the frozen cave), and that they were in church(in the scene where princess Leia gave them the matals), and even told his daughter this junk. He believed it had christian themes. And don't think I didn't tell him something about it. So I believe it already is a religion. Which wouldn't be a far sretch, Elvis is a religion, people make alters, burn candles,and even pray to him.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brian:
The whole 'force' thing and Jedi knights are presented as religious. Ever since the first movie came out in 1976.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Exactly, and I wonder if that is what the religion will be based on a "force" that is created by all living beings that surrounds everything, with an evil and good side. If I remember correctly this is the way it was taught in the movie and I bet the religion will be based on that and not so much the characters or actions. . . . just guessing. That is something I always wondered, why didn't we hear the screaming related to the religion taught in Star-Wars to our kids just as much as we're hearing this Potter thing. If I were to compare the two, I would pick Potter as being less "religious" attacking. There was certainly as much hype and advertising for Star-Wars when it came out and the times were more conservative back then too. Just curious.

 

Some of their philophy seems to be very "religious" in nature. One of my favorite quotes by I think Yoda...paraphrasing here...fear causes anger, anger causes hate...I am sure some star wars affectionatos (sp) could qoute it verbatim. It just goes shows that there are alot of people out there looking for something/anything to hold on to. How sad they don't look in the right places...

 

The Myth of Star Wars was intentionally religicized. George Lucas created in his imagination a religious dogma that included elements of Christianity and eastern religions. His intent was not to create a new religion, but to create a fictional setting for his version of the classic struggle between good and evil.

His fictional religion is obviously fictional to those who are mentally balanced, but people who are searching for truth at times become unable to rationally evaluate truth. Scientology as mentioned above is a very good example of this. Although I am not convinced that L. Ron Hubbard's motives were purely to write fiction as George Lucas has clearly stated as his motive.

There are many "christian" themes in Star Wars, but I would be hesitant to preach them.

"Please turn to 'The Phantom Menace' chapter six, today we are going to discuss the doctrine of the Virgin Birth of Anakin Skywalker"

Hmmmm, it might go over well in a BYOS Baptist Church

**Bring Your Own Snake!

 

Brian said:

Wouldn't be the first time pure fiction became religion. Just look at L Ron Hubbards scientology.

Except that Scientology &lt;tm&gt; is not based on Hubbard's fiction, i.e. Fear, Final Blackout, and so forth are not the basis of Scientology &lt;tm&gt; and they don't even contain elements of that philosophy. Scientology &lt;tm&gt; is based on his "non-fiction" such as Dianetics, The Fundamentals of Thought and other assorted kookery. Though his later fiction, from Battlefield Earth onward, contains not-so-subtle plugs for his space-opera "religion."

Star Wars, on the other hand, is intentionally fictional and always was. Although Lucas' own religious beliefs are sort of vague, relativistic, and syncretistic, he is not intentionally pushing a worldview through the Star Wars films.

Mind you, the fact that there are actually people who want to practice this (not to mention a significant number of Brits who put "Jedi Knight" under "Religion" in the last census) speaks volumes about the quality of his made-up religion. Nor is he alone - I've also heard of a group of "Tolkienists" in Russia who have formed a religion around J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy.