Star Wars and Christianity

May 4, 2014 7:23 PM

May the fourth (be with you) Science fiction and Christianity intersect and produce interesting results, even if they are only mostly imaginative and to a large extent satirical. The reach of the cultural phenomenon of Star Wars extends even to the otherworldly in its clutch of influence and relevance.
posted by stchrysostom (10 comments total)

How does the High Lord Vader feel about indulgences?
posted by arcticseal at 7:35 PM on May 4, 2014

Becket wore a hair shirt under his gold and crimson, and there is much to be said for the combination; for Becket got the benefit of the hair shirt while the people in the street got the benefit of the crimson and gold. It is at least better than the manner of the modern Sith Lord, who has the black and the drab outwardly for others, and the dark side in his heart.
posted by michaelh at 7:44 PM on May 4, 2014 [2 favorites]

And also with you.
Lift up your hearts
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
It is right to...

Whoa. Did I just type something? I did? Sorry, just had an intense childhood flashback there. Smell of incense, feel of aching feet and ferocious air conditioning, sound of a couple hundred mild suburban Catholics and their kids mumbling in unison, calculation of the number of minutes until I will be at home eating pizza...

Good times, all considered. Metaphysically quite false, socio-politically a mixed bag at best, but still, good times.
posted by officer_fred at 7:45 PM on May 4, 2014

NO. Christians have to fucking try to co-opt EVERYTHING. Look, guys, it's a fictional animistic religion and it has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity, it never did and never could be, because Star Wars was a SF-styled ripoff of a Japanese classic called The Hidden Fortress. And the religious overtones in that story derive from SHINTO MOTHERFUCKERS. YEAH CHRISTIANITY IS NOT THE ONLY RELIGION PRACTISED CAN YOU IMAGINE.

And no, you cannot derive very many parallels at all between Shinto and Christianity. Shinto and the fictional Jedi religion are pretty tight but Shinto and Christianity -- well, show me your badger statues with oversized nutsacks and then we can talk about that.
posted by localroger at 7:46 PM on May 4, 2014 [5 favorites]

Ugh, flashback to evangelical church camp counselor telling me that Star Wars is a cult because of the Force.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:34 PM on May 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

This doesn't seem to really be more than someone who is involved with churchy stuff and also a fan of Star Wars making some fun things up that intersect the two, not anything actually trying to claim that the Force is inherently Christian. The blog disclaimer does say pretty clearly that it's satire.
posted by Sequence at 8:35 PM on May 4, 2014

This co-opting of Star Wars in the service of Christian evangelism is not without precedent. Teenaged me considered the flimsy arguments presented in this glorified tract a time or two. I knew next to nothing about Eastern religions at the time but the attempt to shoehorn Star Wars into Christianity felt strained at best. It gets even tougher, not easier, to do as the series progresses.
posted by vverse23 at 8:36 PM on May 4, 2014

Jedi are totes Islamic. Deal with it.
posted by Renoroc at 8:41 PM on May 4, 2014

My UU church had a Star Wars themed service today. At the start of service, the band played Also Sprach Zarathustra. It immediately annoyed me, and I started saying stuff to myself like, "2001 isn't even the same genre. 2001 is sci-fi, Star Wars is sci-fi fantasy. What is this, amateur hour?"

I'd like to think the bandleader was trolling all the nerds in attendance.
posted by mokin at 9:59 PM on May 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

Neither 2001 nor Star Wars is sci-fi anything, you heathen. Both are science fiction. All that mystical crap in both was long before grandfathered into the genre.
posted by MartinWisse at 10:04 PM on May 4, 2014 [2 favorites]