{"id":25479,"date":"2023-05-19T13:00:36","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T17:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=25479"},"modified":"2023-05-19T13:00:36","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T17:00:36","slug":"faith-in-the-force-most-american-religious-views-align-with-the-force-from-star-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2023\/05\/faith-in-the-force-most-american-religious-views-align-with-the-force-from-star-wars.html","title":{"rendered":"Faith in the Force? Most American Religious Views Align With the Force from Star Wars"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_25485\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25485\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2023\/05\/star-wars-faith_credit-Miguel-Lagoa-Shutterstock-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25485\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2023\/05\/star-wars-faith_credit-Miguel-Lagoa-Shutterstock-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25485\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Miguel Lagoa \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Religion and pop culture intertwined this month with this year\u2019s National Day of Prayer falling on May 4th, a day\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Star Wars\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">fans have celebrated as\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Star Wars\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">day, saying \u201cMay the Fourth be with you,\u201d a play on the popular \u201cMay the Force be with you.\u201d It was also the same day that City Square Associates for Skylight released a\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/metrovoicenews.com\/the-force-vs-faith-most-americans-say-their-spiritual-views-align-with-those-of-star-wars\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">survey<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0of 1,700 Americans asking them to compare their religious views to the spiritual \u201cForce\u201d of\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Star Wars<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. According to the survey, 20 percent of American adults stated their views aligned with the Force \u201cvery much,\u201d while 36 percent stated it did somewhat. The respondents were responding to the question, \u201c\u2018The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It\u2019s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.\u2019 How much do your own views of spirituality align with this?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Writing for <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/civil-rights\/3986205-a-new-hope-star-wars-day-is-about-more-than-just-a-movie-franchise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Hill<\/span><\/em><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, opinion columnists Clay Routledge and Paul Anleitner outlined\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Star Wars\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">cultural impact on faith. The two acknowledged the continuing decline of Americans\u2019 participation in traditional religion and that \u201cthe fact that people in wealthy, technologically advanced nations are turning away from traditional religion may make them more likely to turn fandom into something that resembles faith.\u201d The piece shared that as traditional religions fade, people are turning to more occult and paranormal experiences like ghost hunting or witchcraft. \u201cAdvances in science and technology have made the physical world safer and more comfortable, but they have not changed the fact that we are a spiritual species in search of transcendent meaning. It is in our nature to seek out myths, rituals and mystical experiences that help us feel like we are part of something larger, more significant and more enduring than our brief mortal lives,\u201d the piece went on. Some fans have even gone so far as to adopt \u201c<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kuow.org\/stories\/the-northwest-s-official-star-wars-church\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">jedism<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">,\u201d like Tyler Arnold, who serves as a Jedi Minister for his church, the Jedi Alliance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Timothy Paul Jones, a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and author of the book <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Finding God in a Galaxy Far, Far Away: A Spiritual Exploration of the Star Wars Saga<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, noted the pantheistic and Eastern influence on the spirituality of the\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Star Wars<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0films. \u201cThere\u2019s the pantheistic idea of an impersonal Force that binds the universe together, the presence of a dark side and a light side in the spiritual realm, the emphasis on finding truth through mindfulness and concentration.\u201d He did point out, however, that some of the most meaningful moments of the films are moments that share truths with Christianity. \u201cSome of the most powerful aspects of the\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Star Wars<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0storyline are more Judeo-Christian than Eastern. Good triumphs through Luke Skywalker\u2019s willingness to sacrifice his own life to redeem his father, and Darth Vader turns from darkness and experiences reconciliation.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Religion and pop culture intertwined this month with this year\u2019s National Day of Prayer falling on May 4th, a day\u00a0Star Wars\u00a0fans have celebrated as\u00a0Star Wars\u00a0day, saying \u201cMay the Fourth be with you,\u201d a play on the popular \u201cMay the Force be with you.\u201d It was also the same day that City Square Associates for Skylight&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":25485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Faith in the Force? 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