The Force

Like it or not, the Force is with us.

Over almost three decades, quasi-religious mishmash about the Force has threaded through the hugely popular “Star Wars” sagas. The term has become part of the American vocabulary – used sometimes to understand faith and spirituality.

Millions will see the last movie in the “Star Wars” saga, “Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,” which opened Thursday.

But many who have never seen the films can identify the black mask of Darth Vader or the flash of a light saber. And they know something about the Force.

America’s median age is about 36. That means about half the country has little or no memory of a time before “Star Wars” was part of the cultural landscape. George Lucas released the first “Star Wars” movie in 1977.

Not coincidentally, some experts say, members of the youngest generations of Americans have been turning away from institutional religion in record numbers.

There may be some link, they say, between the fuzzy “theology” of the Force and the powerful but fuzzy spiritual longings of this group.

Most of those who check “none of the above” when pollsters ask about their religious preference aren’t atheists or agnostics.

They believe in a Higher Power and a Higher Purpose to their lives. Life and love carry eternal values.

Sound familiar? “Star Wars” fans might say all you need to do is listen to your feelings.

As Yoda explained it: “Luminous beings are we.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi said: “It’s an energy field that is created by all living things.”

Anakin Skywalker offered: “Attachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden. Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is essential. …”

Let’s get the caveats out of the way: Nobody is claiming that people have thrown over their traditional faiths simply because they saw “Star Wars.”

As Obi-Wan tells us in “Revenge of the Sith,” “Only Sith deal in absolutes.”

But just as Oprah is more than just a talk-show host and McDonald’s is more than just a restaurant chain, the success of “Star Wars” has made it more than just another way to sell popcorn.

Some experts suggest that Lucas lucked into the Force just as people were increasingly asking the spiritual questions that were addressed by his movies.

“The culture was ready to support that,” says the Rev. Russell Dalton, professor of Christian education at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas.

“He rode the crest of a wave.”

Not everybody thinks the cultural penetration of the Force is a good thing, mind you.

The Force is part of a cultural wedge of moral relativism, says Reg Grant, professor of pastoral ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary.

It has no explicit God behind it and no absolute moral code, he says.

“I think Lucas tapped into a longing on the part of not only Americans but every human being for an ideal that has no strings attached,” he says.

The very vagueness of the Force has proven to be one of its strengths. The concept combines Christian, Buddhist, Hindi and Taoist elements in ways that never completely hang together.

So just about anyone can claim it reflects his or her own ideas about faith and meaning.

A new book purports to identify the “Christian wisdom of the Jedi masters.” A Web site finds echoes of Hindu sacred stories in “the Jedi in the Lotus.”

Other sites offer lists of obvious and obscure religious references.

Some are beyond obvious: The main hero of the original three movies is named Luke (as in Gospel of) Skywalker (as in, well, any number of mythic tales).

Other references are less easily recognized.

Padme, the name of Luke’s mother, means “lotus” in Sanskrit. It’s the third word in one of Buddhism’s best known, least translatable mantras; “Om mani padme om.”

Lucas intended to stir up religious questions with his movies, he told Bill Moyers in 1999: “I put the Force into the movie in order 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.”

Which makes the Force – and the whole “Star Wars” saga – so culturally appealing?

Maybe it’s that Lucas borrowed from myths that have been around as long as story.

Two of the basic story themes for Western culture are redemption through sacrifice and redemption through violence, says Tyron Inbody, a theology professor at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.

“Star Wars” uses both of those ideas and adds Eastern motifs about attachment and emotion pulled from Buddhism and Taoism, Inbody says.

Another reason the “Star Wars” stories penetrated so deeply into culture – and especially youth culture – is that they focus spiritually on young people, says Lynn Schofield Clark, a University of Colorado media professor whose latest book is “From Angels to Alien: Teenagers, the Media and the Supernatural.”

When we meet Luke and Anakin, they’re each in exceedingly humble circumstances.

They get plucked from mundane lives and told they really have a great power and important destiny.

“That’s what all young people want, to feel they are uniquely gifted and that they only need to find out what those gifts are and how to use them,” Clark says.

“That someone will come and tell them.”