A recent article in Tablet Magazine challenges the religious message of Star Wars in interesting ways (HT The Lead and Religion Nerd).

On the one hand, the article makes some good points about the superficiality of some Star Wars spirituality, or the attempt to let “following one’s bliss” be a guide to life.

Yet on the other hand, the Star Wars movies themselves seem at times to offer a more profound vision than much of the popular religiosity and philosophy that appeals to them.

See also on this topic the article in the New York Times about the video on hating religion but loving Jesus which recently went viral. As that article concludes, “Effective rebellion isn’t just expressing your personal feelings. It means replacing one set of authorities and institutions with a better set of authorities and institutions. Authorities and institutions don’t repress the passions of the heart, the way some young people now suppose. They give them focus and a means to turn passion into change.”

Or as master Yoda might have put it, “Excitement, adventure, bliss, freedom from the constraints of institutions, communities, and discipline – a Jedi craves not these things.”