On the Nature of New Age "Star" Religions and Other Forms of Consumer Driven, Pop Culture Mythology

Graven images from the Star Wars Universe! Oh my!

Contrary to popular, "modern," Western (and communist Chinese and Russian) belief (the latest pseudo-bright CULTural idea to come down the societal pike), religion in and of itself has NOT been solely "responsible for all the world's wars down through history." That's actually a socialist, Marxist idea, that, when put into proper perspective, is actually kinda stupid (simple minded, at the very least) when you think about it. Because mankind does not need religion to split up into warring factions, or to discriminate on the basis of "race," or anything else for that matter.

Nor is it always about "oil" or natural resources. On the contrary, there are all sorts of reasons why, in the real world, people come into conflict with one another. Usually, it's not just one reason, but a whole slew of reasons! Sometimes, people have simply fought over who should be "the rightful heir to the throne." No "blood for oil" or "my religion is best" required. Just good old/bad old human conflict. Like in the Star Wars Universe!

In fact, there has been war and conflict in the Far East many times throughout human history, without the significant presence of any of the Abrahamic faiths -- Judaism, Christianity, OR Islam -- ALL of which are part of the same family, let us not forget. Hell! There was war on the North American, South American, and Australian continents (and even among the tiny islands of the rest of Oceania) before the "evil" whites got to any of those places.

Duh.

Take away, or "ban" any human societal construct (society, device, etc), and there will still be some sort of internecine strife of one form or another. People will still jockey for power, face (fame), and Money Almighty. And to that end perhaps, 20th and 21st century science fiction and fantasy "creators" ("modern" mass media wizards and magicians) have been busy for quite some time now, conjuring up tons of all powerful mythologies (would be religions) to woo the masses into following their pseudo-godlike lead.

Not to even mention Tolkien (though I suppose I just did), in just this past century alone, we have seen the likes of the "Great Bird of the Galaxy" himself; as Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, became known. Even well before he passed away on October 24, 1991, the man had become a sort of messianic, modern, secular Moses type, ever leading the scientific faithful into a bold, ever "optimistic" future, where mankind has supposedly finally solved all sorts of social problems.

Of course, it's hard to say for absolute sure if the devoted following the very name Roddenberry still engenders to this very day among millions of devoted Star Trek fans truly went to the man's head, but all the fan boy adoration might just have helped to make him more and more intractable about particulars in the Star Trek Universe "Bible" as the Trek fan phenomenon grew and grew in popularity over the years. This was particularly evident while "the Great Bird" was reportedly lording over the writing staff of the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series.

And what about that great conjurer of Disney movies, and the multi-billion dollar theme parks and mountains of accompanying merchandise that dear old Walt helped to pioneer? All of that still enthralls the faithful among us, does it not? And that other guy who came later on.... What's his name? The one who has inspired so many creative people to help him tell so many tales about that galaxy far, far away. Yes, the still very much mortal, George Lucas. That guy. When he eventually becomes a "Force Ghost," I am soooo gonna hang out with that spectral dude! Oh yes!

And, perhaps most interesting of all, that L. Ron Hubbard guy, the science fiction author of "Scientology" that, even though he may have thought he was rejecting old world mysticism, still managed to end up playing pretty much the same old god game when it was all said and done. Nah! Scientology is everything numero uno Scientologist Tom Cruise seems to sincerely believe it is, right? Well, right...?

Hmm.

Even Glen A. Larson's Battlestar Galactica (the original AND the 2004 version) had more than an ungodly share of "star" religious content, after all. As many folks know, Mr. Larson was a Mormon. And there's plenty of good old American mythology where that came from, eh? But the original series was a helluva lot of fun for yours truly when I was a kid. Heck! I still love that show an awful lot. Though often accused of being a rip off artist, Glen Larson was a genius, as far as I'm concerned. Or... a prophet maybe! Uh... no. NO. Scratch that. Uh, no.

Either way, the religious overtones of the original Battlestar Galactica series never bothered me a bit. It's the good old fashioned Power of Myth, people! In fact, I have always thought that it actually made the series much more powerful than it would have been without all the "religious mumbo jumbo." Sort of like the Force of Star Wars, I guess! 'Cause, come on, without that aspect of the Star Wars saga, all you're really left with is "good guys" and "bad guys" beating the tar out of one another all the time. Like in professional wrestling. And seriously, if that kind of mindless squabbling really floats your boat, just get involved in politics already, will ya. Bleh!

Even "re-imagined" show runners Ronald D. Moore and David Eick got all religious on us poor fan boys and girls!

So... THINK. Think it all through, all you smartypants of the collective human race! If you really are as smart as you fancy your fancy (geeky) pants, you'll plainly see that this equation really ain't that hard to solve. And think for your own damn self while you're at it, huh? But then, it is a prerequisite of many religions (though perhaps not all), that one must follow blindly. Hmm.

A staggering number of people in the UK and other countries have actually begun to identify "Jedi" as their religion

So, to me, this is all actually rather interesting. And funny. Funny "ha ha" sort of amusing, AND funny "strange," too. For example, many people who LOVE Star Wars, and couldn't live without seeing the latest movie, or collecting all the latest licensed merchandise based on the franchise, still, for some odd reason, HATE, HATE, HATE its creator, George Lucas. Hmm. Do we even know WHY that is, we star lost and star struck fan boys and girls?

What if.... What if, it's simply because George Lucas is so incredibly clever (or chock full of dumb luck?), that he actually managed to create something so powerful, so mythic, so timelessly EPIC, and of such towering social and commercial proportions, that he will have our geeky little panties in a bunch over it for the rest of our natural born lives? What then?

Hmm.

And many of us probably don't even fully understand how or why good old Mr. Lucas managed to pull such a colossal fast one on us like that! Well, speaking for myself, I personally still like and respect "Uncle George" -- though I certainly am no worshiper of that particular mortal man by any means. But anyway, if you do hate poor old King George, don't be too hard on him or yourself. You're "a consumer," after all. We all are, aren't we? So... consume! Better yet, continue to be consumed by all things Star Wars. Disney (the HUGE company, not necessarily the Force Ghost of Uncle Walt) will certainly be quite happy if you do.

Me? I'm not taking the red or the blue pill (or necessarily choosing the red or the blue light saber), thank you very much. For me, it's no batteries (or drugs - as in, Marx's mental opiates) required, kids. But, may the Force be with us all this holiday season. And as Charles Dickens and his wonderfully timeless literary creation Tiny Tim so aptly put it, "God bless us everyone." And make sure you go and see The Force Awakens now! Or you'll surely be nothing but an old "humbug." Or a Star Wars Universe heretic at the very least.