As with Star Trek, an array of parallels can be drawn between the Bible and the wildly successful franchise Star Wars I-VI (1977–2005). For instance, Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker were portrayed in varying degrees as Christ figures. Anakin, like Jesus, was born of immaculate conception. Luke, like Jesus, was the chosen one, the special individual destined to bring peace and unity to the galaxy. The Force’s similarity to the Holy Spirit prompted the spread of a joke based on liturgy. A clergyman intones, “May the Force be with you.” Congregants respond, “And also with you.”

Other bit of trivia linking the Bible and Star Wars have more to do with coincidences. For instance, in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), actress Pernilla August played Anakin Skywalker’s mother, Shmi Skywalker. With a sense of wonder, Shmi confessed that Anakin did not have a father. The same year she appeared in The Phantom Menace, Pernilla August played Mary to Christian Bale’s Jesus in a made-for-TV movie called Mary, Mother of Jesus. Another Star Wars connection to the Bible derives from the fact that actress Keisha Castle-Hughes played the Queen of Naboo in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). The next year, Castle-Hughes played Mary in The Nativity Story.