I saw it yesterday and was disapointed. Found it overlong and lacked any real story substance. It did dwell too much on the Jedi stuff (it felt in places like a propaganda movie for a religious cult).

They are running with that now big time! George Lucas did base the force on religion though.

Reall

I haven't seen it, but I remember there being religious connotations about The Force in previous movies.

Yeah. I think one of hte reasons why the whole "Star Wars" saga is popular is because it shows the supernatural powers that most people wish religion actually expressed in reality. They have been taught that it once did, and they are really disappointed that they see no evidence of ti today. So, it fulfills their wishful thinking about religion and its possibilities.

Personally I lost interest in "Star Wars" a while back. I prefer the future as displayed in "Star Trek", as society and culture have evolved to be more generally accepting of others and diversity is celebrated. "Star Wars" is divisive, while "Star Trek is more unifying.

In about 5 years, there will be a lot of autonomous cars on the road (they will be introduced in 2019, and produced by every auto manufacturer by 2022), and the idea of space craft having to have actual pilots will start to seem unrealistic altogether. So, science fiction will change a great deal and both visions of the future may become "old fashioned".

Why would it being a religion bother you any more than the fact that they use supernatural force in their role as a Jedi? Since the entire premise of Star Wars is Fantasy from the git go, just roll with it and decouple your psychological hangup about religion.

May the farce be with you.