If you were to promote the foundation of a real Jedi Order here on Earth; would that testify of your insanity or of a valuable insight? What faith can we have in a story?

All the great religions on this Earth have stories at their roots. I consider myself a christian, but that being said I would always acknowledge the fact that the Bible and its various books are stories first and foremost. There is nothing degrading in that remark as all here on this site know about the power that stories, really good stories, may actually unfold. Not all stories are the same, ofcourse. Despite the great epic value of the Lord of the Rings, it misses an essential ingredient that StarWars does provide: a religious concept that goes beyond any of the main characters. As a result the story of StarWars is two-fold. Its about the characters, for example about Anakin's initial fall and final redemption as the main canonical plot. But take a look at the hugely wide variety of material that has come together in films, games, books and fan-contributions on this and other websites. A lot of it deals with the nature of the Force and with how people supposedly deal with and reflect on the Force.

Feel free to believe in Stories
Some stories provide true inspiration for many people to contemplate the inner workings of this universe. Some contain actual and realistic seeds of ethical and moral views that are more understandable for present-day people. Some recount such issues as justice, peace, freedom, right and wrong, truth, loyalty and allegiance in all their subtelties without dogmatic righteousness and with an explorative freedom. For such stories the question of the historic truth is completely irrelevant next to their obvious relevance as compasses and guides in a troubled world. Feel free to believe in such stories.

So what about the Force
In many ways the concept of the Force is a liberating concept. It definitly appeals to the religious experiences of may people around the globe. It does away with the anthropomorphic view of Deities and Gods as mere all-powerfull humanoids. These views have had more obstructive than constructive influence in the past anyway. Instead ot focusses in on exactly those qualities which in many religions are the core: the presence of something outside of yourself and the possibillity of communicating with it in some way. The fascinating thing about the notion of the Force is that it is much more inclusive than many of the notions of god or divinity that are advertised by many of our present-day religions.