Brothers and sisters, by now I'm sure most of you have seen the new Star Wars trailer, and I know all of you with high-speed connections have seen it. Pretty cool, eh? Well the Star Wars saga as a whole could have more significance than you realize - read on.

So I'm up late Monday night, and I'm watching Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher. If you're not familiar with PI, Bill Maher talks about current issues with four guests who are celebrities of some sort, either actors, writers or political icons usually. The show's entertainment value varies wildly night to night, probably due to the rotating cast.

Anyway, Maher's writers come up with topics for the group to debate, and then they feed him some stance to take on each topic so that it will spark conversation. That night Maher's topic was the new Star Wars movie coming out, The Phantom Menace. "Ok," I'm thinking, "what kind of debate can you have about the new Star Wars movie? How controversial is that?" Well, Maher's stance was: "The Star Wars saga, within a couple hundred years, is going to take the place of the Bible."

I paused. I blinked. Did he really say that? Yes, he did. On national television he told his guests, including the impossibly outspoken Christian Minister Jerry Falwell that the Bible, a time-honored story and the basis of faith for millions, if not billions, was going to become obsolete in favor of a "space opera."

(Speaking of Jerry Falwell, do a search on him on the net, and you can find this page which claims that he "accused Clinton of Drug Smuggling and Murder" and then he was "involved in the kidnapping of (8 year-old) Shamema Sloan, and is right now holding (her) prisoner in his 'Liberty Christian Academy' in Lynchburg, Virginia." Boy, I love the Internet.)

Naturally, Falwell shot Maher down pretty quickly, telling him how ridiculous the idea was, but Maher needed to kill airtime, so he attempted to prove his point by simply repeating it five or six times. Gilbert Gottfried was another guest, and it was the first time I've ever seen him speechless as he just sat back and watched Maher make a fool of himself.

Anyway, I started to think, "Could something like this actually happen? Could the Star Wars story ever replace the Bible stories in popular culture and religion?" Maybe Maher has a point. I tried to picture a scene in my mind - perhaps a mother, tucking her son into bed in the year 2237, would recount the story:

Son, never forget the story of Luke, our Savior, and Leia, the Virgin Princess. Thousands of years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the forces of Good did battle with the forces of Evil, and, as always, Good was triumphant in the end. Trust in Luke, son - he gave his right hand for your sins, and he will always be there for you as long as you remember to rewind the tape.

Argh. No good. Let's try this again:

Son, remember to live your life following Luke's precepts - Bad Jedis never win. Don't give in to your hate, or it will destroy you. You can't keep a good Jedi down. Small teddy bear-looking creatures can be dangerous in herds. Don't kiss her - she's your sister. I see your Schwartz is as big as mine, now let's see how you handle it.

Dang it, I slipped into Spaceballs. Strike two. This was harder than it seemed.

Young Luke (good biblical name), firstborn of Darth, came from humble beginnings, a farmer from a sandy, arid land. Verily, he was meek as a boy and eager to help his brethren. One day on his way to market he came upon a pair of droids belonging to the Virgin Princess. He rushed them to shelter because the Dark Side was after them, and a droid who is set on a sand dune cannot easily be hid.

Presently, he sought the help of a wise man, Obi-Wan of Kenobi, in an effort to return the lost droids to whence they came. Yea, they walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death until they met a smuggler whose spaceship they could hire. The smuggler told him, "Love thy Wookiee as thyself."

Nope, I still couldn't picture it. I decided that Maher's writers were off their collective rocker. How one could suggest that a series of movies, while admittedly the biggest sci-fi franchise of all time, could surpass a document that is the foundation of modern Western religion for the past 2000 years was just beyond me. Star Trek is pretty cool, too, but I don't see it unseating the Talmud anytime soon. But hey, maybe I'm just not cut out for television.