“The Phantom Menace” and The Crisis of Faith
Article by: Witney Seibold 
So, I have this cockeyed theory about how certain elements of popular culture are consumed in today’s society, and try to draw a (perhaps shaky) parallel to ancient questions of faith and adherence to religious belief systems. I even try to illustrate where the newest “Star Trek” movie falls in terms of modern Christianity.
This article reads more like a proposed thesis than an actual essay, but it was a rant I had crawling around in my head, and decided to put it to paper. Or screen, as the case may be. The good people at Geekscape have published it, and I now humbly share it with you, my readers (both of you).
You may read the article at the link below:
http://www.geekscape.net/the-phantom-menace-and-the-crisis-of-faith.html
Enjoy. 
Great article as usual, Witney. Can Firefly be Zoroastrianism and Babylon 5, Mormonism?
Doctor Who was the Church Of England? Man, great article, and wonderful analogy.
Actually, the split between Trek fans when TNG first appeared almost perfectly maps on to first century Christianity. Strict TOS fans are the Jews and TNG fans are the Christians. Then Christianity splits with DS9. The Trek fans’s crisis of faith came with Voyager.
Brilliant.