I see it as drawing more from the Oriental philosophies and their condept of balance in the universe (yin and yang and that sort of thing).
I tend to agree with Tax-chick. If you took that "dark side of the force" business seriously, it would undermine basic Christian ideas about the nature of God and of good and evil. But I believe most people laugh at it.
The same with Harry Potter. People dress up as witches and wizards to go to the opening, but they do it in the spirit of fun and games, not some dark yearning to practice witchcraft. Kids wield light sabers in the same spirit of fun.