-
The Apollo 8 Genesis Reading and Religion in the Space Age
- Author(s):
- Kendrick Oliver (see profile)
- Date:
- 2013
- Group(s):
- Religious Studies
- Subject(s):
- United States, Religions, History, Science--Philosophy, Technology--Philosophy, Science, Technology
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- Apollo 8, Bible, NASA, Spaceflight, American religious history, History and philosophy of science and technology
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6JR46
- Abstract:
- Between January 1969 and the summer of 1975, NASA received over eight million letters and petition signatures supporting the right of American astronauts to free religious expression in space. Prompted by Madalyn Murray O'Hair's complaints about the reading of Genesis during the flight of Apollo 8, the petition campaign points to the complex ambivalent relationship between religious Americans and their nation's space program. The Genesis reading had provided reassurance that the program, with its secular motivations, its instrumental culture, and its designs upon God's very heavens, was not hostile to faith. But what if NASA now yielded to O'Hair? The petitions flowed in the eschatological anxiety that the sacred space of the skies might be cleared of Christian speech.
- Notes:
- This is the original manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Astropolitics on 20 June 2013, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14777622.2013.803216
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 6 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
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