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That intermingling has continued even with our modern, diminishing space program.

[H]ere is a priest, outfitted in the finery of a centuries-old church, shaking holy water over the engines, invoking God's protection for a journey to near-earth orbit. That these two spheres of human creation co-exist is remarkable. That they interact, space agencies courting the sanction of Russian Orthodox Christianity, is strange.

Orthodox Christian priest blessing the launch of a Soyuz spacecraft in 2012, via NASA.

Religions have also adapted to space travel in broader terms. For example, the

Christianity

In the late 19th century, the Catholic Church actually authorized a French Jesuit priest and scientist named Abb Moigno to make the call on whether or not a "plurality of worlds doctrine" could actually coexist with "Catholic morals and truth." As Weintraub writes, Moigno ultimately decided that the idea of multiple, potentially inhabited planets "did in no way conflict with the doctrines of the Creation, Incarnation, and Redemption as taught by the Catholic Church." So at least in the Catholic Church, no problem with colonies.

Despite Moigno's findings, some modern-day Christians (fundamentalists, specifically) don't just feel vaguely threatened by the promise of space travel. Rather, they believe that the Bible explicitly forbids it. For instance, Ken Ham, a "young Earth creationist" and the founder and president of

But where does the Bible discuss the creation of life on the "lights in the expanse of the heavens"? There is no such description because the lights in the expanse were not designed to accommodate life. God gave care of the earth to man, but the heavens are the Lord's (Psalm 115:16). From a biblical perspective, extraterrestrial life does not seem reasonable.

Fortunately, Ham represents an extreme interpretation. Christianity as a whole has no serious issues with space colonization. And other religious groups are even more forgiving.

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Which Religions Are Prepared to Accept Life in Space?