Space Expansion and Politico-Religious Ideology: A Consideration of Civil Religion and the Future of Space Exploration

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, I focus on the question of how religion may evolve as a social institution that shapes behavior as colonization of the solar system unfolds. I argue here that space exploration in the American context has long been infused with elements of politico- religious ideology that sociologist Robert Bellah identifies with American civil religion and will suggest that the linkage between civil religion and space expansionism is likely to continue, and perhaps even intensify, as humans move beyond low earth orbit.