Buzz Aldrin is agnostic

[☆ DarkBishop ☆]

Sometimes while scrolling Facebook one of the click bate headlines will catch my attention. I saw one that was an interview with Buzz Aldrin. In the article it mentions that they took bread and wine to space so they could celebrate communion. It was approved by Nasa. 

 

He refers to his current beliefs however and says this, "Today, my philosophy is more like what Albert Einstein called a cosmic sense of a greater power involved in the creation of the universe. It’s very nonspecific.”

 

I thought it was very interesting to have one of the First astronauts on the moon openly say he was no longer a Christian Believer. 

 

Here is the link to the article if you want to read it. Just remember.... its click bate so there are a lot of pop up adds. 

 

https://social.digitaltrends.com/s/buzz-aldrin-moon-landing/?as=6dap23853907575170612&utm_source=fb&utm_content=23853907538080612&utm_campaign=6dap23853907575170612&utm_medium=z020573&bdk=z020573_63e3aa19738caf00086829ae

 

 

[TABA]

I think a great many people - especially those involved in scientific fields - share his views.  Most just don't come out and say so, unfortunately.  I wish he'd said this decades ago.  Americans have always looked up to astronauts as heroes and almost idols.  The more popular figures identify as agnostic or atheist, the more people will feel less put off by non-belief, and maybe even feel more inclined to question religion themselves.

[☆ DarkBishop ☆]

1 hour ago, TABA said:

I think a great many people - especially those involved in scientific fields - share his views.  Most just don't come out and say so, unfortunately.  I wish he'd said this decades ago.  Americans have always looked up to astronauts as heroes and almost idols.  The more popular figures identify as agnostic or atheist, the more people will feel less put off by non-belief, and maybe even feel more inclined to question religion themselves.

It didn't say when his religious views changed. But since he's over 90 I have to believe it probably isn't a new thing. It has to be eye opening to do something that the writers of the Bible never thought possible. They thought God confused our language just because they were trying to build a tall tower. I imagine to stand on the moon and look down on earth would be unfathomable to those ancient people's. Something only a God would be able to do. 

 

DB

[◊ Weezer ◊]

I had a great uncle who was early on a minister and later on the head of the Soiology department at Texas Christian University for 29 years beginning in the 1950s(?).  It wasn't until after he died and a colleague wrote a book about him that it was generally known that he had become agnostic before death.  

[pantheory]

On 4/18/2023 at 10:48 AM, Weezer said:

I had a great uncle who was early on a minister and later on the head of the Soiology department at Texas Christian University for 29 years beginning in the 1950s(?).  It wasn't until after he died and a colleague wrote a book about him that it was generally known that he had become agnostic before death.  

 

From my experience it seems that many people become more religious as they get older and closer to death. But of course some others become wiser like Buzz Aldrin

[freshstart]

10 hours ago, pantheory said:

From my experience it seems that many people become more religious as they get older and closer to death. But of course some others become wiser like Buzz Aldrin

Interestingly, that has not been my experience.  (I've seen a lot of people die.) Unfortunately I think a lot of older folks stay in hiding up to and sometimes during the dying process because it has been (and in many cultures/circles, continues to be) socially unacceptable to be a skeptic, let alone atheist.  I'm still uncomfortable coming out, but more and more I'm beginning to believe its important for agnostics (myself included) to make their stand on religious mythology well known.  I'm hoping I have more courage as I grow older!  Also hoping that more celebrities, politicians, and culturally iconic personalities (like Buzz Aldrin) have the guts to share their agnosticism. 

[pantheory]

Of friends and family, I've seen older folks pray, that I never saw pray when they were younger. From my experience and readings, women tend to be more religious on average, but less open about it. And I would say that I was never a real skeptic about religion. Upon studying religions in general when I was a teenager, I one day had a eureka insight, saying to myself, you know what. all of religion is no more than BS, But I've never been against religion any more than one would be against Greek mythology. I really never talk against religion, I just explain the facts of science to anyone who asks my opinion,  which might happen once every few years. I try to always be gentle with sincere believers who are not pushy.  cheers

[TheRedneckProfessor]

I might feel a little differently about Greek mythology if people were attempting to pass discriminatory laws, deny bodily autonomy, shut down scientific research, or downplay the suffering of indigenous peoples, all in the name of Zeus.  

[pantheory]

On 4/30/2023 at 7:00 AM, TheRedneckProfessor said:

I might feel a little differently about Greek mythology if people were attempting to pass discriminatory laws, deny bodily autonomy, shut down scientific research, or downplay the suffering of indigenous peoples, all in the name of Zeus.  

 

Yeah I guess that once happened, but a little bit before my time.