Stealing from friends is fun

My friend Danielle (in my links to the right) posted this in a more timely fashion than I am doing right now, but I could not resist the repost. This is fascinating, and indeed, I am astounded I'd never heard about this until now. It's about the moon landing in 1969:

Buzz Aldrin, on taking communion on the moon:

“In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing.’ I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute [they] had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O’Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly ... I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements” (http://www.ericmetaxas.com/).

Like I said, fascinating. Love it. I also find it funny that I've never heard of the "celebrated opponent of religion" before this post either. Guess she ran out of steam.