*This was a session at [Sol 2012](/Sol_2012).*
[Hank](/Hank): I'm more interested in how to use religion to support our goal (getting to the stars) than telling everyone else how to do religion
- I was raised as a Christian Scientist, was a 7th Day Adventist when I got to college (which let me fit in by being the cook on Sunday)
- The college had 49 denominations but was totally anti-Catholic
- Discussions in the dorms were never practical
- Guys decided which church to go to by where the prettiest girls were
- I decided this was a bunch of hooey and left
- I became a medical missionary so I could find a practical mission and purpose in what I was studying
- Pam Sargeant wrote *Earthseed* and *Farseed*, may have inspired Octavia Butler
- Sargeant's story describes a spaceship that's coming back someday, and a radio tower to communicate with it ... like God and cathedrals
- The story also includes animals and plants brought along to make the humans feel at home
- The common understanding of the word "religion" is about the supernatural ... if you say "my religion is to send people to other worlds," people will think you're nuts
- Should all of a crew sent to live on Mars have the same beliefs/religion?
- [Lion](/Lion): Making spaceships is not my focus ... I'm more interested in the thoughts about the [Religious Method](/Religious_Method) ... but I respect what you said
- The religious question isn't separate from the practical question ... we need dedication to achieve our practical goals
- The very concept of higher purpose is always treated with irony by my generation ... we need new psychic infrastructure
- Hank: without a shared goal, things don't work
- Biosphere 2 was a success in that they had the shared goal to build it and live in it
- The people selected were those with the mindset needed to live in isolation as a small group that solves all of its own problems with limited resources