Our Sauntering habit last week uncovered a scrapbook of newspaper clippings, one of which was from The Patriot, Harrisburg, Pa., Saturday, March 3, 1962, reporting on John H. Glenn Jr.’s statement on his religious faith, told to the Senate Space Committee:
I can’t say that while in orbit you sit there and pray, or anything like that. It is a very busy time, and I know I have tried –- there have been people in the past who tried to put words in my mouth that, at a certain time, I suddenly lapsed into a prayerful state, or something like that, and this just isn’t the case.
I feel we should live all of our lives every day as though that were going to be the last day. Now, I fall so far short of this every day that it is pitiful, but we come back and keep trying the next day, anyhow.
But I feel that, to me at least, my religion is not a “fire engine” type of religion and not something that I call on in an emergency and then put God back in the woodwork in His place at the end of a particularly stressful period. We try to live every day as best we can, and I think that this is the way.
I would say the same thing happened on the mission. My peace has been made with my Maker for a number of years, and so I have no particular worries about the future along that line.
I think to try to limit God to one particular section of space or something is a very foolish thing to do. I don’t know the nature of God any more than anyone else, nor would I claim to because I happened to have made a space ride that got us a little bit above the atmosphere. God is certainly bigger than that, and I think he will be wherever we go.
For a brief biography of John H. Glenn Jr., click here. For images of or relating to John H. Glenn Jr., click here.
The Friend You've Been Waiting For
- The friend you've been waiting for has also been waiting for you. Meet each other at your local animal shelter.
Who runs this blog?
- The Saunterer. That's me, H. Charles Romesburg, Professor in the Department of Environment and Society, Utah State University. As part of my research I saunter through the writings of especially creative people, keeping an eye open for insightful ideas on subjects that are joined with great goodness and creativity. I will in this blog present ideas from the writings of more than three hundred of these creators: painters, scientists, mathematicians, entrepreneurs, writers, poets, naturalists, actors, rock climbers and more. Among the subjects that will be covered: How workers in most every vocation and avocation can work as artists do, creating use, beauty, or both, of rare note. How regularly experiencing wild nature makes us better creators. How it is that the more all forms of life come to be revered, the more creative society will be. For some of the other subjects that will be covered, click on cnr.usu.edu/romesburg
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Copyright 2005 by H. C. Romesburg
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August 10, 2011
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Recent Posts
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Recent Comments
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Books by H. Charles Romesburg
H. Charles Romesburg: The Life of the Creative Spirit
Practically all of the quotations in this blog's posts are collected in "The Life of the Creative Spirit."H. Charles Romesburg: How About It, Writer?
Based on a study of more than 12,000 essays from the very best literary magazines, this book provides writers with lists of thousands of classic forms of opening sentences, titles, transition sentences, ways of saying "for example," and ways of closing nonfiction pieces. When you are writing an essay and want a hint for a better or fresh way of saying what you mean, looking through the lists acts on the imagination, stimulating your creativity. From Lulu Press (ISBN 1-4116-2862-4, 194 pp., softback), it's $16.95 when ordered from Lulu.com/Romesburg , and $22.95 from bookstores. To view its cover, click on www.cnr.usu.edu/romesburg/how_about_it_writer.htm To view its title page, contents, and first two chapters, click on: www.cnr.usu.edu/romesburg/how_about_it_writer_preview.pdfH Charles Romesburg: Best Research Practices
The Saunterer’s new book (2009), Best Research Practices explains how to plan and carry out reliable experiments, how to conceive and circumstantially support research hypotheses, how to test research hypotheses with the hypothetico-deductive method, how to discover cause and effect, and more. It’s based on his examination of 5,000 top scientific articles, studying the methods used to produce reliable knowledge. Preview it on-line by going to the following link: http://print.google.com/print?isbn=9780557017836
For an an informative discussion about the existance of god, I recommend reading "god is not Great" by Christopher Hitchens. It was reviewed on PBS Newshour several months ago. It presents a rational view of the negativity of religion in all of its forms.
Posted by: James Radford | August 13, 2011 at 10:55 PM