The Space beyond the Heavens: French Catholic Responses to Spaceflight, from Sputnik I (1957) to Apollo 11 (1969)

In this thesis, French Catholic responses to the Space Race, starting with the launch of Sputnik I in 1957, and ending with the moon landing of Apollo 11 in 1969, are analysed. This is done by looking at four major Catholic newspapers. Each of these papers represented an aspect of the fragmentised French Catholic society. When taken together and compared, these papers allowed for a study of the different opinions towards spaceflight in France during the Space Race. To find out whether these opinions were specific to Catholics or more generally held across society, as a point of reference, the response in the secular paper Le Monde are also taken into the equation. Even though the topic is far from conventional, this study is able to provide relevant additions to several fields. These additions can be divided between more theoretical findings about the development of religion, and more practical observations regarding French history and Catholic history. Firstly, on a more abstract...Show moreIn this thesis, French Catholic responses to the Space Race, starting with the launch of Sputnik I in 1957, and ending with the moon landing of Apollo 11 in 1969, are analysed. This is done by looking at four major Catholic newspapers. Each of these papers represented an aspect of the fragmentised French Catholic society. When taken together and compared, these papers allowed for a study of the different opinions towards spaceflight in France during the Space Race. To find out whether these opinions were specific to Catholics or more generally held across society, as a point of reference, the response in the secular paper Le Monde are also taken into the equation. Even though the topic is far from conventional, this study is able to provide relevant additions to several fields. These additions can be divided between more theoretical findings about the development of religion, and more practical observations regarding French history and Catholic history. Firstly, on a more abstract level, this study questions the master narrative of secularisation. This is done by showing that the teleological framework used to explain the development of religion is not able to incorporate the way Catholics reacted to modernisation in the form of spaceflight. In other words: the classical image of the decline of religion in the face of modernity does not show from this case study. But apart from fulfilling this negative role in this thesis, secularisation also features as an object of study. For the way French Catholics saw their present and future was very much influenced by the spectre of secularisation. But, with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), a new progressive stance was taken regarding modernisation. Spaceflight played a crucial role in this Catholic repositioning, for it was the live broadcasted Genesis- reading aboard Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve 1968 that remystified spaceflight and space, and convinced many Catholics that scientific modernisation was not a threat to religion anymore. So even though some already saw the possibility for science and religion to integrate, after this single event, this thought became much more widespread amongst French Catholics. In abstract words, from that point on, the developments of spaceflight caused scientific progress to be definitely detached from the master narrative of secularisation in the minds of French Catholics. Moreover, the Genesis-reading greatly boosted Catholic confidence, making the secularisation seem less menacing than before. Apart from these observations regarding the development of religion, this thesis also provides a new insight into French history and Catholic history. It for example showed that the split within French Catholic society grew during the timespan of the Space Race, but, surprisingly, that the diverse factions came closer together regarding their views on spaceflight. Another interesting conclusion is that spaceflight influenced the way French Catholics perceived the Cold War. The Space Race was clearly seen as a struggle between the superpowers in which France, despite its relatively successful space program, had no role to play. Crucially for the image of spaceflight, the same rockets that were used for the exploration of space could also be used to carry a nuclear payload, and spacefaring therefore always remained connected to the danger of atomic warfare. Another important conclusion is that French Catholics perceived the Cold War differently than non-Catholics. Instead of seeing the familiar Cold War between the communist Soviet Union and capitalist America, French Catholics lived through a Catholic Cold War in which Catholicism above anything struggled against anti-religiousness. And spaceflight offered a unique argument for Catholics in this confrontation, because towards the end of the Space Race, the Soviet space program was sometimes framed as a profane program, symbolising the negative, self-destructive force of communism, and atheism in general. Lastly, by comparing the findings of this thesis with secondary literature about the responses of American believers, it turns out that French Catholics evaluated spaceflight differently than religious Americans. Whereas Americans generally had a much more positive outlook on spaceflight and saw reacted to the exploration as Americans rather than believers, while for French, this was the other way around.Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

The Space beyond the Heavens: French Catholic Responses to Spaceflight, from Sputnik I (1957) to Apollo 11 (1969)