Thore Bjørnvig has a MA degree in comparative religion and lives and works in Copenhagen as an author and independent scholar. For several years he worked as an external lecturer at the Section of Religion in the University of Copenhagen. Subsequently he has, among other things, been a project team member of the Unit of Astronomy at Kroppedal Museum, Denmark's national museum for astronomy. He is a freelance writer for Danish newspapers, gives public lectures, is the author of two books of poetry, and blogs on astroculture, outer space, and religion on the Danish popular science news site videnskab.dk and on the Nordic science news site sciencenordic.com. He has published academic articles in international journals and anthologies, most lately on religion, space exploration and technology in James Cameron's Avatar (in Avatar and Nature Spirituality, edited by Bron Taylor, Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2013) and on the outer space religion of Frank White's The Overview Effect in a special issue of Astropolitics on religion and spaceflight, which he co-edited by Roger D. Launius and Virgiliu Pop (2013). He is currently involved in research in two areas: the astrocultural history of space toys and Classic LEGO Space themes from 1978-87, and the articulation and demarcation of religion in relation to the Mars One project. You can read more about Thore on his homepage thorebjornvig.dk and on Academia.edu.
In Mars We Trust
As the spaceship slowly approaches Mars its captain is overcome by religious remorse. Though he is the mastermind behind the space station orbiting Earth, and hasn’t had any interest in the Bible before, he is now growing more and more convinced that mankind wasn’t meant to venture forth to other planets.