Just like there was a first animal to crawl out of the sea, there is an animal that has clawed it's way out of the gravity well. I suspect that if we knew more about life on other planets we would see a pattern of species gobbling up resources, expanding quickly, degrading their planet and getting into orbit. To the extent that culture is fueled by a biological imperative which in aggregate fuels a branch of a species to spread it's genes/culture to the greatest extent which it can, I think it's a certainty that something exactly like this will happen at some point in the future. I don't know if it's the Mormons, Catholics, Scientology, or a rich crazy guy, but I feel certain we will see this come to pass.

It's the perfect chance to take a swing a creating a "perfect" society. I think we will all see "nanny bots" in our life time, and I am pretty sure that a robot can be taught to raise a human about as well as a great many humans are raised across the planet. Maybe I'm crazy, but mankind pushing life out of the gravity well is the closest thing I have that seems like religion to me.