Aldrin is a Presbyterian, and after landing said, “I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way.” He then gave himself communion, the first person to ever do so not on Earth.
NASA and Aldrin decided to keep this a secret because of a recent lawsuit that atheist activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair had enacted against them. O’Hair complained against the reading of Genesis on Apollo 8. Her case made it to the Supreme Court and although Aldrin was not allowed to tell anyone that he had taken communion, the government still allowed him to do so.
