Kmar
Truth is my Bitch
+5,695|6571|132 and Bush

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Could Extraterrestrial Intelligence Sway Religious Beliefs?
The discovery of extraterrestrial life might not shake people's faith in their religious beliefs, but it could lead them to wonder if Jesus Christ had incarnations on alien planets, scientists and theologians say.

These speculations and more arose from researchers presenting at a meeting of the Royal Society in London last year addressing the potential impacts of aliens on society, who detailed their analysis this month in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A.

In one of the studies, which were released Jan. 10, astrobiologist Chris McKay at NASA Ames Research Center noted the consequences that aliens might have on society depend on whether humanity discovered only extraterrestrial life or also extraterrestrial intelligence.

"The discovery of life could very well or would probably be of microbes and could perhaps be on Mars or Europa, while the detection of extraterrestrial intelligence would almost certainly be from signals originating quite distant from us," McKay told SPACE.com.

"The implications of extraterrestrial microbial life would be that we would know the answer to the question of whether life is common — we might find it twice in our solar system — and we'd be able to learn more about life on Earth by comparing it to life from elsewhere," McKay added. "The detection of extraterrestrial intelligence, on the other hand, would not only answer the question of whether extraterrestrial life existed, but also be such an amazing event that it would be very hard to try and predict all the impacts it would have on society."

Aliens vs. religion?

One impact that extraterrestrials might have on society is in the sector of religion, said theologian Ted Peters at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, Calif. For instance, aliens might lead religions to question whether a second genesis of life elsewhere belongs within the biblical understanding of creation. Might Jesus Christ have appeared more than once in the universe? [10 Alien Encounters Debunked]

"It's been argued for a couple of centuries now whether one incarnation of God as Jesus Christ for the entirety of creation is sufficient, with some thinking that God would do so multiple times as appropriate for the capacity of any individual species to comprehend," Peters told SPACE.com.

To see what effects the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence might have on religion, Peters and his colleagues surveyed more than 1,300 individuals worldwide from multiple religious traditions,  -- including Roman Catholics, evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Mormons, Jews, Buddhists and non-religious groups.

They found the vast majority of religious believers — regardless of religion — were overwhelmingly confident that they wouldn’t suffer a collapse in faith in the face of evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. In addition, roughly one-third of religious people thought that the faith of other religions would be threatened, while two-thirds of nonreligious people thought that aliens would sway the faith of the religious as a whole.


Can space change religious beliefs?

There are many open questions as to how people on Earth might view beliefs from space. Could advances that alien civilizations could bring be perceived much like a secular form of salvation? Might advanced civilizations and their perhaps equally advanced philosophies make our religions feel primitive?

Alien religions could draw converts, and if there are many points of agreement between religions on Earth and from space, one might see communication of ideas across species as well. "Greek philosophers never met the God of Moses, but there were people who said, 'Doggone, there seems to be much that coheres,'" Peters said.

Theologians will not find themselves out of a job — traditional theologians will have to become astrotheologians, Peters noted.

"One of the things that distinguish one religious tradition from another are the symbols that have developed over time — Christians have their set, much as Hindus have theirs," he said. "No doubt extraterrestrials have their sets of symbols as well, and theologians will have their work cut out analyzing them to see if there is any continuity of meaning."

In terms of the impact extraterrestrials might have on science, astronomer Martin Dominik at the University of St. Andrews noted that one could then begin to question what environments might prove most habitable in the universe.
How would a major discovery like alien life be reconciled with the teachings of modern religion? And how do the worlds organized religions explain the lack of mention prior to a major discovery like intelligent alien life?
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Shahter
Zee Ruskie
+295|6745|Moscow, Russia
the answer is simple:

goddidit.

we have a saying in russia: only the grave will fix the humpback. that pretty much discribes nine out of ten religious people i know.
if you open your mind too much your brain will fall out.
Kmar
Truth is my Bitch
+5,695|6571|132 and Bush

So you don't see anyone questioning their belief system after? Surely the discovery of intelligent alien life would be cause for reconsideration, no matter how devote the believer is.
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Varegg
Support fanatic :-)
+2,206|6780|Nårvei

Don't think life that doesn't originate from our planet will rock religion much at all, it will just be seen as proof that God works in mysterious ways and had the intelligence to make some "backup" planets ...

Just my few cents as a not so religious person: If you believe in God and that there is a universe HE created there may also be additional life that HE created ...
Wait behind the line ..............................................................
Shahter
Zee Ruskie
+295|6745|Moscow, Russia
organised religion is made to withstand anything thrown at it. it's been able to survive through, what, 200+ years of booming scientific advances? think of all that incredible discoveries that, basically, leave religion with no leg to stand on... but it's still alive and well.
religion will not be swayed by anything short of radical change in humanity as a species i'm affraid. what religion's been ultimately based on is a fundamental flaw of our race no new knowledge about outside world, regardless how incredible, would fix - mortality. untill something's done about that you'll have people inventing idiotic shit to cope with it and manipulators abusing all that.
if you open your mind too much your brain will fall out.
Spark
liquid fluoride thorium reactor
+874|6645|Canberra, AUS
would religion survive the first medical resurrection, you mean?
The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
~ Richard Feynman
Kmar
Truth is my Bitch
+5,695|6571|132 and Bush

That is true to a degree. If religion were completely secure in their ability to adapt then the catholic church wouldn't have felt so threatened by a heliocentric universe circa 1600. That is nothing compared to making contact with other beings. The explanation would need to be more than simply "god did it" I think. That isn't to say that they couldn't develop an explanation. I am just curious as to what that might be.
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Shahter
Zee Ruskie
+295|6745|Moscow, Russia

Spark wrote:

would religion survive the first medical resurrection, you mean?
oh, it will. the first one that is. come to think of it, people are already being brought back from certain conditions that aren't really all that different from death. now think what will become of religion in a society of a thousand years old who have no fear of dying at all.
if you open your mind too much your brain will fall out.
AussieReaper
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
+5,761|6123|what



Watch the above, and then read some of the comments made from the religious types. Calling fake, simply because this promotes gasp evolution.

If they can't even accept a Gorilla walking, I doubt an alien life is going to change their belief that drastically, if at all.

If you believed the Church, the Earth was the centre of the universe and Sun revolved around the Earth. When that was proven incorrect, did the religious stop believing? Nope, just altered what they got out of the texts. "Metaphor" is the excuse for anything the Bible, etc is shown to be false with.
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Kmar
Truth is my Bitch
+5,695|6571|132 and Bush

Plenty of religions have died off with the revelation of new human understanding of the world. I imagine a faith based society could easily be exploited by an alien civilization. Who is to say life wasn't deliberately delivered to our planet during the heavy bombardment? Now worship me.
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Kmar
Truth is my Bitch
+5,695|6571|132 and Bush

AussieReaper wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrQf6cogMuI

Watch the above, and then read some of the comments made from the religious types. Calling fake, simply because this promotes gasp evolution.

If they can't even accept a Gorilla walking, I doubt an alien life is going to change their belief that drastically, if at all.

If you believed the Church, the Earth was the centre of the universe and Sun revolved around the Earth. When that was proven incorrect, did the religious stop believing? Nope, just altered what they got out of the texts. "Metaphor" is the excuse for anything the Bible, etc is shown to be false with.
Galileo himself argued that the bible was allegorical in nature.
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AussieReaper
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
+5,761|6123|what

Yeah, he would have also risked his own life had he said otherwise.

Charles Darwin came up against similar (although not as immediately life threatening) resistance.
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Cybargs
Moderated
+2,285|6686

Kmar wrote:

Plenty of religions have died off with the revelation of new human understanding of the world. I imagine a faith based society could easily be exploited by an alien civilization. Who is to say life wasn't deliberately delivered to our planet during the heavy bombardment? Now worship me.
STARGATE ZOMGS

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Shahter
Zee Ruskie
+295|6745|Moscow, Russia

Kmar wrote:

Plenty of religions have died off with the revelation of new human understanding of the world. I imagine a faith based society could easily be exploited by an alien civilization. Who is to say life wasn't deliberately delivered to our planet during the heavy bombardment? Now worship me.
blasphemy! we've bible - and that is word of GOD! who the fuck are those extraterrestrials to challenge the Lord?
if you open your mind too much your brain will fall out.
Kmar
Truth is my Bitch
+5,695|6571|132 and Bush

Galileo was trying to save the church from embarrassment. His daughter was a nun and the pope that ruled over his house arrest was a close friend.
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Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6076|eXtreme to the maX
Religious crazies will always find a new 'explanation' to prove the original story was right all along.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

Widely? Not much. It would have little to no effect on modern day religion, which is already liberalizing at a fairly rapid pace. However, flat-earthers and similar nuts might feel the sting.
EVieira
Member
+105|6448|Lutenblaag, Molvania

Kmar wrote:

So you don't see anyone questioning their belief system after? Surely the discovery of intelligent alien life would be cause for reconsideration, no matter how devote the believer is.
Why would they? Plenty of things have been discovered and people's faith continues. Fossils, DNA, evolution, etc. Why would alien life throw them off if none of those things ever did?
"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered;  the point is to discover them."
Galileo Galilei  (1564-1642)
Hunter/Jumper
Member
+117|6324
I never saw the two as mutually exclusive. I don't take scripture that literally anyway.

For example: I believe maybe there was a Flood once and they stuffed their live stock into a boat in the interest of animal husbandry. I didn't think they looked for two cockroaches, two cobras, Rats and a pair of every other animal they would only have seen as a nuisance. I didn't think they were even aware of Polar Bears and tried to look for them.

( I would like to see the color print in a children's Bible of Noah and his Bud's Lassoing a Polar Bear,
It's mate already waiting passively in a stout wooden cage in the back round. )

I always thought church, scripture, etc dull and repetitive anyway. Don't kill, hurt, steal and be real sorry if you do. I got it all on Day one.

What if an advanced Extraterrestrial Intelligence came to Earth and were missionaries for their Religious Beliefs.
SEREMAKER
BABYMAKIN EXPERT √
+2,187|6538|Mountains of NC

what if the alien ................. is Jesus
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Hunter/Jumper
Member
+117|6324
movie like that in about 1975 stared the Lead in Taxi Sitcom series. The scar in his side ( From Longiness's* Lance ) was supposed to be a Sex organ if I remember.  Bizarre but entertaining Film.

*SP
Smithereener
Member
+138|6286|California

SEREMAKER wrote:

what if the alien ................. is Jesus
Sounds like an M. Night Shyamalan-esqe twist to me.

Honestly though, I only see people already at the edge in terms of swaying beliefs to be affected with a discovery or appearance of ETI. I would imagine fundamentalists and those who have religion deeply embedded in their lives would find a way to reconcile it with their belief systems.
Hunter/Jumper
Member
+117|6324
I know it is small minded But I hope I am not here when or if we meet other life. It would be just too much too fast. I cant even imagine the implications.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

I don't think we'd have anything that would be of specific value to a spacefaring E.T. civilization. Even as mercs, our violent disposition would probably have little bearing on the effectiveness of their weaponry. If they did set up formal diplomatic relations, all we'd have to worry about is culture shock.

I, for one, wouldn't mind the technological advances offered if we didn't have to become worthless citizens because of it.
SEREMAKER
BABYMAKIN EXPERT √
+2,187|6538|Mountains of NC

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