CovOps
Age : 42
Joined : 27 Oct 2007
Posts : 6015
Location : Ether-Sphere
Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator
Humor : Uber Serious
 |  Subject: Will Aliens Destroy Organized Religion?  Tue Jun 10, 2008 4:36 pm | |
| If mankind finds intelligent extraterrestrial life, what will happen to the world's religions?
Prompted by Vatican chief astronomer Gabriel Funes' recent observation that aliens and God are not incompatible, I'm currently researching the topic for a Wired article. Later today I'll speak with Tom Peters, a Graduate Theological Union professor and co-editor of the journal Theology and Science.
Peters is currently conducting a survey of public opinion on aliens and religion; you can take it here (and hurry, as it closes Tuesday!) And if the subject piques your interest, I recommend some other documents that my reporting has turned up: NASA's final report from its Workshop on the Societal Implications of Astrobiology, SETI research Douglas Vakoch's "Roman Catholic Views of Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Anticipating the Future by Examining the Past," the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences' “Reconsidering the Theological and Ethical Implications of Extraterrestrial Life,” excerpts from NASA historian Steven J. Dick's superb The Biological Universe and an excellent bibliography, "Theology, Religion and Artificial Intelligence."
A few quick observations: Christians, and the Catholic church in particular, have given quite a bit of thought to this; of people predicting that extraterrestrial contact would destroy Earthly religions, nearly all are atheists; there's broad consensus among theologians that Christianity would adapt to contact, though opinion about the nature of that adaptation varies.
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/06/will-aliens-des.html
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Nemo
Joined : 26 Dec 2007
Posts : 3197
Location : Mariana Trench -- Hey Feds, come and get me!
Humor : Black
| | Subject: Re: Will Aliens Destroy Organized Religion? Tue Jun 10, 2008 6:08 pm | |
| | CovOps wrote: | | there's broad consensus among theologians that Christianity would adapt to contact, though opinion about the nature of that adaptation varies. |
Yup, standard fraudster operating procedure: adjust the bullshit as and when counter-evidence appears.
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CovOps
Age : 42
Joined : 27 Oct 2007
Posts : 6015
Location : Ether-Sphere
Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator
Humor : Uber Serious
| | Subject: Re: Will Aliens Destroy Organized Religion? Tue Jun 10, 2008 6:39 pm | |
| | Nemo wrote: | | CovOps wrote: | | there's broad consensus among theologians that Christianity would adapt to contact, though opinion about the nature of that adaptation varies. |
Yup, standard fraudster operating procedure: adjust the bullshit as and when counter-evidence appears. |
:Jackpot:
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