…with the James Web Telescope looking for sources of artificial light to identify potential intelligent life, and the news this week of Perseverance searching for microbial life on Mars it feels like we are getting closer to a major discovery. But what - if anything - would it mean for the religions on Earth if life is proven to exist out there?
Yeah, stories in some religious texts are so vague that they can be applied to any thing. Some of them are vague enough that religious leaders will have no trouble just telling their followers that existence of aliens was already told in them.
I’ve already seen religious people mixing christianity with ancient alien theory, claiming the aliens are really fallen angels, demons or nephilim, some woukd probably persist in this
Yeah, stories in some religious are so vague that they can be applied to any thing. Some of them are vague enough that religious leaders will have no trouble just telling their followers that existence of aliens was already told in them.
Pope Francis has already said that if intelligent life is found, that they would also be considered children of God, so you’re right on your first point.
If the discovery of life on other planets is anything like the discovery of life on other continents, then yes, we will force them to change their religion (and economic model).
Oh, is that not the question?
Well, it’s a suitable answer anyway. No way we’d change our beliefs to accommodate aliens when we can change the aliens to accommodate our beliefs.
It’s pretty hard to change mindsets. Even with proof, some would still close their eyes and shut their ears denying any fact presented in front of them.
I don’t know why the existence of aliens would rattle anyone’s belief. Unless you can find a way to take away their threat of dying, they’re going to believe in God.
Is OP implying there are religions that deny the existence of aliens? Most religions of a spirit realm, hidden realm for supernaturals, etc. I also don’t see the connections…
Hi! I was listening to a podcast awhile ago that stuck with me and they discussed a book I am struggling to remember the name of. In it, a religious man travels to a planet of intelligent alien life to make first contact.
All the aliens live peacefully, in harmony with the enviroment. There is no crime, poverty or muder. Everyone is kind to each other. But not a single being on the planet has ever heard of God, or made contact with any divine being. This troubles the protaganists conscious as they found an perfect balance of life without any guide. When he returns to Earth, he is told that the Devil must have invented the aliens to test his faith.
Thats all the details I can remember but it was a fair and unbiased story and it came to mind with all the recent news nentioned above. Thats all.
It is a strange situation for me. I know that one day it will be it for me. A billion eons and a single second will be the same. For the theist they are facing a chance at magical underground fire place. Wouldn’t painless non-existence be so much better than infinite torture? I won’t even know that I no longer exist because there will be no I to know. If they invented the afterlife to feel better about death why even a chance that it can go wrong? I would invent heaven but not hell.
Really depends on the religion and the kind of life discovered. No religion would have any issue with life on other planets in general, as long as it’s not provably intelligent life.
If it is provably intelligent life, some branches of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Mormonism (in order of age) would get into a crisis of belief while other branches would readily adapt. There likely would spring up many sects, some of which would claim that intelligent life to be angels/demons. There would be theological debates about whether these beings have their own original sin, etc.
Meanwhile, most other religions would simply not care all that much. Ancestor worship literally wouldn’t give a shit. Religions with reincarnation would simply expand their notions of what you can be reincarnated as. Many local pagan religions have creation myths that apply only to their local region. If those creation myths survived contact with colonizers and the knowledge that the world is larger than the area they cover, the knowledge of aliens existing wouldn’t make any more of a difference.
Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if several new alien-based religions sprang up.
Some fandoms are basically religions, especially sport club fandoms. They wouldn’t give a shit.
Lastly, it would be a boost to militant/proselytizing atheism/materialism, which also are like religions to some people.
Saint Thomas Aquinas taught it was possible that non-human intelligent life existed out there. He said it was improbable but theologically possible. So I think the Catholics will handle it well.
That said, it would take a long time from the first evidence of intelligent alien life to having it proven to the point that it can’t be dismissed as misinterpretation of data and malicious manipulation. Unless an alien armada invaded and took over part or all of Earth, there would be more than enough time for everyone to adapt without much issue.
And even then it wouldn’t be the unifying event for the world. It would literally be a race to see who could sell out the others first to get a technological advantage. It’s 2023 and we’re having a mind-boggling resurgence of people who again think the world is flat and that vaccines are just poison used for control.
Oh definitely. I was just saying that that’s the only scenario where religions for which the existence if aliens would have a problem wouldn’t have enough time to adapt.
Won’t happen. Well some fringe group might launch someone. In the right direction, but they won’t arrive.
However the universe is large and the speed of light very slow: we will never be able to send humans to another alien. In fact the speed of light is so slow, odds are we will never even get to the point where both civilizations are aware of each other - either we know they existed but they are extinct before we discover it, or they discover us long after we go extinct (of course we won’t know that).
Realistically there are only a few stars with in range of where we can establish contact. The farther out we get the less useful contact will be just because by the time we get a response we are likely to have figured it out. If we asked an alien 1 light year away (there are no stars that close to earth) about fusion they can tell us what we are doing wrong and jump start us. However by 20 light years out odds are we will know what we did wrong before their response can reach us so we are limited to sending the latest movies back and forth (open question - we will enjoy each others entertainment), and by 100 light years it is just culture interest. Even if they are very long lived, they may be interested in us, but we won’t be able to sustain enough interest in them to answer questions - not to mention their questions will be obsolete (an alien 100 light years out would have just had questions about human life in 1823 reach back to us - we don’t really know)
Like everything else, it depends on which religion you ask. Some will be fine with it, while others will be frothing at the mouth in denial, to convert them, or call for full on extermination. Just ask yourself “how does X group treat the humans they hate the most” and you’ll have your answer.
Probably not, they will just interpret/twist their holy writings to support what happened. Or if they can’t think of anything it will just be a “God works in mysterious ways” explanation.
Did you know the Big Bang is called that because Adam was banging Eve?
No, it wasn’t. Science has long proven that religion is a pure hoax, that’s why many studious individuals were burned to death or persecuted throughout human history.
I think OP picked ‘aliens’ because it would be an event where the whole world has to acknowledge that they exist and it would also contradict probably most of the current religions
I’d argue the opposite. Most religions don’t care about aliens existing or not (ancestor worship, Shinto, all Dharmic religions as far as I know, animism, etc.). Others have already made arguments why aliens should exist according to their religion (argued by at least one catholic “saint”), while others would find it difficult but not impossible to fit aliens into their belief systems.
Similarly, the Big Bang at best disproves the literal nature of a religion’s creation myth, if such a myth exists to begin with. An ancient Greek would just tell you that obviously the Big Bang or its aftermath is Chaos, from which the first gods came. An elf in Tolkien’s legendarium would tell you that obviously that was the beginning of Ea (the universe), sung into existence by the first notes sung by the Maiar. A Hindu might say something about Brahman being split into smaller existences.
It may have disproven the claim that some creation myths are to be taken literally (and even that is questionable if you assume a trickster deity), but it’s impossible to disprove religion itself.
Ancestor worship for example is wholly unconcerned about how exactly the world came into existence.
Most denominations of Christianity just take the Judeo-Christian creation myth as primarily who created the universe, and not really how, and a categorisation of things and beings.
Most religions primarily make claims about what happens to the self after death and whether one’s life influences that. Unless science opens a portal to an actual afterlife somehow, that is not something science can answer, and religions will continue to exist.
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If one of those aliens turns out to be Jesus, I might have to become a Christian.
“Hey, JC. Where have you been? Lots of people here have been waiting for you to return.”
“Oh you would not believe the traffic jam I was stuck in at the Horse head Nebula.”
Nah, it’ll just be another, “Gawd werks in mysterious wayz!”
The irrational will always find ways to remain irrational.
Religion will just claim God made aliens, too.
Or that they’re a test for the faithful. The way some do about dinosaur fossils.
I am also fully convinced that religious people could scientifically discover God and not believe it’s actually God, so…
Yeah, stories in some religious texts are so vague that they can be applied to any thing. Some of them are vague enough that religious leaders will have no trouble just telling their followers that existence of aliens was already told in them.
I’ve already seen religious people mixing christianity with ancient alien theory, claiming the aliens are really fallen angels, demons or nephilim, some woukd probably persist in this
To expand on this, every stretch will be made to re-enforce their beliefs.
Aliens are bipedal? Intelligent design!
Aliens have mouths? intelligent design!
Yeah, stories in some religious are so vague that they can be applied to any thing. Some of them are vague enough that religious leaders will have no trouble just telling their followers that existence of aliens was already told in them.
Pope Francis has already said that if intelligent life is found, that they would also be considered children of God, so you’re right on your first point.
What does it mean to scientifically discover god?
Proving God’s existence by means of physical evidence and scientific method.
I see, but theists define god as being immaterial so we wont find their god through science.
deleted by creator
If the discovery of life on other planets is anything like the discovery of life on other continents, then yes, we will force them to change their religion (and economic model).
Oh, is that not the question?
Well, it’s a suitable answer anyway. No way we’d change our beliefs to accommodate aliens when we can change the aliens to accommodate our beliefs.
It’s pretty hard to change mindsets. Even with proof, some would still close their eyes and shut their ears denying any fact presented in front of them.
Facts have never stopped religion before.
Religions adapt.
Immaculate. Adapt. Respawn
I don’t know why the existence of aliens would rattle anyone’s belief. Unless you can find a way to take away their threat of dying, they’re going to believe in God.
Is OP implying there are religions that deny the existence of aliens? Most religions of a spirit realm, hidden realm for supernaturals, etc. I also don’t see the connections…
Hi! I was listening to a podcast awhile ago that stuck with me and they discussed a book I am struggling to remember the name of. In it, a religious man travels to a planet of intelligent alien life to make first contact.
All the aliens live peacefully, in harmony with the enviroment. There is no crime, poverty or muder. Everyone is kind to each other. But not a single being on the planet has ever heard of God, or made contact with any divine being. This troubles the protaganists conscious as they found an perfect balance of life without any guide. When he returns to Earth, he is told that the Devil must have invented the aliens to test his faith.
Thats all the details I can remember but it was a fair and unbiased story and it came to mind with all the recent news nentioned above. Thats all.
If anyone has an idea of the book title, I would be interested to know!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Case_of_Conscience?wprov=sfla1
Its called ‘A case of conscience’ from 1958!
(Sorry for the late reply I’m at work)
I read that, decades ago. By James Blish, who turned many of the first Star Trek episodes into books. That was probably why I read it.
spoiler
An entire planet is excorcized.
No worries, thanks a lot!
Or… They can be atheists.
If they’re already atheists than they’re not religious and the post doesn’t apply to them
Earthlings or the aliens? 😀
I would imagine the existence of aliens rattling atheists more than religious people.
I am an atheist and monthly donor to SETI. This would just be confirmation for me.
Than you really don’t know anything about atheists.
It is a strange situation for me. I know that one day it will be it for me. A billion eons and a single second will be the same. For the theist they are facing a chance at magical underground fire place. Wouldn’t painless non-existence be so much better than infinite torture? I won’t even know that I no longer exist because there will be no I to know. If they invented the afterlife to feel better about death why even a chance that it can go wrong? I would invent heaven but not hell.
Unless of course it is just a means of control…
Really depends on the religion and the kind of life discovered. No religion would have any issue with life on other planets in general, as long as it’s not provably intelligent life.
If it is provably intelligent life, some branches of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Mormonism (in order of age) would get into a crisis of belief while other branches would readily adapt. There likely would spring up many sects, some of which would claim that intelligent life to be angels/demons. There would be theological debates about whether these beings have their own original sin, etc.
Meanwhile, most other religions would simply not care all that much. Ancestor worship literally wouldn’t give a shit. Religions with reincarnation would simply expand their notions of what you can be reincarnated as. Many local pagan religions have creation myths that apply only to their local region. If those creation myths survived contact with colonizers and the knowledge that the world is larger than the area they cover, the knowledge of aliens existing wouldn’t make any more of a difference.
Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if several new alien-based religions sprang up.
Some fandoms are basically religions, especially sport club fandoms. They wouldn’t give a shit.
Lastly, it would be a boost to militant/proselytizing atheism/materialism, which also are like religions to some people.
Saint Thomas Aquinas taught it was possible that non-human intelligent life existed out there. He said it was improbable but theologically possible. So I think the Catholics will handle it well.
I wonder if the RCC already has a plan to cover up one of their preists molesting aliens.
That said, it would take a long time from the first evidence of intelligent alien life to having it proven to the point that it can’t be dismissed as misinterpretation of data and malicious manipulation. Unless an alien armada invaded and took over part or all of Earth, there would be more than enough time for everyone to adapt without much issue.
And even then it wouldn’t be the unifying event for the world. It would literally be a race to see who could sell out the others first to get a technological advantage. It’s 2023 and we’re having a mind-boggling resurgence of people who again think the world is flat and that vaccines are just poison used for control.
Oh definitely. I was just saying that that’s the only scenario where religions for which the existence if aliens would have a problem wouldn’t have enough time to adapt.
At least christians and mormoms would probably send some missionaries their way, too.
Won’t happen. Well some fringe group might launch someone. In the right direction, but they won’t arrive.
However the universe is large and the speed of light very slow: we will never be able to send humans to another alien. In fact the speed of light is so slow, odds are we will never even get to the point where both civilizations are aware of each other - either we know they existed but they are extinct before we discover it, or they discover us long after we go extinct (of course we won’t know that).
Realistically there are only a few stars with in range of where we can establish contact. The farther out we get the less useful contact will be just because by the time we get a response we are likely to have figured it out. If we asked an alien 1 light year away (there are no stars that close to earth) about fusion they can tell us what we are doing wrong and jump start us. However by 20 light years out odds are we will know what we did wrong before their response can reach us so we are limited to sending the latest movies back and forth (open question - we will enjoy each others entertainment), and by 100 light years it is just culture interest. Even if they are very long lived, they may be interested in us, but we won’t be able to sustain enough interest in them to answer questions - not to mention their questions will be obsolete (an alien 100 light years out would have just had questions about human life in 1823 reach back to us - we don’t really know)
Like everything else, it depends on which religion you ask. Some will be fine with it, while others will be frothing at the mouth in denial, to convert them, or call for full on extermination. Just ask yourself “how does X group treat the humans they hate the most” and you’ll have your answer.
Same as every other times when science have disproven religions fairytales. They adapt. God also made those lifeforms
Probably not, they will just interpret/twist their holy writings to support what happened. Or if they can’t think of anything it will just be a “God works in mysterious ways” explanation.
Did you know the Big Bang is called that because Adam was banging Eve?
No, it wasn’t. Science has long proven that religion is a pure hoax, that’s why many studious individuals were burned to death or persecuted throughout human history.
I think OP picked ‘aliens’ because it would be an event where the whole world has to acknowledge that they exist and it would also contradict probably most of the current religions
I’d argue the opposite. Most religions don’t care about aliens existing or not (ancestor worship, Shinto, all Dharmic religions as far as I know, animism, etc.). Others have already made arguments why aliens should exist according to their religion (argued by at least one catholic “saint”), while others would find it difficult but not impossible to fit aliens into their belief systems.
Similarly, the Big Bang at best disproves the literal nature of a religion’s creation myth, if such a myth exists to begin with. An ancient Greek would just tell you that obviously the Big Bang or its aftermath is Chaos, from which the first gods came. An elf in Tolkien’s legendarium would tell you that obviously that was the beginning of Ea (the universe), sung into existence by the first notes sung by the Maiar. A Hindu might say something about Brahman being split into smaller existences.
Very interesting, thanks. What you reckon would an eventual response from the Pope be in case of irrefutable alien evidence?
Big Bang already contradicts ALL religions though.
But I see your point.
But that’s just a theory!!!
Sorry. I couldn’t resist. It’s just fun to act stupid sometimes.
A Game Theory!
But it doesnt…
Big Bang is called that way because Adam was banging Eve.
It may have disproven the claim that some creation myths are to be taken literally (and even that is questionable if you assume a trickster deity), but it’s impossible to disprove religion itself.
Ancestor worship for example is wholly unconcerned about how exactly the world came into existence.
Most denominations of Christianity just take the Judeo-Christian creation myth as primarily who created the universe, and not really how, and a categorisation of things and beings.
Most religions primarily make claims about what happens to the self after death and whether one’s life influences that. Unless science opens a portal to an actual afterlife somehow, that is not something science can answer, and religions will continue to exist.