If intelligent life is found in the universe will it change religion(s)?
If intelligent life is found in the universe will it change religion(s)?
....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?
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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.
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...
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.
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)
No worries, thanks a lot!
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.