[Urb]

Silencer;234747 said:

Well, can anyone say 911 times 1000?

Yes. Nine hundred and eleven thousand...

*dramatic silence*

[Gem Windcaster]

Xander;234927 said:

there are some pretty serious people who take the Bible literally...and when I say Literally i mean they think EVERY WORD IS TRUE.

Some people might think this belief in the Bible inherently limits the ability to believe in Alien Life. It does not. There are millions of open minded and humble Christians out there that admit that they don't know everything God has been up to the last infinity or so. Me being one of them. The bible relates what has and will happen here, on this planet, and regarding the human race.

I even don't think we understand 1% of what the universe is. Or what it will be. We should and do (some of us at least) question our own impression of the universe every day.

I used to think about what would happen to my faith if Alien life were discovered(and I am talking about intelligent alien life, with an advanced technology - all other forms would be lame). I came to the conclusion that it wouldn't change a thing. Not even close to a tiny bit. I suspect that those Christians that have an issue with Alien life usually don't make up their minds about things, but listen too much to what they 'should' think. That's why they get upset with the theory of evolution (like it in any way stands in opposition to the Creation story - which it doesn't) and the like.

People don't think for themselves anymore, and Christians are just as much part of that as many other people.

Intellectualism is a dying movement, mostly due to all sorts of propaganda. If we're supposed to life through this change in our society where Media rules, we have to learn to actually think for ourselves. A Revolution of The Mind.

To answer the original poster: no, it will not destroy any religion - I have suspicions that the opposite will happen, actually. Why? Read the bible as it should be read, critically and with an open mind, and you'll see why. There are all sorts of mysterious stuff happening.

(for instance, why wouldn't 'Angels' be considered 'Alien' life? )

- Gem, roots for freedom of Mind...

[Optimus Prime]

I hear you.

Since I have no belief in Christianity or the others...it is a little different for me. I'm of the belief that all the world's religions are really different pathways to the same idea of God. None are right. None can be.

We aren't meant to know everything. Yet if we do discover Alien Life....it is going to blow a lot of people away. Perhaps one of the many positives that come out of it will be humans coming together. It could possibly show us that we are not, in fact, alone. And by showing us that...maybe we'd realize there are so many bigger issues than religion, government, and power. Like the simple idea that looking at the person next to you and wondering "How can I help this person?"

Yeah, I'm an idealist.

[tharinock]

or maybe we will all start nuking each other so that we can be the first to get the uber technology. then we will be too busy lying in molecular sized radioactive pieces to worry about things like religion and war and stuff. so i guess in the end xander even if it doesn't go how you hope the end result is the same :-)

[D Man]

So what if heathen aliens are out there?

Just another load of thought, history, understanding and culture to rail against and try to sweep under the carpet.

Since a faith is stronger the more irrational and unjustified it is, and strength of faith is something held in high regard in religious circles, I'd guess it would increase the foaming at the mouth of many religious people.

What I'd find interesting is any alien religions.

I bet their gods look just like them, and make decrees that represent the mindset of the society they were formed in, and are re-interpreted in the mindset of the culture they currently exist in as needed.

Whats much more likely, given the statistical correlation (dont go looking up exceptions or thinking I'm starting an argument, this is TRUE) between scientific literacy and atheism, I'd guess star-faring races would be pretty much completely secular, though. Oh well. We can read their history books (if they let us, adn if they dont, we can steal them)

[pastures]

If the aliens have the same religion, why would it matter? It would be further proof of the truth of that religion.

If they didn't, but could be converted, it wouldn't matter either.

If they didn't and could not be converted, then we need to ask: Do aliens have souls? lol

[Sinisdar Toste]

religious beliefs wouldn't matter between aliens and us until we find out what theirs are. then one or the other of us would probably start shooting.

sorry if this has been said already, but i skipped a lot of posts.

[Tif the Barber Boy]

Interesting trivia nugget: the Quran makes explicit reference to intelligent non-human races. Presumably, then, alien contact wouldn't cause a major religious brouhaha... but then again you never know...

[Mentalist]

like so many ppl said, it wouldn't destroy religion. There are numerous ways to interpret the Holy texts, and reasonable explanations could be found.
And, I mean, really, how would that affect Buddhists, for example?

religions are essentially a set of moral ethics/guidelines, backed up by faith in a set of events, usually described in a holy text. Since the events can be re-interpreted, there really isn't much threat to the ethical foundations of religion.

[tharinock]

And it is guaranteed that until we are living on other worlds there will be people who call it a hoax, like with the moon landing. Besides, every religion has fanatics, who will devoutly believe whatever their religion tells them and ignore any proof to the contrary. It would also be interesting if the aliens had mathmatical or physical proof of God's existence or lack thereof (besides the speculation that leads to all of the debates today).

[Cold Iron]

tharinock;265558 said:

It would also be interesting if the aliens had mathmatical or physical proof of God's existence or lack thereof.

I love this statement Thanks tharinock, you made my day.

[Nequam]

It wouldn't change my beleifs at all. I don't see why there can't be aliens. Mathematically speaking it is extremely (and I mean extremely) unlikely that humans are the only intelligent species in our galaxy.

Wouldn't it be cool if we get 'super smart' and what not, and eventually we travel to another system and then we be the aliens that destroy other religions!

I want to be an alien!

[Asheroth]

*thread necros*

Just because this is something I've been thinking about lately. I'm a Christian (nominally Anglican although that isn't really a good description) and I'm pretty sure that if we found aliens relatively similar to us physically and mentally, but with a host of different religions, none of which had any resemblance to our major Earth religions, I would become an atheist (or at least an agnostic). Reason being, such an event would increase the likelihood that religions are man(and alien)-made as a kind of psychic crutch, rather than God-created as part of some kind of ineffable plan. It is an interesting thing to think about

[cauthon]

The Mote in Gods Eye (Niven, Pournelle), anyone?

[Optimus Prime]

Asheroth;351041 said:

*thread necros*

Just because this is something I've been thinking about lately. I'm a Christian (nominally Anglican although that isn't really a good description) and I'm pretty sure that if we found aliens relatively similar to us physically and mentally, but with a host of different religions, none of which had any resemblance to our major Earth religions, I would become an atheist (or at least an agnostic). Reason being, such an event would increase the likelihood that religions are man(and alien)-made as a kind of psychic crutch, rather than God-created as part of some kind of ineffable plan. It is an interesting thing to think about

See that's what I think. Were I religious, the discovery of something that my religious doctrine never even touched upon would destroy that holy book's worth to me...but I'm not religious so I'm probably not a good source

[Cold Iron]

Optimus Prime;353070 said:

I'm probably not a good source

Yep

I imagine the vast majority would try to convert said aliens to the one true god

[Optimus Prime]

You've been gone too long, I expect better jabs from you Where is the witty CI of my youth?

But yeah, we'd have an interstellar holy war on our hands.....no good.

[HoosierDaddy]

Cold Iron;353073 said:

Yep

I imagine the vast majority would try to convert said aliens to the one true god

No, you give humanity too much credit. Whatever the aliens believed religious people will believe. The strongest message is the message that has the most "proof" behind it. Well, what better proof than inter-stellar travel?

I actually believe that first contact would basically destroy most organized religions. Their shell of a belief system which normally centers around the human race being the apple of God's eye would be destroyed by the visiting of aliens.

[Optimus Prime]

Maybe, and maybe that's exactly what we need. A worldwide loss of faith

Start believing in ourselves instead, as a people.

[Cold Iron]

Optimus Prime;353075 said:

You've been gone too long, I expect better jabs from you Where is the witty CI of my youth?

Fine, how about I point out the fact that aliens are completely unnecessary, there have already been a plethora of discoveries that religion never touched on, so instead of putting thought into an observation, you decided to simply project your self-important judgement onto the board while at the same time showing disrespect to all those who didn't ask and don't need you to validate their faith even if you could. This on top of the repeated statement of your lack of religion implying that it is the obvious and even only logical stance and your childish attempts to claim that you are in fact tolerant and without bigotry. Your position stands in contradiction of your proclaimed abhorrence of racism as religion and culture are inseparable and you are completely ignorant of the hypocrisy.

Better?