A Christian professor has told a U.S. Government-backed conference on space travel that the discovery of aliens would lead to significant problems for his own religion.
In a speech entitled 'Did Jesus die for Klingons too?', German academic Christian Weidemann outlined the possible ramifications that the ultimate space discovery would engender.
Speaking at the 100 Year Starship Symposium in Orlando Florida, Professor Weidemann also attempted to outline how the inevitable theological conflict might be resolved.

Weidemann, a professor at the Ruhr-University Bochum, said that the death of Christ, some 2,000 years ago, was designed to save all creation.
However, the whole of creation, as defined by scientists, includes 125billion galaxies with hundreds of billions of stars in each galaxy.
That means that if intelligent life exists on other planets, then Jesus or God would have to have visited them too, and sacrificed himself equally for Martian-kind as well as mankind.

Animavore wrote:This deserves a discussion of its own: would discovering aliens destroy religion?

trubble76 wrote:

Animavore wrote:This deserves a discussion of its own: would discovering aliens destroy religion?

Clearly it wouldn't. Religion is virtually immune to attacks by reality. Think of the sect (is it the 7th day adventists?) that still exist despite being born of failed predictions of the end of the world.
Given the choice between abandonning their religion or thinking up some way to crowbar in contradictory information, I suspect I know which route will be the most popular.

Animavore wrote:

trubble76 wrote:

Animavore wrote:This deserves a discussion of its own: would discovering aliens destroy religion?

Clearly it wouldn't. Religion is virtually immune to attacks by reality. Think of the sect (is it the 7th day adventists?) that still exist despite being born of failed predictions of the end of the world.
Given the choice between abandonning their religion or thinking up some way to crowbar in contradictory information, I suspect I know which route will be the most popular.

I don't agree. What if the aliens could rejuvenate us, eradicate disease and ailments, give us an indefinite and statically younger life and take us around the universe? Surely religion will start looking piss poor and petit?

Animavore wrote:

trubble76 wrote:

Animavore wrote:This deserves a discussion of its own: would discovering aliens destroy religion?

Clearly it wouldn't. Religion is virtually immune to attacks by reality. Think of the sect (is it the 7th day adventists?) that still exist despite being born of failed predictions of the end of the world.
Given the choice between abandonning their religion or thinking up some way to crowbar in contradictory information, I suspect I know which route will be the most popular.

I don't agree. What if the aliens could rejuvenate us, eradicate disease and ailments, give us an indefinite and statically younger life and take us around the universe? Surely religion will start looking piss poor and petit?

trubble76 wrote:... some would argue that they were demons ...

Animavore wrote:Even if people are religious when they arrive what about when they live to be six-seven hundred years old (living in a world where that way of counting age is now meaningless)? When they've experienced so much, travelled half a galaxy? At some point religion has to become absurd.

trubble76 wrote:

Animavore wrote:Even if people are religious when they arrive what about when they live to be six-seven hundred years old (living in a world where that way of counting age is now meaningless)? When they've experienced so much, travelled half a galaxy? At some point religion has to become absurd.

That point came and went a while ago if you ask me.