Scorpion

Well, one thing is sure: a contact with aliens we could communicate with would necessarily have profound repercussions to our religions regardless of what the aliens believe (or if they even have anything that could be described as "beliefs" correctly). What if they

1) Worship a God that is obviously Christian or some other well-known deity/entity/concept?
2) Worship some totally unknown god or pantheon (which possibly has striking resemblance to the aliens themselves, or possibly to their ancient rivals or enemies?)
3) worship nothing?

Obviously any of these alternatives would either give strong support to what anyone of us believes or then require some serious soul-searching (pardon the expression )

-S-

[ August 24, 2002: Message edited by: Scorpion ]</p>

Scorpion

Answerer: Yes, I think you're right - or, to say more generally, it wouldn't matter what the aliens believe; some religions would dub them saints and others would dub them demons. Very possibly there would be quite a few totally new cults to do one or the other...

-S-

Scorpion

...just consider how South American indian tribes interpreted the arrival of white men - they were quickly classified as gods (I must admit that I'm still feeling a bit uneasy about that they did have that more or less foreseen in their holy writings despite the fact that I'm well aware of the general ambiguity of those writings that give plenty of room for interpretation)...
I think those of us who look at holy writings for explanations would find the aliens in those writings just as quickly...

-S-

beausoleil

In all likelihood it wouldn't be that much more advanced, or it would be here already.

Abacus

Most likely, if we made contact with intelligent aliens, it will be from a distance via radio signals. So they will have to be at least that technologically advanced. In a cosmic sense, we just discovered radio. It would be remarkable if we made contact with an alien civilization that just discovered radio like us. Odds are, they would be eons ahead of us technologically.

Abacus

But the distances between the stars are immense. It may well be that no technology will allow any civilization, no matter how advanced, to traverse those distances in a reasonable time.

fando

Despite what they worship, it is entirely possible that a good chunk of humanity will end up worshiping the aliens. I don't expect joe average theist to understand that extraterrestrials aren't supernatural beings.

Marduk

The biggest impact on religion would be if it turned out that visitations by intelligent aliens in the past was the inspiration for our religions in the first place.
Would we still worship them?

I don't think that just the mere existance of aliens would rattle too many chains at this point in time.


John 10:16
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

[ August 24, 2002: Message edited by: marduck ]</p>

Starboy

It appears that one of the foundational principles of Christian thought is that man is god's favorite creature. If intelligent extraterrestrial life were ever discovered various maneuvers would be performed by Christians to maintain this myth. One could speculate that they might include:

1. Acknowledging that ET was more intelligent and advanced but did not have a soul and therefore was no better than an animal.

2. Claiming that ET was an abomination and that god would want us to wipe them out as soon as we could.

3. Finding some obscure passage in the bible that would show that they are fellow creatures in god, but that god likes us better.

4. Using the bible to claim that ET was god’s way of getting man FTL travel and that god works in mysterious ways.

5. Using the bible to claiming that ET was god’s angel.

6. Using the bible to claim that ET was a lost relation of man and therefore the same as man.

That is as many as I care to think of, perhaps you can think of more.

Starboy

[ August 24, 2002: Message edited by: Starboy ]</p>

Splat

This was hotly debated in the 18th-19th centuries. See Michael Crowe's <a href="http://store.yahoo.com/doverpublications/048640675x.html" target="_blank">The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, 1750–1900</a>.