Religion, aliens, and humans

[Deckerd]

"earthlings"?

I thought that went out with 1950's B movies.

 

[Freakness]

Apogeal Alpha01 said:
The existence of aliens presupposes a failure of religion because one primary tenant of Judeo-Christianity is that we're created in our Creator’s image and we are at the center of our God's universe. If and when we discover living, sentient beings on planets other than Earth we'll have to broaden our views and search for meaning in our religious texts to explain their omission.

two things:

1) there's no such religion as "Judeo-Christianity." there's Christianity, and there's Judaism, and the two are extremely different. and Judaism certainly doesn't assert that we're the exclusive centre of the universe. they discussed the possibility of extraterrestrial life in the Talmud, two thousand years ago, and decided there was nothing to rule it out.

2. "one primary tenant of Judeo-Christianity"? how much rent does it pay?

 

[Kegek]

^
The term Judaeo-Christianity is freuqently used to apply to ideas and concepts that exist in Judaism and Christianity, as the former was the origin of the latter. It's true they are very different, but in many respects - the monotheism, for example - they have a good deal in common.

In fact, the idea of extraterrestial life was also discussed in Christianity. It was used as an excuse to justify why Jupiter's moons circle around Jupiter that the planet was inhabited (because there must be a reason for them to do so), and Milton concedes the possibility of life on other worlds in Paradise Lost. On the other hand, belief in alien life was one of the charges for which Bruno was burned at the stake, but not a very prominent one.

 

[Apogeal Alpha01]

Okay, thanks to you both for broadening my knowledge on the subject. In my own UCC (a blending of Congregationalists and Lutherans) congregation, God created us in his image and no one else. At least that's the view among older members. WE are Gods divine creation. Lucifer was jealous of God's interest in us, etc. Besides angels, Giants and other beings mentioned are humanoid.

WE discussed the possibility of extraterrestrial life once and they thought I would believe in the Abominable Snowman or Bigfoot if I could believe we'd been visited by aliens. I don't, and said so, but the idea that in this vast universe, other sentients, as sentient as we are, was met with a great deal of scepticism. Given that as liberal as we are on all kinds of social issues, e.g., our congregation voted to become an “Open and Affirming” congregation to homosexuals, this position surprised me. I’ve never revisited the topic at church.

 

[Amaris]

Apogeal Alpha01 said:
Okay, thanks to you both for broadening my knowledge on the subject. In my own UCC (a blending of Congregationalists and Lutherans) congregation, God created us in his image and no one else. At least that's the view among older members. WE are Gods divine creation. Lucifer was jealous of God's interest in us, etc. Besides angels, Giants and other beings mentioned are humanoid.

WE discussed the possibility of extraterrestrial life once and they thought I would believe in the Abominable Snowman or Bigfoot if I could believe we'd been visited by aliens. I don't, and said so, but the idea that in this vast universe, other sentients, as sentient as we are, was met with a great deal of scepticism. Given that as liberal as we are on all kinds of social issues, e.g., our congregation voted to become an “Open and Affirming” congregation to homosexuals, this position surprised me. I’ve never revisited the topic at church.

I can understand that. Every person has a point where they draw their own line in the sand. Personally, I believe there are sentient beings beside ourselves. I know this has been said before, but consider the sheer vastness of the heavens.


J.

 

[The Borg Queen]

Even if there was only one single sentient species per galaxy, do you know how many galaxies there are in the Universe?