I have always been curious as to how religion will tackle proof of alien life. Do aliens get to go to heaven?
They will find evidence of aliens in their religious texts. Always post factum.
NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space
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Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space
#22I should not have watched Falling Skies before reading this...
I should not have watched Falling Skies either, but mostly because it sucks so bad. :-(
Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space
#23I have always been curious as to how religion will tackle proof of alien life. Do aliens get to go to heaven?
> I have always been curious as to how religion will tackle proof of alien life.
They may not have to; I can't think of a religious faith that insists that humans are the only sentient beings in the universe. (John Polkinghorne [1] argues that even multi-verses are consistent with the notion of a Creator.)
> Do aliens get to go to heaven?
Same answer as above. And this assumes there is a heaven; not all religious people, indeed not even all 'Christians,' believe this. [2]
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[1] Polkinghorne is a retired Cambridge University professor of mathematical physics, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He's now 80 years old; when he was 49 he went to seminary to become an Anglican priest, and has written a number of books about science and religion. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Polkinghorne.
[2] Some of us have provisionally concluded that a sensible way to bet is this: Over the very long term, the apparent on-going 'construction' of a cosmos, in which we seem to be participating, is likely to work out unimaginably wonderfully, but we really can't even speculate as to much more than that. See http://www.questioningchristian.com/2007/02/another_way_to_.... (Disclosure: I'm the author; the comments are worth reading as well.) EDIT: Polkinghorne has published what he describes as "naïve speculation" about how heaven might be explainable in terms of string theory. See http://www.questioningchristian.com/2006/04/resurrection_ap.....
Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space
#24So one thing to keep in mind here is that according to NASA, the meteorite itself is generating these compounds:
Thirdly, the team found these nucleobases -- both the biological and non-biological ones -- were produced in a completely non-biological reaction. "In the lab, an identical suite of nucleobases and nucleobase analogs were generated in non-biological chemical reactions containing hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, and water. This provides a plausible mechanism for their synthesis in the asteroid parent bodies, and supports the notion that they are extraterrestrial," says Callahan. (from the NASA article: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/dna-meteorit...)
This does not mean that there is developed life on another planet that then traveled to us. What it does mean is that the building blocks of life that were seeded on earth are probably pretty common and therefore were probably also seeded elsewhere.
Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space
#25I have always been curious as to how religion will tackle proof of alien life. Do aliens get to go to heaven?
My religion has taught me there was alien life since I was a child. I was also taught that all humans and all animal life will be resurrected. It's not too hard to extrapolate that intelligent alien species, should they exist, would as well. So maybe the answer to your question is "It depends on the religion."
What religion is that?
Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your second sentance is irrelevant, it's not like every living thing on earth is believed to go to heaven.
I do not agree that it is completely irrelevant when including the possibilities of life at a higher intellectual level. It would still put religion in a difficult position; if God created humans, he must have created aliens. At what intellectual level would you set the barrier? Must it demonstrate empathy? Love? And who would decide? What gives a human the right, as it clearly is the guy in the sky that is the gatek…
I don't think finding evidence of ETI would change much of anything.
Sure, an agnostic might be put into a further tailspin, but so what? Most of the world's faithful have already demonstrated the enviable ability to suspend any desire to investigate the mechanics of their belief system. What difference will it matter that aliens were thrown into the equation?
Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space
#27I have always been curious as to how religion will tackle proof of alien life. Do aliens get to go to heaven?
My religion has taught me there was alien life since I was a child. I was also taught that all humans and all animal life will be resurrected. It's not too hard to extrapolate that intelligent alien species, should they exist, would as well. So maybe the answer to your question is "It depends on the religion."
If you don't mind sharing and I mean this respectfully, could you inform us which religion is this?
Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space
#28I have always been curious as to how religion will tackle proof of alien life. Do aliens get to go to heaven?
You may be surprised to learn there was debate on this topic from at least the high middle ages. A quick Google search found this write up, which seems to be a pretty good summary.
http://vox-nova.com/2009/10/10/on-multiple-worlds-and-multip...
EDIT: This is quite good too:
Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space
#29I have always been curious as to how religion will tackle proof of alien life. Do aliens get to go to heaven?
My religion has taught me there was alien life since I was a child. I was also taught that all humans and all animal life will be resurrected. It's not too hard to extrapolate that intelligent alien species, should they exist, would as well. So maybe the answer to your question is "It depends on the religion."
Sounds like The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, commonly known as Mormon). I am LDS.
One citation: http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/76.16-24?lang=eng#... All to come forth in the resurrection of the just & unjust, through Christ the worlds are and were created, the inhabitants are sons and daughters of God.
Re: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space
#30cool. i have found components of my compiled code in ancient mesoamerican, indian and arabic math