Vatican Says Alien Life Plausible

An anonymous reader writes "According to BBC, the director of the Vatican Observatory stated in an article titled 'Aliens Are My Brother' that intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space. 'The search for forms of extraterrestrial life does not contradict belief in God. — Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God.' Mind that this is not the same director who said that evolution is more than a mere theory — that was Father Coyne. I myself agree. There might be intelligent beings created by God in outer space even if there are none here on earth."

Finaly!

[n1_111]

And who is this God they are referring to ?

Re:Finaly!

[Forge]

There are two main theories groups that attempt to explain the creation of the Universe and the origin of life and humanity.

Group 1. Big Bang & Evolution. Essentially this version says, it all just happened, mostly by accident but with the amount of time and mass involved it was inevitable.

Group 2. Created by God (or gods). Essentially this version says it all originated from the imagination of a being with virtually unlimited intelligence and power.

You know what I find cool? That under both scenarios it's almost inevitable that we will encounter other intelligent life, somewhere out there.

Why? Because accidents tend to repeat when the conditions allowing them are also repeated. Sul isn't that uncommon a sun type so why shouldn't other Yellow dwarfs have wet rocky planets? And why shouldn't some of those mud-balls have critters on them ? Even intelligent critters?

As for the creation version. That makes it even more likely that the universe would be swarming with intelligent life. Religious people believe the Earth is teeming with life because God enjoys playing with DNA. So why wouldn't he just go wild when working with whole galaxies rather than just a single planet?

Re:Finaly!

[Cajun Hell]

There are two main theories groups that attempt to explain the creation of the Universe and the origin of life and humanity.

Group 1. Big Bang & Evolution. Essentially this version says, it all just happened, mostly by accident but with the amount of time and mass involved it was inevitable.

Bzzt, wrong. Group 1 knows the origin of humanity, but doesn't make any strong statements about the origin of life in general, or the origin of the universe. Group 1 merely says that Evolution and the Big Bang obviously happened. Group 1 also says they don't know what happened before that. They can't make any statements about origins, because there isn't any information to work with.

They keep making speculations about origins (particularly with life, since even though it's hard, it's a lot easier than the universe) but there's no consensus or unity. When scientists talk about origins, they're not a "group" at all, except that they're all saying, "Oh yeah? Show me why you think that" to the one who just advanced the speculation.

Re:Finaly!

[geekoid]

DOn't confuse evolution with the creation of the universe. two different things.
Evolution has FACTS, falsifiable test, and makes predictions.
Evolution is a fact, it's been proven. There is not scientific argument against it, only people saying it isn't so and lying about it, and refusing to look at any recent evidence.

The creation of the universe is another matter; however they go bacl very close to befor the first second with some very good science. What caused the big bang? Don't know.

neither of these prove or disprove the existence of God, only that the current Biblical interpretation probably isn't literal. Something almost every theologeon will tell you, btw.

If you look at the hebrew, the word interpreted to 'Day' didn't not mean a 24 hours day.
So even in the oldest context, Evolution fits fine with the Bible.
Considering the science is very good, and there are mountains of fact it is obvious that 6 days is not literal as we know a day.

Yes, the origins of life on the planets is pretty well known. Primordial soup and all that.

Re:

[pablodiazgutierrez]

Biologist Francisco Ayala calls that the god of the gaps, because it only occupies those gaps of human knowledge that haven't been explained yet. I like picturing science slowly eroding the terrain of superstition, but then again, that's just a way to say that religions simply adapt to survive, and then move on with the same old crap.

nitpick

[aepervius]

"So even in the oldest context, Evolution fits fine with the Bible." which would somehow say that the bible is the mass to measure everything on it.

So it should read "the bible stories can be made fit with evolution (which we know to be a very successful theory at explaining all life today as we know it)". It is not that evolution fits, it is that the bible is interpreted in the light of evolution.

Re:nitpick

[Forge]

There is a little more to it than that.

1. Go throgh Genesis chapter 1 and write down all the different categories of life forms listed there in the order created.

2. Go throgh a textbook on evolution with the list you wrote in step one and you will discover something very odd. Same order.

Not only that but the order is counter intuitive. Specifically, everyone assumed Mammals came before birds ontil the fossil record showed otherwise.

Re:

[Yunzil]

3. Skip over Genesis chapter 2, which disagrees with Genesis chapter 1 :)

Downright wrong

[aepervius]

From skeptic anoted bible :

In Genesis, the earth is created (1:1) before light (1:3), sun and stars (1:16); birds and whales (1:21) before reptiles and insects (1:24); and flowering plants (1:11) before any animals (1:20). The order of events known from science is in each case just the opposite.

A few clarification why it is not the correct order :
1) Bird were certainly late at the party after the reptile were created.
2) Sun and star were certainly created before planet and earth (heavy element were

Re:

[EvolutionsPeak]

Gravity and electricity are also just theories. Evolution is at least as much a fact as these things.

It's both

[Chuck Chunder]

Evolution is fact in the same sense that gravity is fact. We know it happens. There are things we can point to and say "look, evolution".

Evolutionary Theory also exists ("The Theory of Evolution" is a misnomer as there isn't really one single theory, rather a lot of complementary and sometimes competing theories for parts of what might be considered, in toto, "evolution") also exists in the same sense the Newton's Theory of Gravity and General Relativity exist.

So yes, a theory exists to explain the facts but that doesn't mean there is no fact.

There is more to evolution than humans and bones

[Chuck Chunder]

As I said, there are things [berkeley.edu] you can point to [berkeley.edu] and say "that's evolution" in the same sense that you can point to a falling object and say "that's gravity".

Things that are seen as it happens, not just digging up a few bones and constructing a theory.

Those links are just the first two things I found from a quick internet search. However there is an abundance of such observations where evolution can be said to have been observed as a matter of fact.

Re:Finaly!

[cheater512]

Group 1 doesnt say its inevitable that we'll meed other intelligent life.
It says that there probably will be other intelligent life.

The chance of us meeting them is next to nothing.
Space is *big*.

Space is Big

[bareman]

And time is big.

Meeting alien life isn't just a matter of somewhere, it's a problem of somewhen as well. There probably have been and will be countless instances of intelligent life that just never traverse the same space at the same time as another.

Re:

[Nossie]

surely that's still double the chance though ? >:)

Re:

[Devout_IPUite]

I've always thought that it would be interesting to see other intelligent races reaction to humans. My guess is that aliens would notice a high tendency for delusion. Your faith is delusion to anyone who doesn't share it.

Re:Finaly!

[TheNarrator]

You are applying human categories of thought to life forms that evolved completely separately from us.

Re:Finaly!

[Devout_IPUite]

Faith and delusional are derived from concepts involving evidence, reasoning, and proof. All logical concepts in the strictest meaning. It's generally considered that math (regardless of branch) is discovered, and that logic is a subset of math (discrete math). I think an alien would be hard pressed to be considered intelligent with no concept of logic, and would be capable of groking faith & delusion with. However, earthform sex is never going to make any sense to those poor suckers.

Re:Finaly!

[rhyder128k]

They'll probably say, "I can't believe that they believe in [their god]. Obviously, [our god] is the real one!"

Re:

[saigon_from_europe]

The real question is whether they would accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

First time I heard that someone from Vatican mentioned aliens, I think it was the same guy, he mentioned that if they exist, they are Christians. This statement slightly contradict that, as he mentioned here that those aliens might be free from our original sin, hence they would not have notion of the Christ, at least not our Christ.

Re:Finaly!

[iocat]

First, I want to give a shout out to the Vatican, for discussing the potential of aliens (and acknowledging evolution as settled science) while other religions are still like "lalalaeverywordofthebibleistrue,eventhetyposandbadtranslations."

Second, assuming for a second the whole Christianity ball of wax is true, there's no reason that God wouldn't send down his other son, Skip, to some aliens, in a form they could understand. The ideals Jesus taught weren't restricted by a specific geography or biology. "Be nice to each other" might resonate as well on Argus-7 as it does on Sol-3.

Re:

[Hognoxious]

If they did, it would explaina a lot about Alabama.

Mythbusters

[qoncept]

I'm waiting for an answer from a legitimate authority.

Re:Mythbusters

[DanWS6]

How exactly would they attempt this? Adam would run around trying to kill Christians to see if God intervenes meanwhile Jaime would try to build a holy communication device to call God then at the end of the show they'd claim the myth is busted?

Re:Mythbusters

[c6gunner]

Not religious myself, but if you'd have a clue about catholicism you'd know that they argue that god's children are free beings, living to choose and work out their destiny.

They also argue that if you pray for something really really hard, the invisible man in the sky might make it happen. So which is it? Is prayer useless because god never interferes? Or is god an egomaniacal prick, who'll let thousands of people die for no particular reason, but will intervene in human affairs when you ask him real nice like?

Re:Mythbusters

[Knuckles]

You don't understand the catholic mindset :)
The whole point is to believe in it against all odds and, specifically, despite the fact that nothing happens.

I find it weird, too.

OTOH, I can imagine that the mere act of such a submission to a state of mind can have certain desirable effects (and, of course, also undesirable ones). I don't think it's an accident that many other religions propagate a certain way of "giving up".

Re:Mythbusters

[c6gunner]

OTOH, I can imagine that the mere act of such a submission to a state of mind can have certain desirable effects (and, of course, also undesirable ones). I don't think it's an accident that many other religions propagate a certain way of "giving up".

Oh without a doubt. I don't want to go too far off topic, but if I had to speculate about the origins of prayer, I'd say it's actually a clever way of capitalizing on a couple of aspects of the human psyche, such as the fact that we acquire habit through repetition, and our herd-mentality when in large groups. Since a religious person is encouraged to pray as often as possible (for an extreme example, see Islam), the constant repetition reinforces the basic tenets and beliefs in the mind of the believer. The more they repeat it, the stronger the belief becomes. Add to that the fact that humans in large groups respond strongly to simple statements with which they can identify (eg. "No War for Oil", "Meat is Murder", "Zeig Heil", "Zhu Mao Zhuxi wanshou wujiang!" etc.), and you have a pretty good incentive to want to indoctrinate your followers with something like prayer, and encourage them to repeat it whenever they can.

Re:Mythbusters

[somersault]

The thing is, as far as we know we have no control over what happens after we die. We may, like in Discworld, get to choose. That would be nice; you would get your fading into nothingness and I would get to go meet my ancestors, watch the history of the world in 3D, and maybe hang out with God and have a few beers :)

I just had a strange thought while wondering how to phrase my own thoughts on the nature of the universe (possibly multiverse? was reading a bit about it on wikipedia earlier) and how amazing it is that anything exists. I always get freaked out by it when I think about how something has just always been there. Even now.. it really just makes no sense. No science can explain it, religion can't explain it.. and my thought was that even if God exists then he could be just as confused at his own existence as I am about mine... It's just not possible to conceptualise something coming from nothing, or something just always being something. No matter how much I think the Universe makes no sense though, it still hangs on defiantly and makes the stairs in the hall creak.

Has any philosopher ever made a similar statement about God probably being as confused at his origins as we are? ;) It seems quite likely they have I suppose, I'm not very well educated in such matters.

Re:Mythbusters

[Empiric]

You say "let people die" like you think there's an alternative, other than timing.

I find this form of argument very strange, though very common--making statements which presume ongoing continuity of life, or consciousness, while denying it. Reality is such that by default people don't die, so God should be blamed if they do, or reality is such that people do die by default, and your complaint is about when exactly it happens... which is it?

Re:Mythbusters

[spun]

You cannot petition the Lord with prayer.

Sure you can. "Oh Lord, smite this unbeliever who says I can't petition you." Look, I just petitioned the Lord, right there, plain as day.

Re:Mythbusters

[flewp]

Just once, instead of an athlete thanking God, I'd love to see one blame God for his poor performance.

Re:Mythbusters

[Rycross]

Personally I got tired how all the good things that happened in my life were God's blessings and how all the bad things were just part of some incomprehensible plan. A lot of non-believers like to talk about how religion is popular because it gives people hope, but for me it was a millstone around my neck. Imagine the kind of self-esteem issues one develops after being repeatedly told that you didn't really earn the good things in your life, and that the bad things in your life happened for some reasons beyond your comprehension.

I feel a lot better now that my life is my own to control. And its nice to know that sometimes bad things happen for no reason, and not because I've inexplicably displeased some supreme being.

Sorry, kind of off-topic, but I felt like sharing. The kind of logic you outlined in your post is probably the #1 reason I'm no longer religious. I always find it amusing that so many people view religion as comforting, since it was quite the opposite for me.

Re:Mythbusters

[Rycross]

So you hate the Catholic Church because their God (who happens to also be the Jew's God, Christian's God, and, come right down to it, the Muslim's God), drowned thousands of innocent children in a tsunami. Nevermind that He did NOT drown several billion other children that day.

I'm not sure if you're being serious, because my sarcasm detector is wonky, but are you seriously suggesting that not committing heinous atrocities is an admirable quality in a all-powerful being? That'd be like praising my friend John because, as far as I know, he hasn't killed anyone and dumped their bodies in the river. Or maybe like people who proudly state that they take care of their children, as if not leaving them to die in ditches is some extraordinary praise-worthy quality. Its kind of expected that normal people not do horrible things, much less omniscient, omnipotent beings.

Personally I'd like to describe God in terms other than "Allows thousands of people to die for no reason, but at least he isn't genocidal." Well as long as you ignore several books of the Old Testament.

Re:

[10Ghz]

(who happens to also be the Jew's God, Christian's God, and, come right down to it, the Muslim's God)

I have seen this before.... This strange thing of separating Catholics from Christians. Catholicism is one branch of CHristianity, just like Baptism, Lutheranism, Protestantism etc. is.

Re:

[Phroggy]

Catholicism is different enough from most other branches of Christianity that most non-Catholic Christians think of Catholicism as not just being another Christian denomination like Baptist or Lutheran or Methodist, but a separate religion. Same goes for Mormons, only more so.

Different denominations of Christianity have different interpretations of the Bible, but generally they all hold the Bible to be the ultimate authority, God's message to mankind. The Catholic Church's ultimate authority is the Pope,

Re:

[aurispector]

You want to fund it? These guys are making a TV SHOW for ENTERTAINMENT.

Might be life?

[Clockwork Apple]

Doesn't the Pope have direct communication with god? Why doesn't he just ask for christ's sake?

C.

Re:Might be life?

[ceoyoyo]

Have you read the bible? God is obviously one of those irritating gurus/wisemen/martial art masters who speak in riddles to amuse themselves.

Re:Might be life?

[Scrameustache]

Riddles? Dude, he'll fucking kill your entire family on a dare from the devil, ask Job!

Re:Might be life?

[Eudial]

Riddles? Dude, he'll fucking kill your entire family on a dare from the devil, ask Job!

That was his Godzilla period. When he ran around shooting lasers out of his eyes, ravaging the countryside and toppling over buildings in Tokyo. Nowadays he's old and grumpy, sitting in a rocking chair on his porch yelling at the angels to get off the lawn.

Re:Might be life?

[setagllib]

Steve Jobs is Buddhist. He could believe he is a Buddha himself, and the funny thing is, even if he's wrong there's nothing wrong with that. It's not like there's an ISO Standard Buddha, and nobody would take his sutras seriously anyway.

Re:Might be life?

[Cairnarvon]

... and nobody would take his sutras seriously anyway.

You've never talked to Apple fanboys, have you?

Re:Might be life?

[ceoyoyo]

Accept the aliens amonst you, you cannot, until accept the alien within, you do.

Now levitate me and those rocks, you will.

Re:Might be life?

[JeanPaulBob]

Doesn't the Pope have direct communication with god?

Um... No, actually. Catholics think he is infallible when he speaks "ex cathedra", but not that he has verbal back-and-forth communication with God.

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Re:Might be life?

[commodoresloat]

Holy See, Batman! It's ringing!!

Re:Might be life?

[Knuckles]

Catholics think he is infallible when he speaks "ex cathedra"

To be precise, they "believe" this since the First Vatican Council in 1870.

I Figure God...

[Wandering Wombat]

... just made humans as a cautionary example, and shows us on CCTVs all over the Universe as a sort of "The More You Know!" service.

the paranoid in me says--

[way2trivial]

there is a related announcement coming soon from world leaders,
and this pronouncement from the vatican is so that they don't bleed followers in the mayhem to follow.

Re:the paranoid in me says--

[jayhawk88]

Not to go all tin foil hat, but this was the exact thought I had as well. There isn't a single aspect of modern life that wouldn't be somehow affected by the announcement that proof of alien life has been found. New religions (and cults) would spring up almost overnight. Industries related to space programs probably quadruple over the next 10 years. Diplomacy between countries is affected, either positively (OK it's us against them now) or negatively (You are not worthy to talk to our Space God). It doesn't matter if it's just microbes on Mars; just confirmation of the possibility of alien life means that everyone is suddenly taking the Drake Equation a lot more seriously. If I'm a world government, or some other group with international power and influence, and I know or suspect that an announcement like this is imminent, I don't want this dropping on the populace light a thunderbolt out of the sky.

Re:the paranoid in me says--

[Scrameustache]

there is a related announcement coming soon from world leaders,

There is a UFO cult called the Raelians, I did a school paper on them.
Basically, the cult leader is knee deep in pussy since he started telling people he's Jesus' half brother by way of their shared alien daddy, Yaveh.
Anyhoo, in his second book, said cult leader mentions that his alien overlords have created another race of intelligent beings, nearby, that don't know about them.

So if any aliens ever do land, and they don't know what the hell he's talking about, he's covered.

so that they don't bleed followers in the mayhem to follow

They're just covering their ass, just in case. There doesn't need to be any actual aliens, you just need to have all your credible bases covered. What if aliens land and say they never heard about this "god" fellow? Then we say Jesus was unique and we have to spread the good word to the stars!

But of course...

[Blinded By The Light]

But of course only WE were created in His image, right?

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Re:But of course...

[brunokummel]

But of course only WE were created in His image, right?

maybe there's an Alien god that created the aliens in his image as well ...then we would have religous interplanetary crusades!
SPACE TEMPLARS!

I know it does sound like a horrible B movie...

Re:But of course...A Serious Reply

[clonan]

If god is omnipotent than he(she/it) can appear in any form (say a burning bush).

Therefore god must have created us in the image of the only part of him that doesn't change. His morality, his way of thinking and his personality. We have a dim image of this immutable portion of god.

Therefore aliens COULD look very different but still be created in his image.

The only remaining question is how did they get so many light years from eden?

Re:

[ins0m]

Oh, that opens up so many questions. I'll do my own take on the Epicurean riddle:

If a god is omnipotent, then it follows that said god is omniscient. If it thus knows all, then it would come to the quick conclusion that creating natural beings with its morality would relegate itself to obsolescence.

To wit: If a deity is possessed of nothing but righteousness, then we would already have heaven on earth, as there would be no sin. If, however, we do possess the same ethos and moral constructs, then the ver

Hmmm

[Bazman]

And is the Catholic church going to fund expeditions to these alien civilisations in order to convert them? Kinda sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Re:Hmmm

[NotBornYesterday]

Whoa, do you suppose that could be the solution to the NASA budget crunch?

Catholics

[ceoyoyo]

Apologizing to Galileo, Hell is a metaphor, evolution is real, now aliens could exist. The Vatican is really taking their modernization seriously, aren't they?

Re:Catholics and condoms

[trolltalk.com]

Apologizing to Galileo, Hell is a metaphor, evolution is real, now aliens could exist. The Vatican is really taking their modernization seriously, aren't they?

Next week they'll be approving a new brand of condoms. They're open at both ends ...

Galileo? How about Bruno

[number6x]

Bruno suggested that there could be an infinite number of worlds and that they could be inhabited by intelligent life [rice.edu].

For this they burned him at the stake.

Galileo was only 'shown the instruments' of torture and placed under house arrest.

Bruno is the guy they need to apologize to!

Re:Galileo? How about Bruno

[Artifakt]

The thing is, Galileo got the exact same punishment we still use today for his crime, no worse. The only difference is, he committed his crime against Religious authorities and not Secular ones.
      G. was asked to write a defense of his position, in the proper Latin, and submit it to the church. Instead he wrote the defense in Italian so that the average guy could read it, and attempted to make it available to the public before the trial was over. What do we do to people today when a judge gives them some interogatives and they release their answers to the press in an attempt to influence the trial? Right, we find them in contempt and lock them up.
      G. used a character named Simplicio in his dialog, and put words that had been used by some of the church authorities in that character's mouth. He picked quotes that were easy to abuse or make fun of, left out a lot of points that were harder to deal with, and the whole work arguably became a straw man attack. What do most modern judges do if you misquote what they say in court? And what if you said the name you gave a character representing them was only because they claimed their view was simple, but the name you used actually best translated to "simpleton"? What would most judges do today to somebody who publicly called them simpletons and then tried to feed them a line of BS about why? Right, they take people like that, and lock them up.
        It's called contempt of court, and it can have an unlimited sentence right now in the present day, as in telling a reporter they will stay locked up until they name their source, however long it takes. You can argue, and I would, that a spiritual institution shouldn't have the power to be conducting courts or censoring publications at all, but the response the church gave snowballed into serious consequences because Galileo made it into a pissing contest first.

Re:Catholics

[Logic and Reason]

Hell is a metaphor

Excuse me? Hell is definitely not a metaphor in Catholic theology. I'd like to know where you got this idea.

Re:

[ceoyoyo]

Pope John Paul: http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP2HEAVN.HTM [ewtn.com]

He didn't use the word "metaphor" but "hell is not a place, it is a state of being" sure sounds to me like the traditional idea of hell as a place where the devil tortures you into eternity is a metaphor.

Re:Catholics

[gnick]

Considering ... the Pope's alleged Hitler Youth past...

What's alleged about it? Germany made participation mandatory and the Pope complied. Does anyone in the church deny that?

Re:

[Threni]

> What's alleged about it? Germany made participation mandatory and the Pope complied. Does anyone in the church deny that?

Ja, he voz just vollowing orderz.

Re:Catholics

[geekoid]

Yes, but the way he rubbed his hands together and laugh maniacally when he joined is kind of creepy~

How long until

[NotBornYesterday]

UFO true believers stop pestering the UK government [slashdot.org] and start demanding to see the Vatican's top secret UFO files?

earth ain't what it used to be

[bugs2squash]

So is the pope God's representative on Earth, or God's representative for everywhere outside of heaven ?

What about non-human intelligent earthlings?

[Fast Thick Pants]

just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God

This seems to leave open the possibility of undiscovered intelligent species here on earth, or even known species whose intelligence is undiscovered.

(So long, and thanks for all the fish!)

Church foward thinking

[spineboy]

I'm glad that the Catholic Church is taking an educated view of the sciences, with the support of evolution, and now this. Of course this will also lead to many useless comments about pedophilia, non-existance of God, and other useless flame wars.

Scientific illiteracy here in the states is really bad, and I'm embaressed that my church has a more progressive attitude than our current administration. This should change with the next admin thankfully.

This is Slashdot, and everyone needs to get their 2 cents in, but please try to submit meaningful/useful posts.

Re:Church foward thinking

[bugs2squash]

I don't like to see childish attacks on anyone either. But it seems to me that the only reason the church is taking these strides is because it has been attacked on these issues in the past.

Do you imagine that the church would have made these statements without external pressure ?

Hell no, this is simply to inoculate the church against the inevitable progress in tolerance, and discovery and to try and carve out some future relevance.

Seems like the rock of the church is being eroded by the water of enlightenment - and about time too.

doubtful

[trybywrench]

So does that mean that any intelligent alien life is doomed to hell because they don't have the benefit of baptism and the forgiveness of original sin? Did they get a messiah from the catholic god and does that imply more than one "jesus"?

Or, being that they are not human and never ate from the garden of eaden does that mean that original sin doesn't apply to them? Better yet, does that make them more holy then humans and therefore closer to the catholic god?

I don't see how the catholic clergy can just say "yeah alien life doesn't contradict our religeon" without addressing these questiosn.

Re:doubtful

[illegalcortex]

I don't see how the catholic clergy can just say "yeah alien life doesn't contradict our religeon" without addressing these questiosn.

Of course they can. The answer will just be "I don't know" and/or "God works in mysterious ways", same as their answer to numerous other major theological questions.

Re:

[Em Adespoton]

Well, look at it this way: any being inheriting original sin would either be human or a half-breed (like the [angel/demon]/human offspring wiped out by the flood). Any true alien would have to have its own sin.

All the Catholic church is saying is that there is nothing revealed from God that says other intelligent life doesn't exist -- and Angels/Demons are proof that SOME other intelligent life DOES exist. The catholic clergy is stating "facts" based on their knowledge. They can't provide an answer other

Re:

[pbhj]

I don't see how the catholic clergy can just say "yeah alien life doesn't contradict our religeon" without addressing these questiosn.

Naive ever? You think Christian theologians haven't questioned the salvation of alien beings?

http://answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/are-ets-and-ufos-real [answersingenesis.org] is clearly not buying the whole alien thing.

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/35/story_3519_1.html [beliefnet.com] is open and suggest a path of Christ to have been presented to other worlds.

does that mean that any intelligent alien life is doomed to hell because they don't have the benefit of baptism and the forgiveness of original sin

Original sin goes back to Adam and so probably the doctrine doesn't come in to play. The one thing we can be certain of is that God is a fair judge and that people will be judged acc

Bwahahaha!!

[deglr6328]

Hello Earthlings, my name Zorbo, I'm from the planet sh388wg32 in what you call the Andromeda galaxy and I think the time has come to reveal ourselves to you. The reason I am contacting you now is that we have some Good News for you creatures, the all powerful creator of everything (Zippin52, praise be His name) has a plan for you and everyone you know!!! Can I take a little of your time to explain why we're all imperfect and need saving in His forgiveness??!

Yes Catholic church, that is precisely how idiotic you sound right now.

And who..

[denoir]

..created God?

It's the same old problem of infinite regress when you try to state that a complex thing has to have a more complex designer. An über-powerful deity has to be much more complex than a human (or alien) and you end up with a bigger problem than the one you started with and you have explained exactly zero. And that's without even mentioning that there is no evidence of any form of supernatural creation of living beings (or anything else for that matter).

Re:And who..

[Incredible Elmo]

..created God?

That's a simple one to answer. Humans did :)

Now where's my prize money?

God of the Gaps?

[JSBiff]

There is a difference between something not currently being understood, and something not being understandable. I've heard people talk about this argument that, since we don't understand X, the only explanation for it is God, and call it the "God of the Gaps" - that is, the argument that God must exist to explain a current gap in our understanding of the universe. The problem is, science keeps coming along filling in those gaps. Yes, it usually, so far, has introduced at least one new gap for every gap it

Re:

[denoir]

The problem with that kind of reasoning can be easily shown with another example. A few hundred years or so we didn't know what caused disease. Religion played an important role as an interpreter of the cause of disease - it had a lot to say on the subject. Does it mean that it was correct? No. Once we developed the germ theory of disease it was quite clear that the religious interpretation was wrong. When you have a bacterial infection you don't get better by not sinning or by praying or by donating money

In related news...

[A beautiful mind]

...the Flat Earth society has just announced that there might be alien life "after and slightly beneath the fringes".

In my 'hood

[dedazo]

We call this hedging your bets.

We, the House of Gelgamek Cardinals ...

[MasterRat]

Are thrilled to see that our Earther brethren have finally publically acknowledged our existence. Please prepare your altar boys for our arrival.

Plausible!=not impossible

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

It takes only the most basic of reading and comprehension skills to understand that nobody was saying that extraterrestrial life was 'plausible'. I guess that's expecting too much around here.

Belief in God is compatible with nearly any belief

[stinerman]

When you get right down to it, nothing can contradict that a supernatural being exists outside of it's actually appearing to us ... at which point it would become a natural being since we could observe it.

I can believe that the only two people in the world are Steven Hawking and Darl McBride and that ice cream is made from grub worms. If anyone provides me with evidence to the contrary, I can always say "Ah, but that's just what $DEITY wants you to think!"

The only thing a belief in a deity doesn't support is non-belief in a deity.

Do they know about Jesus on those alien planets?

[kaltkalt]

Sucks to be those aliens... since they have no way to learn about Jesus (except, of course, the Gray aliens that visit earth all the time) all those extraterrestrials will burn in hell since they never accepted Jesus Christ as their lord and savior. Brings up an interesting question - what percentage of hell is human? With all those alien species being sent to hell by default, I bet humans make up an extremely small percentage of hell's population. Even the Greys that visit earth have likely not become Catholics. Though in that one episode of South Park there was one alien species that actually was Catholic. But that's just one species, and south park is just a cartoon anyway. Make believe TV shows have no place in a discussion about magical human beings and aliens.

Misleading Title

[afabbro]

Normally when one says "The Vatican says," he is referring to an encyclical by the Pope or a statement by one of the chief offices. This a an astronomer who happens to be a priest speculating. He works as director of an observatory, but it's not like this is Church policy.

Re:This is so not news

[gnick]

This isn't news inside of Slashdot, and it certainly isn't news outside of Slashdot.

On a related note - I have nothing to say and thought that you all may enjoy it if I shared that fact with you. No need to thank me.

Re:Three cheers for the Catholics!

[prestonmichaelh]

I wonder, though, how the creation of freaky-ass-bug-eyed aliens would fit into the "God created man is his own image" idea. Perhaps that God is so wacky and cool he can take on any shape?

Really, I have always thought the "in His own image" thing was taken way to literally. I don't really think God would give Himself a physical body like ours that is inferior to many animals in many ways (we are slower than cheetahs, can't see as well as eagles, can't swim like fish, etc.) Honestly if you get down to it, there are a lot of things that suck somewhat about our bodies (a quasi-flawed design that causes a large percentage to experience lower back pain, etc.). Obviously there are some who would say that God has a "perfect" human body that, since it isn't marred by sin, doesn't have the same flaws, but I honestly think the idea of God having a physical body is kind of silly. I mean, I can't even be in two places at once with my physical body, much less everywhere at once.

So it comes down to, what does "in His own image" mean? We like much of the creation story in Gensis, I think it is meant to be taken figuratively, not literally. We are set apart from the animals in that we have a conscience and free will. In this way, we are like God. We can basically do whatever we want, and reason about what we want to do. Although I am not a Catholic, I agree with their stance that it is completely possible for alien life to exist (although I think intelligent life, at least that we can/will find anytime soon, is unlikely for other scientific reasons). This alien life could even be "in His own image" as well, since it isn't really a physical appearance thing, and more of a soul/conscience thing.

Re:

[Mab_Mass]

So it comes down to, what does "in His own image" mean? We like much of the creation story in Gensis, I think it is meant to be taken figuratively, not literally.

What I find interesting is that this figurative interpretation is what is already being favored by the Catholic Church. From their acceptance of the Big Bang and evolution, it is already clear that they are comfortable with figurative interpretations. This is in stark contrast to a few hundred years ago, when you could be killed for minor po

Re:

[bastion_xx]

What I find interesting is that this figurative interpretation is what is already being favored by the Catholic Church. From their acceptance of the Big Bang and evolution, it is already clear that they are comfortable with figurative interpretations. This is in stark contrast to a few hundred years ago, when you could be killed for minor points of dogma.

I'm hoping is that some of the more extreme groups take heed and see that it is possible to have an open mind with religion. If you look at history, there has been a long track record of religion disagreeing with science and science winning. Is there anyone (of importance) out there who still disagrees with the heliocentric view of the solar system? I wonder how much of the current switch from the Catholic Church is a recognition that their obstinate views in the past backfired.

Thanks for posting this. I totally agree and have always applauded that the Roman Catholic Church can, and does, change. Cynics may argue the change is to keep up numbers, but I think some the changes, especially the conservative ones, are to insure that they are reinterpreted for the current civilization based upon the old and new testaments.

The Catechism does allows for an intelligent understanding of the bible. Genesis is a good example of mythos, and this is taught by our Arch Diocese. Of course, for y

Re:astronomer my asshole.

[bn0p]

Why can't a Catholic priest be an astronomer? A Catholic priest, Father Georges Lemaitre, came up with the Big Bang theory [catholiceducation.org]

Re:astronomer my asshole.

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

The important message is that good scientific ideas can come from anywhere, even from Catholic priests, and you don't judge an idea by where it came from, but by whether or not it does a good job, for example by making falsifiable predictions.

Re:C.S. Lewis came to this conclusion years ago.

[Oktober Sunset]

Last time I checked CS Lewis is not the head of any protestant church. I'm sure you could find a random catholic who said it even earlier.

Re:

[Kelbear]

Why do the aliens need saving?

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[dfiguero]

Exactly! Why would they need salvation, you assume that they would have a similar situation as explained in the Bible that they disobeyed an order from God as Adam and Eve.

On the other hand if God is infinite love wouldn't it make sense that he would have created other beings and not just us?

Salvation through Jesus Christ

[gd2shoe]

You may take exception if you wish, but they are given the same opportunities as we are. Yes, I realize this is my theology, and not yours.

22 And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!
23 For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father-
24 That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabi

Re:Impressive move by the Church

[pubjames]

Well, I would prefer it if they made policy changes that actually changed people lives, like dropping their stupid stance on condoms.

Re:

[TrekkieTechie]

You'd be shocked how little science can actually explain. We know next to nothing about the history of our species, of our planet, of our galaxy.

To paraphrase Bill Bryson [wikipedia.org], if someone were to take a pair of tweezers and pull you apart atom by atom, when the last two were separated you'd be left with a pile of inanimate matter -- none of which is alive but all of which was you.

Science has no provable explanation for how the Big Bang occured (assuming it did), simply that it looks like that's probably wh