This
is part V of a series of studies focused on fundamentalist religion’s attitudes
on extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI).
Is Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Inconsistent with Religion?
As
with previous posts on this series, history has shown us that people have been
debating the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence for many centuries.
There is a rich depth of history on this topic and there are many papers and
books on the subject that are totally fascinating. There are plenty of
viewpoints on the relationship between ETI and religion. As with many
controversial topics, the viewpoint of ETI seems to resolve itself into two
camps: those who feel that ETI is not inconsistent with religion and those who
say it is. These viewpoints come from laymen, scientists, theologians,
ufologists, and everyone in between.
What
struck me personally in reading papers on this topic is not only the black and
white perspective on this issue but the human perception of how we, as
humanity, project our religious viewpoints onto an extraterrestrial
intelligence. Has ET sinned? How is ET redeemed? How does ET relate to
humanity’s position in the universe? Does humanity have a “position” in the
universe? Even more than that, does humanity have a special or ultimate
position in the universe? I was disturbed at reading the absolute perspective
of the religious viewpoint being projected onto an extraterrestrial
intelligence. Who are we to dictate our religious views onto an alien
intelligence? What makes our way the only way?
Douglas
Vakoch writes in his paper “Roman Catholic Views of Extraterrestrial
Intelligence: Anticipating the Future by Examining the Past” about a professor
of dogma at the University of Munich who said that Christ in the head of the
universe, and thus would also be the head of extraterrestrials. Professor
McHugh said that “Extraterrestrials would be under the universal dominion of
Christ” but he would leave further conjectures to theologians specializing in
the incarnation. Vakoch also includes a statement made by Father Theodore M.
Hesburgh: “Finding others than ourselves would mean knowing Him better.” Two
ways were mentioned how extraterrestrials might glorify God:
- Simply by existing they would unconsciously give glory to God.
- As rational beings they would also have the duty to glorify God consciously. One Jesuit suggested that even if humans were the only rational beings in the entire universe, God would still be sufficiently glorified. Others used the glory of God as an explanation for why ET would not exist. One priest maintained that one would not "be able to understand the logic of the divine plan of man's salvation" if extraterrestrials were able to glorify God. [26]
Joseph L. Spradley writes in his paper “Religion and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence” that the idea of extraterrestrial life and intelligence is not necessarily inconsistent with a Christian perspective. If billions of intelligent beings exist in the universe, we would know God better. Evangelical astronomer Owen Gingerich is credited with writing that nothing precludes intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. It would be extremely arrogant to limit God’s creativity to human beings as the only contemplative creatures in the universe. [27]
In
a paper titled “ET Meets Jesus Christ: A Hostile Encounter Between Science and
Religion” written by Marie George, the author mentions statements made by Paul
Davis and Willem Drees. They hold that Christianity would have problems with
the discovery of extraterrestrials. George says many do not agree that the
existence of ETI is opposed to the Christian message. Since God is all powerful
and the universe an immense place, there would be nothing surprising about God
populating other planets. [28]
Marie
George claims that the existence of ETI does not run counter to what Christians
believe about how man is God’s supreme and special creation. If ETIs were
discovered, they too would be created in the image of God. Now here is a heads
up; the following is a sample of how an intellectual theologian talks about
humanity, God, and the relation to the universe:
- Humans are special as being the agents that bring the universe to its final completion. This is the first and foremost true because Christ, the savior of all, was a human being. The fact is that a human being was the savior of the fallen. Without the redemption wrought by Christ, the universe could not achieve its destiny of giving glory to God. Humans, by responding to Christ's grace, contribute to the realization of this destiny.
- God is free to reveal to us how humankind's savior Jesus Christ relates to all created beings, purported ETIs included. God, if he so chooses, can also reveal to us how the redemption wrought by Christ fits into his plan for the entire universe.
- The ETI-Christianity debate cannot be settled without looking at Scripture.
- There are a number of passages in Scripture that support the notion that the central event in the universe's history was the Incarnation, death, and the Resurrection of Christ.
- The author quoting Scripture that Christ - not only as God but also as man - is the central figure in the cosmos.
- ETIs do not pose a threat to the various forms of specialness that Christianity attributes to humans, and that ETIs can fit into the Christian vision of the universe. The arrival of ETIs, far from causing the collapse of Christianity, would not even require a change in any of its central tenets.
David
Wilkinson is a Fellow in Christian Apologetics and Associate Director of the
Centre for Christian Communication at St John’s College, University of Durham.
In his paper “Missionaries to Mars? The religious implications of the search
for life in the Universe” Wilkinson says that ETI does not pose a problem to
Christian belief, that men and women are special in the eyes of God. It may
even increase the sense of awe at how great this God is who creates with such
diversity and extravagance. [30]
I
think Paul Davis summed up the paradigm shift that would be caused by the discovery
of life beyond earth nicely in his paper from The Atlantic Monthly:
The discovery of
just a single bacterium somewhere beyond Earth would force us to revise our
understanding of who we are and where we fit into the cosmic scheme of things,
throwing us into a deep spiritual identity crisis that would be every bit as
dramatic as the one Copernicus brought about in the early 1500s, when he
asserted that Earth was not at the center of the universe. [31]
How much more impactful would be the discovery of an extraterrestrial intelligence!
The Multiple Incarnation Issue
One
ongoing debate is the issue regarding multiple incarnations on multiple worlds
if sentient extraterrestrial life were discovered. Theologians seem to believe
that since the son of God died for our sins on this planet, then it must happen
everywhere else in the universe.
There
is a great deal of discussion on how other extraterrestrial intelligences would
find redemption through Christ in Marie George’s paper “ET Meets Jesus Christ:
A Hostile Encounter between Science and Religion?” Here is a sample: “If Christ
is the savior of all the fallen, and if he came only to save humans, and if God
would not leave fallen material rational species unredeemed, it follows that
there are no other fallen material rational species in the universe.” [28]
Brenda
Denzler attributes the following to an investigator (no name given) about how the
whole Christian idea of God’s plan of salvation would become a serious problem.
Christian
religion would become compromised by the discovery of extraterrestrial life
since it makes so much of the Incarnation as an historical event and knowledge
of the good news of Jesus Christ’s Passion, Ascension, and Atonement as the
sine qua non of salvation. It would either have to maintain that the
incarnation and crucifixion of the Son of God has occurred on innumerable
worlds, or embark on a vigorous missionary campaign of broadcasting the good
news throughout the universe. [29]
Denzler
mentions that Arthur C. Clarke felt that the doctrine of the Incarnation was a
ticking time bomb for all of Christianity. [29]
Why
is it that human beings think that their way is THE way across the Universe? Does
this indicate how special Christians think they are? The multiple Incarnation
prospect is a big topic for Christians regarding extraterrestrial life. Does ET
sin? Why are we projecting onto another species?
ET as Spiritual Beings
Joseph
L. Spradley writes “For many centuries, extraterrestrial spiritual beings have
been part of the faith of Western religions. They appear in the form of
immortal angels, servants of God who visit Earth with special messages of
guidance and salvation.” [27]
Marie
George writes about how Christians believe in other beings such as angels and
devils. With this belief system, there is a model for Christians to believe in
other beings. There is also discussion about of the concept of “fallen”
extraterrestrials and their need to be “saved.” [28]
I
have never heard of theologians refer to angels and demons as extraterrestrial
spiritual beings before. I will be interested if I find any other references to
this in books or papers on the topic.
Humanity as “Special” in the Universe
In
a paper titled “Would Contact with
Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis,” the authors
write the following:
Some people
might consider mere detection (of ETI) to be harmful to humanity. These people
include those with religious perspectives and other worldviews that depend on
the idea of humanity playing a unique and privileged role in the universe. The
detection of ETI could challenge these worldviews and therefore be perceived as
harmful by those who hold such beliefs. The existence of ETI in the universe is
independent of whether or not they have been detected by humanity. It is the
existence of ETI that challenges such worldviews and not the act of detection.
[32]
The UFO Evidence website has an
article from CNN titled “Possible life on Mars raises theological implications.”
A quote from the article is very interesting: “Theologians say the possibility
that life exists on Mars moves beyond an ‘anthropocentric worldview’ – one that
places humankind at the center of the universe.” [33]
I
thought this was an interesting statement; it implies that people see that this
IS the way that Christians view humanity. That human beings are considered to
be the center of the universe. I would think that this view puts oneself in the
ultimate special category. Maybe human beings have come to understand that the
Earth is no longer considered to be the center of the physical universe, but
human beings still seem to consider themselves to be the center of the religious
universe.
A
similar statement was written by Joseph Spradley, “Another theological problem
arising from the possibility of a message from an alien civilization is that it
would very likely be far in advance of ours, challenging Christian ideas about
human dominion over creation.” [27] Spradley admits there is a Christian view
of the “elevated status of humanity” in the universe in this paper.
Isn’t
the view that humanity’s religious views span the universe the same centrist
poppycock from the past when humanity viewed the Earth as the center of the
universe? Has humanity really come to grips with the fact that we are not the
center of the universe?
Life on Mars
In
one sense, writers on the search for extraterrestrial life say that life on
Mars would broaden biblical convictions but then say these findings would
rattle fundamentalist claims that assert life literally originated as recounted
in the Bible’s Book of Genesis.
David
Wilkinson, who wrote “Missionaries to Mars? The religious implications of the
search for life in the Universe,” states “the search for life on Mars is part
of natural human curiosity that Christians see as a gift from God.” [30]
Paul
Davis makes several good points in his paper. He points out that the world’s
main faiths were all founded in the pre-scientific era, when Earth was widely
believed to be at the center of the universe and humankind at the pinnacle of
creation. As scientific discoveries have piled up over the past 500 years, our
status has been incrementally diminished. [31]
From
the papers I have read, there are viewpoints that finding life on Mars would
send Christianity into a tailspin. Then there are papers whose positions are that
finding life on Mars would challenge the atheist view. The thinking is that
finding life elsewhere in the universe is proof of God’s existence. These
arguments start to look like a dog chasing its tail. Sometimes the dog spins
left and sometimes the dog spins right.
Frank Drake and SETI
Joseph
Spradley wrote “Religion and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence” for
the American Scientific Affiliation. The American Scientific Affiliation is a network of Christian scientists founded in 1941. This statement was taken from their website: [34]
“As scientists, members of the ASA take
part in humanity’s exploration of nature, its laws, and how it works. As
Christians, ASAers want to know not just how the universe operates
and came into being, but why it exists in the first place.
Why
are we here, and why seemingly alone among all creatures do humans possess the
qualities required for scientific research — like curiosity, creativity, and a
sense of purpose? When and how did we become this way, and what does that say
about our relationship with God?
Who are we, really?
We in the American Scientific Affiliation believe that God is both the creator of our vast universe and is the source of our ability to pursue knowledge — also, that honest and open studies of both scripture and nature are mutually beneficial in developing a full understanding of human identity and our environment.”
Who are we, really?
We in the American Scientific Affiliation believe that God is both the creator of our vast universe and is the source of our ability to pursue knowledge — also, that honest and open studies of both scripture and nature are mutually beneficial in developing a full understanding of human identity and our environment.”
The
following extended discussion stems from Joseph L. Spradley’s paper. [27] Spradley
writes about Frank Drake and his comments about SETI, the search for extraterrestrial
intelligence. Spradley contends that Drake’s recent autobiographical history of
the SETI movement reveals some interesting religious motivations.
This
sentence struck me as odd. I didn’t realize that SETI was a “movement.” I
understand SETI to be a serious scientific endeavor to try to contact and or
detect extraterrestrial intelligence from beyond our Earth. The SETI organization
is staffed by degreed scientists. Is SETI really a movement? I think the word
movement diminishes the study of searching for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Spradley’s
comment about Drake having religious motivations is interesting. He writes, “In
fact, his desire to communicate with extraterrestrials from early childhood
appears to be a substitute for his traditional religious (Baptist) background.”
Spradley quotes Drake from Drake’s autobiography:
I have been
waiting for this moment nearly all my life. Indeed, if there is anything
unusual about my otherwise normal childhood, it is that I started tracing my
ties to alien civilizations of intelligent life in the universe at age eight. I
did this in spite of my family’s fundamentalist religious beliefs and despite
their scorn for fantastic ideas.
How
is what Drake wrote construed to be a substitute for religion? I took what
Drake said to mean that in spite of his family’s fundamentalist religious
beliefs, he pursued his fascination of alien life and civilizations. So how is his
fascination for alien civilizations a “substitution” for religion?
Spradley
writes more about SETI; here is another comment: “SETI enthusiasts have a
strong faith in a higher intelligence which is seeking to communicate with us
and which can change our lives and solve our problems.”
SETI
enthusiasts. That sounds like a book club or something. A dictionary can
describe an enthusiast as a religious visionary or fanatic. A zealot, devotee
or fan. I feel that using the word enthusiast demeans the people involved with
the SETI endeavor. Spradley uses the words movement and enthusiasts to describe
SETI along with the words “strong faith” in regards to the people involved with
the search for extraterrestrial life. He implies that SETI is not a serious
scientific study, or even a serious study.
Spradley
goes on to describe Drake as a “true believer.” He describes SETI as having
religious motivations: “Although these religious motivations in the SETI
movement may appear naïve, other more meaningful religious implications follow
from the possibility of extraterrestrial life.”
It
seems a religious scientist is accusing SETI of being a quasi-religious
movement which relies on its scientists’ faith-based enthusiasm.
What Constitutes a Religion?
Spradley
has written that there are religious motivations within SETI. One scientist in
particular within SETI has strong opinions about religion. Wilkinson wrote
about Jill Tarter, a SETI scientist who argues that ETI would have outgrown
organized religion -- that religion causes war and destabilization of societies
and therefore a stable technological civilization would mean either one
universal religion or no god at all. [30] Paul Davis has credited Jill Tarter with
similar statements to the effect that extraterrestrials have outgrown religion.
Davis has also written that SETI is often accused of being on a quasi-religious
quest. [31]
I
see the dog chasing its tail again. Someone calls SETI a quasi-religious group,
a scientist within SETI sees no use for religion at all, a religious scientist
calls Drake a “true believer” and subject to religious motivations; the dog is
definitely spinning.
In
her article “Ufology, God-talk and Theology,” Brenda Denzler references the
subject of UFOs and abduction as a religion. Denzler mentions sociologist Alan
G. Hill, who suggested that the UFO movement and particularly the alien
abduction movement could be understood as “quasi-religious” movements serving
the functional equivalent of a religion (There’s that word movement again.)
Alan Hill continues to say that members of the movement valued belief more than
empirical evidence or critical questioning, suggested that there were universal
powers greater than humanity from which we might hope for some form of personal
or collective salvation, and pictured themselves as the undeserving objects of
persecution by hostile outsiders whose activities only served to ennoble the
ufological quest. [29]
Another
reference from the Denzler article was from Donald E. Ehler, president of the Boothe
Memorial Astronomical Society. Ehler was relieved when the Condon Report was
finally released in 1969. The search for UFOs, he said, had been a “hysterical
witchhunt” and was more of a “growing religion” than a scientific endeavor. The
director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory would not give an opinion
about UFOs on the grounds that he would not make public comments about “the
beliefs of religious cults.” In response, J. Allen Hynek, founder of the Center
for UFO Studies replied, “Neither do I.” [29] What a great response from Dr.
Hynek!
Is
belief in alien life a new religion? Therefore ensnaring SETI in its grip?
Personally, I say a big-fat no!
Douglas
Vakoch made two very important points with which I would like to close this article:
[26]
- Empirical research has shown that religious individuals are less likely to believe that extraterrestrial life exists than are less religious people.
- If SETI is successful, there would be a significant religious response.
Coming up -- the last part of the series -- religious fundamentalism and extraterrestrial intelligence.
References
[26]
D. A. Vakoch, “Roman Catholic Views of Extraterrestrial Intelligence:
Anticipating the Future by Examining the Past”, Foundation for the Future, 2000
[27]
J. L. Spradley, “Religion and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence”,
American Scientific Affiliation, September 1998
[28]
M. I. George, “ET Meets Jesus Christ: A Hostile Encounter between Science and
Religion?”, Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, Vol. 10 no. 2,
pp. 69-94, Spring 2007
[29]
B. Denzler, “Ufology, God-talk and Theology”, Skeptic: ProQuest Psychology
Journals, vol. 9, no. 3, 2002
[30]
D. Wilkinson, “Missionaries to Mars? The religious implications of the search
for life in the Universe”, The Plain Truth, Apr-May, 2004
http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc1711.htm
[31]
P. Davis, “E.T. and God: Could earthly religions survive the discovery of life
elsewhere in the universe”, The Atlantic Monthly, September 2003
[32]
S. D. Baum, J. D. Haqq-Misra, S. D. Domagal-Goldman, “Would Contact with
Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis”, Acta
Astronautica, 2011 (Scientists, NASA)
[33]
“Possible life on Mars raises theological implications”, CNN, August 7, 1996
http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc1710.htmhttp://network.asa3.org/?page=ASAAbout#Who%20we%20are
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