Bible Plus E.T. - what are the various dogmas' plans, if any, for First Contact?

[Mel Brennan]

I've always watned to know, but never remember to ask: is there a contingency for First Contact? How does it get incorporated into the 66 books, for example? Have there already been laid-out policies on these matters? What happens to the One Truths' respective foci upon Earth's creation if the Vulcans show up? I'm flippant, but I'm actually interested...is it just Jesus becomes Jesus plus E.T.? Or would this current group of faith managers offer up an additional Gospel relating to their effort to spread the Word to such Others and tack it on to the 66 books? Or would the Romulans be treated like any other "discovered" people? What about other, non-Judeo-Christian, faiths? How do they incorporate the emergence of the previously unknown?

Does their level of tech matter? IF we currently exist in level 2 tech, and they come along with level 25 tech, does that change how the Faithful approach them? Wasn't it Arthur C. Clarke who submitted "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"? Would that apply to divinity too?

[SoccerPro843]

If we made contact with alien life, it would not affect my faith whatsoever. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God made us and only us.

[DJPoopypants]

I thought there was a thread around here about the Vatican astrologer, an MIT priest/astrophysicist who was tasked with making sure the church wasn't caught napping if we found ETs.

Cuz somebody's gonna ask the question of whether Jesus died for the sins of those from Alpha Centauri, and whether you get to hang with aliens in heaven.

[Mel Brennan]

If we made contact with alien life, it would not affect my faith whatsoever. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God made us and only us.


But doesn't the bible restrict its discussion of life to only Earth? Maybe there's a different Bible for the Borg; one that tailorss Genesis, when you get down to planetary, "frimament" disucssion, to the Borg planet...but then doesn't that challenge the claims of completeness of Truth that surround the Bible as Word?

First Contact may not change faith; faith is, definitively, belief without proof. But doesn't it challenge dogma in some way? Addditionally, does anyone have any info on how, if at all, dogmatists and religious managers are preparing or are prepared for such possibilities/eventualities?

[dj43]

As the Bible gives no history of any other planet than earth, there is no reason that those who base their faith on this Book should worry about something outside that narrative. But the Bible does say we WILL have a single First Contact in the future, and it will be with Lord Jesus Himself. At that point, there will be neither need nor time to make further plans. The time for planning will have passed when that occurs.

[Metroweenie]

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=272101&highlight=vatican+astrologer

I know I've read something that compared the potential stances of different religions on alien life, but I can't remember where.

[dj43]

CS Lewis has a great thought that is appropriate to this thread in so far as Christianity is concerned. To quote Lewis, he says, "Christianity has not, and does not profess to have, a detailed political programme for applying 'Do as you would be done by' to a particular society at a particular moment...It is meant for all men at all times and the particular programme which suited one place at one time would not suit another. And, anyhow, that is not the way Christianity works. When it tells you to feed the hungry it does not give you lessons in cookery....It was never intended to replace or supersede the ordinary human arts and sciences...it is rather a director which will set them to all the the right jobs...if only they will put themselves at its disposal."

IOW, we should allow our common sense and skills to be guided by Christianity.

He goes on to stress that "churches" are made up of laypeople who really carry the job of doing God's work. Relying on "the church" to put God in motion is laziness. Hence, we shouldn't look for some dictate or dogma that has been handed down to deal with every little detail that might occur. The general direction has been given. Go follow it.

[Foosinho]

So, I'm going out on a limb here and saying that I felt Contact gave this topic a nice treatment.

There. I said it.

[ElJefe]

Personally, I'm of the opinion that the intelligent life is astronomically unlikely an occurance in the universe and the distances are so vast in the universe that this is pretty much a moot question.

[Caesar]

Does their level of tech matter? IF we currently exist in level 2 tech, and they come along with level 25 tech, does that change how the Faithful approach them?
This is usually the point I turn off Civilization III and go outside.

[Foosinho]

Personally, I'm of the opinion that the intelligent life is astronomically unlikely an occurance in the universe and the distances are so vast in the universe that this is pretty much a moot question.
I actually think it's likely (but that depends on how you work the odds - for both of us it's pretty much a guess), but agree that the distances are so vast that it is moot. First Contact will never* happen.

(* - i.e., the odds of my winning the lotto are significantly higher, in my estimation.)

[Barbara]

But doesn't the bible restrict its discussion of life to only Earth? Maybe there's a different Bible for the Borg; one that tailorss Genesis, when you get down to planetary, "frimament" disucssion, to the Borg planet...but then doesn't that challenge the claims of completeness of Truth that surround the Bible as Word?

First Contact may not change faith; faith is, definitively, belief without proof. But doesn't it challenge dogma in some way?

Maybe, maybe not. That's what the Vatican guy is thinking about.

Addditionally, does anyone have any info on how, if at all, dogmatists and religious managers are preparing or are prepared for such possibilities/eventualities?

I don't understand this question.

[spejic]

I actually think it's likely (but that depends on how you work the odds - for both of us it's pretty much a guess), but agree that the distances are so vast that it is moot. First Contact will never* happen.I agree with this. And add to this the extreme unlikelyhood of life on other planets ever reaching a level of technology that allows them to use radio transmission. Without catastrophies to shake things up, we ourselves might have stayed at the trolobite stage or dinosaur stage forever.

[DJPoopypants]

I just read a quick hypothetical sci-fi short story about 1st contact, where humans meet some representatives of an intergalactic civilization.

(bear with me - it may take awhile, but it combines ETs and evolution)

So basically the intergalactic structure is based on a racial caste system, where genetic lineage is important, and longpast genetic linkages between races are important.

Humans, with no genetic linkage to any existing powerful race, are lower down than the "untouchables".

Until human scientists took a closer look at the period on earth when complex organic molecules began to be proliferate, instead of simpler elements and molecules. It was hypothesized that a visitor from another planet might have coughed, farted, or dumped their spaceship toilets while in earth's atmosphere - and been responsible for introducing "life" onto a fertile planet.

At this point, all the ETs made themselves as scarce as superstar professional athletes faced with a paternity test, for fear that one of them would be genetically linked with earth life.

Kinda interesting considering the "intelligent design" crowd are so adamant that the jump to organic life on this planet could not have been random.

If they get so worked up over possibly having a monkey for an uncle, how would they feel to have evolved from alien poop?

[YankHibee]

Is anyone familiar with the Anthropic Cosmological Principle? If nobody is, then I won't start a conversation on it, but it would be appropriate.

[Norsk Troll]

What happens when religion faces an alien? Helllooooooo ...

Didn't any of you see the scene in War of the Worlds when the priest walks up to the alien ship quoting scripture? THIS is what happens to religion in the face of aliens:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v698/NorskTroll/14d204b4.jpg

[Mel Brennan]

...I don't understand this question.

Has, for example, the Vactican articulated a plan for how they are going to adjust, if at all, their approach to Scripture or anything else if and when First Contact is made? Does the level of that First Contact make a difference (if it's one-celled paramecium from a pssing comet, as opposed to creatures thousands/millions of years more advanced than we are)?

[spejic]

I think the answer to the original question is pretty simple. After all, Christans went through it when the Americas were discovered. Faith is pretty good at surviving stuff that atheists think should easily shock a person out of their religion.

When ETs are found, human belief systems will simply change to make the new facts compatible. In comic book terms, they will just do a retcon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retcon).

[royalstilton]

since extra-terrestrial life -- at least as it is imagined in sci-fi -- isn't something that we will ever encounter, it's rather an academic question, but i think that "we'll cross that bridge if we come to it" would be the position of most denominations.

[TheMasterAtCornerKicks]

What gets me is the arrogant human assumption that aliens can't get here easily (as if thier technology and understanding of space/time was somehow limited by what we think) from wherever they're coming from, and also the very obvious fact that somewhere (if not throughout) in human history we've already encountered them whether or not it has been "verified" by a "reputable authority" or government.

I personally think they have always been watching over us as higher beings in much the same way that humans monitor the lower beings on the earth - within checking range while not overtly meddling.

Just like Gorrilas can now use sign language but humans aren't rushing to assimilate them into our world or vice verse, Aliens aren't rushing to assimilate with us just because we've just gotten intelligent enough to descern the color of skin or blow up nations 10 times over, either...

As far as religion, I would have to instantly convert to the Alien religion as it would have to be hundreds of thousands or even millions of years older and thus superceed Jesus Christ or any other earthbound religion...