STARTLING news from the Vatican today: The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is holding a conference on astrobiology, the study of life beyond Earth.
According to the Telegraph, for centuries, theologians have argued over what the existence of life elsewhere in the universe would mean for the Church: at least since Giordano Bruno, an Italian monk, was put to death by the Inquisition in 1600 for claiming that other worlds exist.
Among other things, extremely alien-looking aliens would be hard to fit with the idea that God “made man in his own image”.
Which one of these creatures was 'made in God's image'?
Furthermore, Jesus Christ’s role as saviour would be confused: would other worlds have their own, tentacled Christ-figures, or would Earth’s Christ be universal?
However, just as the Church eventually made accommodations after Copernicus and Galileo showed that the Earth was not the centre of the universe, and when it belatedly accepted the truth of Darwin’s theory of evolution, Catholic leaders say that alien life can be aligned with the Bible’s teachings.
Father Jose Funes, a Jesuit astronomer at the Vatican Observatory and one of the organisers of the conference, said:
As a multiplicity of creatures exists on Earth, so there could be other beings, also intelligent, created by God. This does not conflict with our faith, because we cannot put limits on the creative freedom of God.
Not everyone agrees. Paul Davies, a theoretical physicist and author of The Goldilocks Enigma, told The Washington Post that the threat to Christianity is “being downplayed” by Church leaders.He said:
I think the discovery of a second genesis would be of enormous spiritual significance. The real threat would come from the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence, because if there are beings elsewhere in the universe, then Christians, they’re in this horrible bind.
They believe that God became incarnate in the form of Jesus Christ in order to save humankind, not dolphins or chimpanzees or little green men on other planets.
The Academy conference will include presentations from scientists – by no means all of them Christians – on the discovery of planets outside our solar system, the geological record of early life on Earth, how life might have started on Earth, and whether “alien” life of a different biochemistry to our own might exist here without our knowing, among many other things.
HAT TIP: PaulEd
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
November 10th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
*sits down with popcorn*
Being as this is the catholic church, if they do reach a conclusion would it have to become doctrine? I can’t wait to see what torturous theological contortions they get themselves into.
November 10th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Given the disasters which follow when religious zealots are on the first boat to any ‘new world’ (the Puritans & America springs to mind), maybe it’s time to push for an international agreement preventing evangelical missions to other planets….
…on the other hand, if we could get those wealthy US tele-evangelists and their sheep to blast off and build colonies on far away planets, then not let them come back…!
November 10th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I’d love to see the catholic church attempt to moralise on alien sexuality, even on a theoretical level it would be funny.
On another note, I can imagine that if there were intelligent alien life in our vicinity they have probably avoided contact with us because of these idiots and their ilk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWVshkVF0SY
November 10th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
I think that the Vatican likes to have the apologetics worked out in advance for any eventuality. In this case I don’t think that it is possible for them to have all their bases covered.
One possibility would be that the aliens treat the Catholics the way they treated the south americans, sacking their sacred places, burning their icons and then replacing the Catholic religion with their own. Or maybe the aliens would look upon religion with distain and explain that they outgrew it thousands of years ago and point out that only primitive cultures have it. Maybe they would just eat us. there are just an infinite number of possible variations.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
I remember Billy Graham coming out with similar views some forty years ago, when he also realized that the discovery of alien life forms was now a distinct possibility, and, as @Stonyground says, it was imperative to “have all bases covered” to avoid meltdown! The whole argument is, of course, preposterous. Even a cursory reading of the Bible indicates that life (as opposed to “spiritual” life forms) is unique to earth. This is the very purpose for which the earth, and indeed the universe, was created – mankind being the culmination of God’s plan. Moreover “DEATH CAME BY SIN”, according to the sacred text. Does this mean that alien life forms live for ever, in a state of bliss, knowing nothing of pain, sorrow and decay – or do they , too, commit “sin” and require their own “saviours”? If there are, indeed, “intelligent” life forms, then, according to Catholic and fundamentalist teaching, they MUST be subject to the same moral codes as mankind, as these are “absolute”, and God is immanent throughout creation. The more you think about this the more intractable the problem becomes, and the more convinced any rational person must be that this is all a load of tosh!
November 10th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
I have to say that most of the Christians with whom I used to associate reject out of hand the notion that “intelligent” life exists elsewhere in the universe. This seems the only view that is compatible with that of the writers of the Bible. Their belief is that the whole of creation was affected by Adam’s fall from grace, so that decay and death would also be the lot of any other creatures which might exist elsewhere in the universe. Similarly, the whole of creation would have been redeemed by the death of Jesus, as it was Adam’s sin which had brought about this universal curse (also the cause of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, etc, not only on earth but throughout the cosmos!). When the New Heaven and New Earth are established all this “chaos” will be rectified, of course, and the whole universe restored to its original, “perfect” state. There is a degree of internal logic to all this, but if, like the Pope, you try to introduce sentient, moral beings on other planets, the whole thing falls apart at the seams!
November 10th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
PS I love that image of the His Oiliness, Barry!
November 10th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
CS Lewis covered this topic pretty well in OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET and the other novels of his Space Trilogy–one can easily fit the idea of intelligent alien civilizations into a Christian theological system.
And even if there were any problems, we’re talking about people who manage to dismiss the far more substantial Problem of Evil. I doubt they’ll experience an iota of cognitive dissonance.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the Christian missionaries approached alien visitors though. And I wonder if any science fiction writers have dealt with this. Can anyone think of any examples?
November 10th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
PPS I am aware, of course, that most of the teachings to which I have alluded belong to the Apostle Paul. However, to modern-day literalist Christians the Bible is not a collection of disparate books presenting the views of the individual writers, to be used as a tool in the search for “Truth”, but an error-free, seamless revelation from God – ie “The Truth” itself. Therefore, whatever earlier writers might have said, their ideas have to be “interpreted” in the light of what is taught in the Epistles. As Dr Harwood has pointed out recently, they are really following “Paulianity” – the teachings of a dogmatic, authoritarian martinet, who left no room for speculation or manoeuvre where “The Faith” was concerned!
(Is that enough Barry?!!)
November 10th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
@ David E I remember a short story in a SF collection that I read many years ago about a missionary who made contact with aliens who simply could not get their heads around the concept of crucifixion and resurrection. They were a peaceful species, who abhorred violence and killing. But eventually, after a great deal of debate among themselves, they decided to put the theory to the test – and nailed the missionary to a cross! I wish I could remember who wrote the piece. I would dearly love to re-read it.
November 10th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
@ BarrieJohn. Thanks! I do love playing with Photoshop. If I happen to be found hanging from Hungerford bridge with rocks in my pockets, send the police round to question Ratzinger and his goons.
November 10th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
The J/C bible states unambiguously that the earth is flat, covered by a solid hemispherical dome called the skies to which the sun, moon and stars are attached, is located at the centre of the universe, and is less than 7,000 years old. A cult that can harmonize that reality with the claim that its bible was dictated by an omniscient know-it-all will have no difficulty harmonizing the claim, that its deity created its master species in its mirror image, with the existence of sentient aliens that resemble elephant-legged, exo-skeletoned, flying jellyfish.
The dirty little yellow cowards who need an afterlife belief to overcome their terror of death and get them through the day without having to be institutionalized and diapered, would be able to rationalize that 3 + 2 = 7, if that was the only alternative to ceasing to be godphuqt.
If Jesus was God incarnate, and therefore the most perfect image of God, does that mean that God is a hunchbacked dwarf, as five centuries of Christian apologists acknowledged Jesus to have been?
November 10th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Barry, sounds interesting. If you think of the title let me know.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Barry Duke and David E – it’s a story by Harry Harrison entitled ‘The Streets of Ashkelon’. It appeared in the 7th Pan Book of Horror Stories, ed. Herbert van Thal.
Also, James Blish – an atheist – tackled the Christians-in-space theme in his novel A Case of Conscience. A Jesuit priest and scientist finds himself on a planet where a. the natives are peaceful and good and b. have no religion. Jesuit gets worried, consults Pope, while evil earth government decides to exploit native mineral reserves to make H-bombs. It’s got quite a surprise ending, to say the least. Highly recommended.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Come on Barry, let’s have a pontiff related Photoshop/M$paint competition, I can only do so much with flans
November 10th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
You might be awarded a plaque for the wall of the shop, Barry:
Suppliers of Apparatus, Appurtenances, and Pleasurable Paraphernalia of a Non-Procreational Nature (excluding Condoms) to the Holy See.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Wow Valdemar! Thanks for that. Gonna see if I can access those for my e-reader later tonight.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Of course if we’re honest discovering intelligent alien life will be a bit of a test for atheists too. If it turns out that they have their own version of Christianity then we will look a bit silly, I don’t think I could cope with all the crowing. Whereas as others have pointed out Christians will just ignore any absence of revelation in extra terrestrial lives and carry on regardless.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Here’s the link for Harrison’s Streets of Ashkelon:
http://www.shortcovers.com/sho.....ge1.html#1
November 10th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
At a time when the human race is within about a century of having the technology to build a generation ship, two-thirds of our species are still godphuqt. That aliens sufficiently advanced to spend fifty years or more voyaging to earth were not totally cured of religion would prove only that the first exercise of the sentient imagination is almost certain to focus on a means of annulling the permanence of death.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
@IvanS. That would be their hope, but they will have to find a way round this sort of thing:
“The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now…waiting for..the redemption of our body.” (Rom. 8:22)
Now that we understand that the earth is just a tiny part of the cosmos, the question will have to be asked: “How come these aliens and their planet have somehow escaped the curse that has been placed upon the rest of creation, only to be lifted when Christ returns in glory?” This would, in my view, sound the death-knell for Biblical Christianity!
November 10th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
On encountering alien life, the Fundies would simply do what they always do when faced with inconvenient information – cower inside their “armour of faith” and declare the aliens to be demonic in origin. Problem sorted.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Let me recommend a science fiction book about a human crew who travel to a distant planet in order to establish a religion-free society. What they find there is a species of sentient aliens who have a religion of their own. Unlike earth religions, the alien religion has survival value, analogous to “thou shalt breathe oxygen” (not actually a line from the book). But it also has its fanatics, and the human-alien interaction on that point is the story’s basic plot.
The book’s title is: There Be No Sun But Yahweh, and Jesus Be Him’s Planet (written by a historian, as I recall).
November 11th, 2009 at 12:45 am
I can hardly wait for the day when I check the news and find a headline saying that the newest exoplanet is a “blue dot”. It wouldn’t be a proof of life at all but the research effort would get intense for sure. And, the holy drivelmiesters would have some work to do. But, I’m sure they’re up to the task; irrationality gives one such freedom in intellectual matters!
November 11th, 2009 at 2:12 am
@Valdemar
Well spotted. All Knowledge Is Contained In Fandom, indeed.
I wondered, though, where it was first published and Google came up with the odd claim that it was in Brian Aldiss’s “compilation” New Worlds. Which it seems to be confusing with Ted Carnell’s magazine of that name. Were it the mag, rather than some later anthology, I might have a copy. Don’t hold your breath, though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.....f_Ashkelon
Mods: feel free to move this post to a sf forum!!
November 11th, 2009 at 2:23 am
On encountering alien life, the Fundies would simply do what they always do when faced with inconvenient information – cower inside their “armour of faith” and declare the aliens to be demonic in origin. Problem sorted.
Good point. I’ve heard LOTS of christians claim UFOs and aliens are actually demons.
@ Voldemar Thanks!
I’d forgotten A CASE OF CONSCIENCE. Haven’t read it in years.
Oh, and I just remembered another. THE FIRE BALLOONS by Ray Bradbury. Its in a collection of short stories about religion in science fiction I’ve had for years and I notice that THE STREETS OF ASHKELON is in it too. I hadn’t read it but will now.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Any life form less developed than us would not have the ability to construct a spaceship. However, putting some esoteric physics aside, any civilisation sufficiently advanced and who could travel for a very long time to reach us, would most certainly be more “advanced” than us and most likely to have progressed beyond the fairy tales rule our lives stage. It is quite possible that life on other planets has been and gone.
I agree that those afflicted with god disease, upon an encounter with superior alien life forms, will just carry on their nonsense.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Maybe these Catholics should go read the Website of the Mad Prophet Helmholtz of Spaceship Jesus, who occasionally visits our Forums.
http://www.spaceshipjesus.com/
If I wasn’t such a True Christian™, already bathed in the Blood of Jesus I would go and join his Flock myself.
November 11th, 2009 at 11:29 am
@David E:
if only you had quoted someone other than CSLewis……I’ve never found the Lewis thesis sufficiently intellectually rigorous – “God is the answer, all my friends say so and they are clever – now let me analyse the problem for you in that light”……..don’t think it would work with advanced alien species
November 11th, 2009 at 11:30 am
@ Talitha:
I checked out Spaceship Jesus…
My goodness me!
But, tell me, there are so many loonies around, and so extremely batty, that I could easily believe this guy is serious. It is not worse than the stuff the fundies normally claim to believe.
November 11th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
It isn’t too long ago since Papa decided to kick out his top astronomer. As I recall the man I have in mind actually knew what he was doing: rather too much so it seemed and he got the bullet.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Did he sack his top drugs adviser as well, Broga?
November 11th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Well, what would you expect? Not only are space aliens demons, the Roman Catholic Church is the Great Whore of Babylon. The End Times, they’re upon us!
November 11th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
@David E:
if only you had quoted someone other than CSLewis……I’ve never found the Lewis thesis sufficiently intellectually rigorous – “God is the answer, all my friends say so and they are clever – now let me analyse the problem for you in that light”……..don’t think it would work with advanced alien species
To be clear, I mention his book only as an example of the easy incorporation of the idea of aliens into a christian view of the world.
I think the books are, overall, mediocre and that he consistently caricatures non-Christians. And that’s just the fiction. His books on apologetics (like Mere Christianity) are absurd. A bright 12 year old could see the flaws in his arguments (in those cases where he actually makes an argument rather than using a bad analogy in place of one).
For a better written example of an SF novel written by a Christian about encounters with aliens (during a crashlanding in medieval europe) read Michael Flynn’s EIFELHEIM. It was nominated for the Hugo Award a couple of years ago (lost to Vinge’s RAINBOW’S END, though Peter Watts’ BLINDSIGHT should have won).
November 11th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
You’re right David E: even when I was a Christian I didn’t rate C S Lewis. He wrote entertaining fiction, but he was no philosopher by anyone’s yardstick! It’s funny how the Christians lionize these “clever” people – it just shows how desperate they are to find some justification for their totally irrational beliefs, and to give the entirely erroneous impression that there is some sort of “intellectuel rigour” involved in blind faith!!
November 11th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
BTW I’m sticking to my guns here, even though I’m in a minority of one! Doubtless, religion will survive in some form, whatever “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” come its way, but the discovery of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe will sound the death knell for any literalist interpretation of the Bible. The surviving believers are going to have to grit their teeth and agree to some sort of David Jenkins-type approach to belief: “Well, of course, when the Bible says that an angel visited Mary and that she was impregnated with the seed of God, what it really means is that something very wonderful was happening which the writers couldn’t adequately put into words, and that this person that was going to be born was going to be quite unique and…” (continues in the same vein until the Millennium dawns!)
November 12th, 2009 at 12:02 am
If any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, maybe any sufficiently advanced bullshit is indistinguishable from truth [in the mind of the willingly gullible]; if there are aliens out there I hope that they have a sense of humour and really mess with the religious sensibilities of the pious
November 12th, 2009 at 5:18 am
ET phone Rome
November 12th, 2009 at 7:34 am
“Any sufficiently advanced Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence is indistinguishable from God.”
Michael Shermer
November 12th, 2009 at 8:37 am
That’s Shermer’s Last Law. I think, in fairness to him, one ought to point out that he DID give credit to “Clarke’s Third Law”, which rog quotes above!
November 12th, 2009 at 8:49 am
@ Any Extra Terrestrial Life
Beam me up please.
November 12th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Be careful what you wish for @OpenMind. They might have even more ludicrous religious systems than the ones we have!
November 12th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence is indistinguishable from God…
This is another interesting idea, as there is no presumption that the intelligence is biological. Do Catholics have an opinion on the possibility of machine sentience?
Ian M Banks’ Minds anyone? if you’ve not read the culture books I highly recommend them, he’s an NSS honorary associate too.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:53 am
p.s. ‘the culture’ has got past a lot of our current hang ups too, people are free to change sex, and most of them do, at least once in their lives
November 12th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I was thinking the same thing myself, @rog (re sentient machines). Rather than worry about encounters with alien beings, which may or may not happen in the near future, Il Papa might do better to concentrate on issues that are, at the present rate of technological development, going to present his church with very real problems MUCH sooner! If truly intelligent machines are developed, then what sort of morality will apply to THEM, and will THEY believe in God?
November 12th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
If this godlike invisible friend of the pope has created other sentient beings, but maybe with a very different form, would that mean that god has not created man in his own image, and that god could be a WOMAN, or a dog?
November 12th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
@barriejohn more importantly, will that believe in silicon heaven? if not where do all of the toasters go when they die?
November 12th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Certainly the possible development of intelligent artificial life is both more likely than alien contact and more of a problem for religion. How are they going to square that with the supposed fact that only god can create life ? How will the anti abortionists react? They won’t want these machines to be allowed to survive and grow but if it’s wrong to kill a foetus it’s wrong to switch off an intelligent sentient machine and yet this machine is defying the laws of god, they may implode from irreconcilable contradictions. Some humanists seem to have a similar problem as there seems to be a strong repugnance at the idea of artificial intelligence in some philosophical quarters and a related refusal to believe it possible ( on no good evidence ).
November 12th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
I’m going to feel really guilty when I switch off the power to my computer tonight!
November 12th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Do Catholics have an opinion on the possibility of machine sentience?
DEUS X by Norman Spinrad is a novel about the Catholic Church attempting to decide whether “uploads” (emulations of human minds running on a computer) are sentient. I can’t recommend it enough. One of the best SF novels I’ve ever read.
I don’t think there’s any official position on the issue though.
November 13th, 2009 at 9:54 am
I think that ‘uploads’ of some sort are the closest thing humans will ever get to eternal/extended life; it would be interesting to see what happens should the technology ever become a reality.