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The breakthrough of extraterrestrial beings — be they slimy microbes or little unripe men — would dramatically vary the way we humans catch our place in the universe . But would it shatter religion ? Well , that depends on what you believe .
In his young book"Religions and Extraterrestrial Life"(Springer 2014 ) , David Weintraub , an stargazer at Vanderbilt University , take aim a secretive look at how dissimilar faiths would wield the revelation that we ’re not alone . Some of his findings might storm you .
The nonprofit Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute’s Allen Telescope Array in California has been listening for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations. So far, no aliens have tried to get in touch.
Public polls have shown that a large share of the population think aliens are out there . In onesurvey turn last yearby the company Survata , 37 percent of the 5,886 Americans who were polled said they believed in the cosmos of extraterrestrial life , while 21 percentage order they did n’t believe and 42 percent were unsure . Responses varied by faith : 55 percent of atheist enjoin they believed in extraterrestrials , as did 44 percent of Muslims , 37 percent of Jews , 36 per centum of Hindus and 32 percent of Christians . [ 7 Huge Misconceptions about Aliens ]
Weintraub found that some religions are more accommodative to the mind of E.T. than others . Those with an Earth - centric spiritual point of view are the most potential to be made uncomfortable byquestions about the discovery of aliens . Certain evangelical and fundamentalistic Christians , for example , are of the opinion that God ’s sole design was to make people here on Earth . Some conceive that if God make spirit anywhere else , it would say that in Genesis , Weintraub said .
But some Christians who interpret the Bible quite literally might actually have an soft clip incorporate the existence of aliens into their spiritual cosmogeny . Many Seventh - day Adventists , for representative , arecreationistswho believe the Earth was literally create by God in six days some 6,000 years ago and that humanity descended — and inherited original hell — from Adam and Eve . In that business of thinking , life could exist on other planets , but beings that did n’t descend from Adam and Eve on Earth would n’t be inherently extraordinary , and effectively , they would n’t want Christianity to be saved , Weintraub told Live Science .
Seventh - solar day Adventism ’s flexibility with regard to aliens might be a product of the metre in which the faith was found ( the 19th century ) . During the 1700s and 1800s , there was a strong popularbelief in extraterrestrial life , Weintraub said . The telescope ( a comparatively recent invention ) lastly earmark astronomers to peek at other planets and Moon in oursolar organization , but scientist did n’t yet full understand that these celestial body were bleak . And perhaps it ’s no happenstance that the religion that start at that clock time — Mormonism , 7th - day Adventism , Jehovah ’s Witnesses , the Baha’i Faith — all have a strong belief in extraterrestrial life , Weintraub said .
In contrast , the notion of extraterrestrial life was for the most part irrelevant to religions that start K of eld ago .
" Ideas about extraterrestrial life — if they ’re part of the sacred writings — they ’re buried a little bit deeper , " Weintraub told Live Science . " They ’re not obvious . They ’re layer below the top . In Judaic scripture , there ’s pretty much nothing there . You really have to over - interpret to get hold anything that you’re able to marginally say might have anything to do with extraterrestrial animation . "
Of naturally , aliens have figured into the beliefs of modest cults and fringe religious grouping . In a illustrious example , 39 members of the so - calledHeaven ’s Gate mathematical group committed suicidebelieving they would leave their earthly bodies and reach an alien spacecraft trailing thecomet Hale - Boppin 1997 . Weintraub did n’t look at these group ( nor did he analyze Scientology ) , but he said it ’s likely that future religions would spring up and conquer on the breakthrough of extraterrestrial animation .
" There are a luck of so - calledUFOreligions , and I ’m certain that if we get a line that there really was life beyond Earth , there would be lots more of these kinds of thing , " Weintraub said . " There undoubtedly would be the great unwashed who would find this as an opportunity or an apology to call attention to themselves for whatever understanding and there would be raw religion . " [ UFO Quiz : What ’s Really Out There ]
With advances in exoplanet enquiry and astrobiology , scientists could realistically be on the leaflet of find evidence for spirit far out from Earth — perhaps not intelligent life , but life , nonetheless . That ’s why Weintraub thinks the rest of us should be ready for the unearthly questions that will follow — and that astronomers should participate in that conversation , since the question " Is there life sentence in the universe ? " now go to the domain of science , not just philosophy .
" It almost does n’t matter what form of sprightliness it is , " Weintraub recite Live Science " If there ’s any kind of life out there it simply mean we ’re not alone . And knowing we ’re not alone , I think , has a lot of meaning . "
It will likely be billion of year before homo discover and are able to communicate with intelligent alien beings — if they ’re out there , Weintraub said . But he thinks it ’s deserving extending the thought experimentation to considerhow we would handle aliensof unlike faiths . Would we repeat the mistakes of European missionary who converted the " heathens " of the New World to Christianity ? Or would we adopt a policy that looks more like the no - incumbrance " choice directive " of the " Star Trek " world ? Would sentient aliens have their own faith ? Would they sample to preach to us ?
" Once you mean about this enough , it ’s worth recognizing that if it ’s OK for somebody in a dissimilar part of the universe to have a unlike organized religion , maybe it ’s OK for somebody else in a dissimilar part of the Earth to have a unlike religion , " Weintrub said . " Maybe we could figure something out down here that could make us get along a little upright . "
