The Religion(s) of Alien Civilizations

Just a thought, here. If we encountered extra-terrestrial intelligent life, they would be straightaway introduced to our Babel of religious attitudes and beliefs - our whole bewildering tableau of crosses, crescents, prayer wheels, yin and yang, etc. What about their religious traditions? What would they be like?

Some of my fellow nonbelievers here may figure that any civilization advanced enough to visit us would not have religion. But that I think is just too optimistic - experience shows that the 'regime of truth' is something that is highly 'overdetermined' by the great variety of discourse paradigms. Not only can multiple, internally coherent interpretations of "the same" phenomena be adduced, but all phenomena seem to be theory-laden. There are really no "brute facts" that we can appeal to, without them being embedded, at least tacitly, in a theory of the world.

Look, for example, at how the Swami here effortlessly shifts between (what Westerners would recognize as) the different discourses of mysticism and physics; and in ways that purport to describe the world, but that are not falsifiable. Couldn't his kind of worldview be espoused by an alien homo sapiens sapiens species? What other kind of spiritual/nonempirical worldviews might such a species of intelligent aliens come up with?

If aliens had their own scriptures, what would they be like? Or their own religious symbols - ? Their own theologies? If you are a believer, how would you respond if you saw actually familiar religious iconography - like the sign of a cross - but attached to a belief system that bore no resemblance to Christianity?

If you are a non-believer, would the existence of religion even amongst intelligent beings with vastly superior technology, make you rethink the validity of non-belief?

 

Granny says she purt sure...

... dem Hispexicans is mostly Catholic.

 

A civilization capable of interstellar travel would be sufficiently technologically and scientifically advanced as to not accept any "supernatural" explanation for existence of the universe.

I think that such a civilization if they are "spiritual" would most closely resemble Buddhism with no diety but offering a path to self enlightenment and understanding.

If these beings had a religion with a supernatural deity or deities, it would not make me a believer. It would make me highly suspicious of the aliens and their intentions.

 

I guess they would be Catholics.

http://youtu.be/rYDEqITnOAo

 

"we" wan. Indeed "catholic" is nearly the same as the word "universal"



http://youtu.be/-Kid2tPGshI

 

Yup!! what Jonsa said..

 

How do you "know" that there was a natural reason - if there was a reason at all - for the creation of the universe? What we know about nature is only part of this universe here and the universe has a beginning. How are you able to say that there is not a supernatural explanation for the existance of nature? Additionally: Are not all explanations always metaphysics (= supernatural)?

http://youtu.be/glrBz3GrFsQ

 

I'm inclined to agree. But... recall how readily the austere mysticism of the Theravada, morphed into the Mahayana, with all of its baroque supernatural detail. It is in the nature of homo sapiens sapiens to identify causal relationships; determining which such relationships are "valid" and which "are not," (i.e. are supernatural violations of the causal order) is hardly a straightforward matter.

Our science has only reinforced what religion has long taught us - that there are unseen forces all about us, giving structure to the world and governing our lives.

Maybe you should think it over? If there are strong parallels between the spiritual belief systems of other intelligent species and our own (when these beliefs indeed have no connection with our own particular history), why should that not count as evidence for the extra-mental validity the objects of these beliefs - ? Especially given that these beings would have already long passed through stages of historical development similar to ours...

 

You have a problem. If you create the a supernatural power, there is a question:

- How this supernatural power was created? For this reason the theological solution always is the less straight, and the less probable.

 

Ah, here's the rub. Causal relationships might indeed be ultimately unverifiable and (hence) metaphysical. A fortiori when it comes to questions of origins. My own preference here is that the cosmos is eternal and there is literally nothing to "explain." The existence of cosmos is a brute fact, and it is simply a mystery why there is something rather than nothing (any attempt to explain the being of the cosmos, just lands us in an infinite regress of explanations).

But the perpetual being of the cosmos, does not itself preclude the existence of powers and principalities which dictate our lives. Atheists typically decry the existence of such powers, because they exercise moral authority over us, without apparent sufficient reason. But if the belief in such intrinsically morally superior agents is paralleled in the belief systems of other intelligent civilizations, well - maybe that's evidence that these principalities govern this place, whether we like it or not - ?

 

Your problem is not my problem. And you don't have a problem because you don't believe in god. The real problem lies in another sentence of him. His antireligious belief system tells him that he has under no circumstances to believe in any future information he will get from extraterrestrians if this extraterrestrians are religious human beings. He thinks his form of intolerant prejudices is better than the christian way.

http://youtu.be/6-7v6dqxeFs

 

I don't believe in extraterrestrians. If an extraterrestrian in any future will try to tell me something then I will try to understand what s/he says. What I can see if I read science fiction books is it, that we are always only able to create in our fantasy human beings - who are existing in different forms.

http://youtu.be/a2vc7XA5M7Y
http://youtu.be/VZbM_MIz4RM

 

Because that is what the evidence tells us.

Believe it or not, some of us actually look at evidence, not at book written by sheepherders from 2,000 years ago.

 

But it is your problem. You and the rest of your brethren cannot fathom how the universe was naturally made. So you invent a supernatural being to say it how it was invented. Except for you can never explain who created the super natural being. Go figure.

 

There are billions of galaxies in this universe, each containing billions of stars. Most stars having planets.

If you combine this with the evidence we have for Abiogenesis:

it could only be out of sheer ignorance that someone would not believe in extraterrestrials.

 

I dont completely discount aliens being around our area of the universe. Dont know about the greys, et al, but scripture talks about the 'angels' being ministers of flaming fire. And described as having 'wings' may be used to indicate their mobility as being w/o earthly bounds.

And of course, Satan & his angels were cast down upon the earth during their fall; so you have what are now referred to as 'demons' along with God's angels around..are they only in the spiritual realm? They have in scriptures, both OT & NT, manifested in the 'flesh."

 

What says this what you call "evidence" exactly - if you are able to use words to express your feeling.

Okay

You like to be my enemy - but nevertheless this is not an argument.

http://youtu.be/U-xsosv6uM0

 

So what? In general the problem of a nearly infinte number of possibilities multiplied with a nearly not existing chance for the evolution of live is not solvable. We only know that in this special case (nearly 0)*(nearly &#8734 = 1 because we are existing, that's all.

Abiogenesis? What's that?

I don't believe in extraterrestrians. But it would be no problem for me if extraterrestrians would exist. If this is the will of god - why not? On the other side: in the bible is written ... whatever.

http://youtu.be/z75DwIf2Tkw

 

No.

So what? Who cares? God made it the right way - however he made it. A Christian may be professor for astrophysics - but a baker who never studied astrophysics is also able to be a good Christian.

I say: "God created the heavens and the earth". That's what some people on a campfire told some of my ancestors thousands of years ago - and they as well as I don't see any problem to believe this.

No one created the creator. Believe it or not.

http://youtu.be/vaLf0OIpkAc

 

Gee gads!

Abiogenesis...how life froms from inert matter:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6QYDdgP9eg"]The Origin of Life - Abiogenesis - Dr. Jack Szostak - YouTube[/ame]

Abiogenesis shows how life forms from inert matter, Evolution is how life evolves into different species ONCE it has formed.

Now, look these links:

And its a completely foolish and ignorant to think that the Earth is the only planet that contains life.

That is what the evidence tells us. Denying evidence is just plain stupid, which is worse than being ignornant...ALOT worse.

The theist matra is creation can only come from a creator. Ok who created the creator then?

 

You shoiuld not speak with foolish and ignorant people. That's not good for your teint.

Your "evidence" tells me nothing and your style of discussion tells me that you are a fanatics.

Mantra. This expression comes from buddhism as far as I know - and a buddhist has not to be a theist.

No one

http://youtu.be/6NtZf55sedM

 

this is not true. I am an atheist because I do not believe in the supernatural. If Jesus descended from heaven tomorrow, i'd look at that and say "wadddyaknow, I was wrong."

I would be absolutely gobsmacked if the extraterrestrials were religious human beings. I would be even more suspicious - parallel religion AND parallel evolution??? I'd be frantically searching their spacecraft for the book "how to serve man".

 

Speaking of science fiction or speculative fiction as some would call it these days.

If extraterrestrials arrived at Earth and they had a religion that offered them an explanation of existence, immortality and absolution thru belief in a god like creator:

a) wouldn't they believe that their god created them in his image? That their god was the one true god?
b) wouldn't they try to convert us to their god?
c) wouldn't they simply take over our planet since only some moral code vastly superior to human morality could stop them.

 

Strawman

Ad Hom

Red herring.

Completely illogical. If everything has to have a creator, who or what created the creator.

 

If ET's visited here, I would be extremely curious as to thier DNA, if they have DNA at all. See how close it is to DNA here, if it matched at all.