(About the objects recently found orbiting a distant star that some have speculated might be proof of aliens. The exact headline being referred to is "Kepler Space Telescope: Mysterious Objects Raise Questions About Bizarre Star")
At first we had Ceres and the strange lights (which has become more bizarre the closer Dawn gets to it), now this?....the conditioning process progressing quite nicely.
I know they are saying Kepler has never seen anything like this before, but why would they basically announce this with this kind of headline...kind of strange imo.
If this had been discovered 10 yrs ago, a headline like this would have NEVER been used, they would have never even mentioned 'extraterrestrial civilization' in the article...seems to me they are just itching to announce to the world that they have found proof we are not alone...and give organized religion its pink slip.
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give organized religion its pink slip.
Right! Because all that astronomers think about when they do their work is religion, morning, noon, and night. Religion, religion, religion. It's their #1 concern. It's why they do what they do.
Why would mankind not being alone give religion the boot? It's not like religion stuck around through EVERY "yo we got evidence your religion is wrong" so far.
Someone will retcon and do some mental gymnastics to say 'uh Jesus visited the Keplers too'
"they have found proof we are not alone...and give organized religion its pink slip"
...and if "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" was a documentary, featuring Dr. Buzz Aldrin meeting the leader of real Autobots, it wouldn't change his faith one iota; just ask the Church of England about "On the Origin of Species", and that was well over a century ago. They're still here, so even if the Archbishop of Canterbury was driven there by Ironhide, he'd simply say 'God bless you, my son'.
>but why would they basically announce this with this kind of headline...kind of strange imo.
Because it's attention grabbing? Were you thinking that most people would have been more interested in: Kepler Finds What Is Probably a Shitload of Dust Orbiting an Old Star That Should Be Dust-free By Now; Pocket-protected nerds debate calculus equations to figure it out.
image
Aw, don't think of it like that. Maybe your god was bored of us and took his creativity elsewhere.
I don't care, though. About your religion, I mean.
I really doubt that finding life elsewhere would really affect it that much. I can even imagine some religions taking the new knowledge and making it "fit" with their ideoligy.
What if proof of aliens comes in the form of alien counterparts to white settlers on continents other than Europe?
The alien settlers being out to establish their own society on Earth at the expense of human society, including giving humans this choice: "Convert to our religion or AT BEST become non-citizens!"
@ Malingspann: “The usual example given to illustrate an Outside Context Problem was imagining you were a tribe on a largish, fertile island; you’d tamed the land, invented the wheel or writing or whatever, the neighbours were cooperative or enslaved but at any rate peaceful and you were busy raising temples to yourself with all the excess productive capacity you had, you were in a position of near-absolute power and control which your hallowed ancestors could hardly have dreamed of and the whole situation was just running along nicely like a canoe on wet grass
when suddenly this bristling lump of iron appears sailless and trailing steam in the bay and these guys carrying long funny-looking sticks come ashore and announce you’ve just been discovered, you’re all subjects of the Emperor now, he’s keen on presents called tax and these bright-eyed holy men would like a word with your priests.”
;-)
"If this had been discovered 10 yrs ago, a headline like this would have NEVER been used,"
You're right, the headline would have been "WORLD ABOUT TO END RAPTURE JESUS APOCALYPSE"
If this had been discovered 10 years ago, the headline would have read "Cheney congratulates NASA, CIA for locating Iraqi WMDs, announces invasion of Belgium"
Bush 'Undecided' on Existence of Belgium
You know, these people that say "Well, if there are aliens, then clearly organized religions are all a crock" are going to be really, really surprised when/if we find an extraterrestrial civilization... and they have a religious heritage as diverse as the human one.
Seriously... Next you're going to tell me I can't have vampires and mad science in the same story...
@Azereaux
"You know, these people that say "Well, if there are aliens, then clearly organized religions are all a crock" are going to be really, really surprised when/if we find an extraterrestrial civilization... and they have a religious heritage as diverse as the human one."
The Minbari in "Babylon 5". The Religious Caste even study the nature of humour for a year: including Human comedy.
I.D.I.C., kekmile.
@nazani14
The star is too old to have that much dust. If it somehow has that much dust anyway it would be emitting a lot of infrared radiation. It's not.
Dyson sphere is suggested because nobody has a more mundane explanation for the observations.
"...seems to me they are just itching to announce to the world that they have found proof we are not alone...and give organized religion its pink slip."
It certainly would be a hoot watching religion try to explain it.
We don't need some other belief to switch to in order to give religion a pink slip. There's been plenty of pink slips handed to religion for thousands of years, but religion just keeps rewriting their beliefs or else find some passage in their holy books which they twist to support the new knowledge.
And organized religion has been destroying itself for decades, most recently with the fervent and seemingly unending fight over gay marriage.
The illogical thing about most religions is not the belief in a creator of the universe, but the almost always present implication that us tiny little human beings are the most important things in the universe. That it's all for us. Even with the doctrine of hell, the average sinner is important enough to piss off god so much to be punished for eternity instead of just being snuffed out. The discovery of aliens wouldn't mean the end of religion, but it would mean the end of religion in it's present form.
Definately would not affect my religious convictions one way or another.
If your religion is so weak that it cannot accept new information about the world we live in, is science really your problem?
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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