+- Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum (https://www.scivillage.com)
+-- Forum: Culture (https://www.scivillage.com/forum-49.html)
+--- Forum: Religions & Spirituality (https://www.scivillage.com/forum-124.html)
+--- Thread: NASA hires religious experts, for ETs + India's crackdown on religious minorities (/thread-11499.html)
NASA hires religious experts, for ETs + India's crackdown on religious minorities - C C - Dec 30, 2021
NASA hires religious experts to prepare for alien contact
https://www.indy100.com/science-tech/nasa-experts-prepare-alien-contact-b1983352
EXCEPTS: A priest, a rabbi and an imam are among 24 theologians hired by NASA to prepare humanity for the growing possibility of alien contact.
[...] In his forthcoming book, Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine, Rev Dr Andrew Davison considered the possibility of God creating life elsewhere in the universe. He noted that “non-religious people also seem to overestimate the challenges that religious people... would experience if faced with evidence of alien life.”
[...] If extraterrestrial life were to be discovered, a “large number of people would turn to their religions traditions for guidance”, according to The Times.
Carl Pilcher, former head of NASA’s Astrobiology Institute, explained that theologians were hired to “consider the implications of applying the tools of late 20th (and early 21st) century science to questions that had been considered in religious traditions for hundreds or thousands of years”. (MORE - missing details)
India blocks Mother Teresa charity from receiving foreign funds amid wider crackdown on religious minorities
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/india-blocks-mother-teresa-charity-receiving-foreign-funds-amid-wider-crackdown-religious
RELEASE: India has blocked Mother Teresa’s charity from receiving foreign funds, a move linked by critics to a wider crackdown on minority religions. The Home Ministry announced the decision yesterday, saying it had identified “adverse inputs” to the Missionaries of Charity, without elaborating.
The work of Mother Teresa, a Macedonian who moved to India in 1950 and died in 1997, has long been controversial in the country, with Hindu organisations accusing her mission of seeking to convert people to Christianity under the guise of charity.
But the Home Ministry’s decision comes as Indian states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu chauvinist BJP are passing a range of laws attacking minority religions, including restrictions on marriage between adherents of different faiths. The BJP accuses Muslims, without evidence, of an organised forced conversion-by-marriage programme it terms “love jihad.”
The southern state of Karnataka has recorded a sharp rise in threats of violence against Christians this year, with the People’s Union of Civil Liberties recording 39 attacks on Christian places of worship in the state by gangs linked to the RSS, the street-fighter wing of the BJP.
It has recently passed an anti-conversion law slammed by India’s communists as “a direct attack on the rights of religious minorities.” The legislation imposes terms of imprisonment of between three and 10 years for “forced conversions,” but the experience of similar legislation passed in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh suggests it will be used to persecute religious minorities and crack down on interfaith marriages.
RE: NASA hires religious experts, for ETs + India's crackdown on religious minorities - Magical Realist - Dec 31, 2021
I don't think it would be particularly helpful to consult with religious leaders about the existence of alien life. I mean these people can't even agree on their idea of God, much less the idea of extraterrestrials.
RE: NASA hires religious experts, for ETs + India's crackdown on religious minorities - Syne - Jan 1, 2022
(Dec 31, 2021 11:47 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: I don't think it would be particularly helpful to consult with religious leaders about the existence of alien life. I mean these people can't even agree on their idea of God, much less the idea of extraterrestrials.
^^Someone didn't even read the OP.
Religious leaders are not being consulted "about the existence of alien life." They were consulted on how "to prepare humanity for the ... possibility of alien contact." How to help people deal with things, like all religion does. But the article admits, “non-religious people also seem to overestimate the challenges that religious people... would experience if faced with evidence of alien life.” There is no religious conflict with the possibility of extraterrestrial life. God creating the "heavens" could include quite a bit that is not explicitly stated. How could humans even comprehend the idea of other planets when they didn't even know the Earth was a spheroid and the stars more than just a relatively close shell of twinkly lights?
The possibility that we are well and truly alone in the entire universe would likely cause the non-religious a lot more of a challenge than vice versa. They'd either be in denial or have to accept the fact that humans really are special.
RE: NASA hires religious experts, for ETs + India's crackdown on religious minorities - Zinjanthropos - Jan 1, 2022
Does NASA know something they’re not telling us about?
RE: NASA hires religious experts, for ETs + India's crackdown on religious minorities - stryder - Jan 1, 2022
As for "aliens", does it matter if they do or do not exist? I mean do you care about a tree falling in a forest on the otherside of the world? While you might have some concerns around climate, or rare indigenous species being felled thanks to constant press/woke coverage. The reality is that if you are there and likely never will be, then it becomes less likely to be a direct concern or effect your life directly.
So in essence if there was life elsewhere in the universe, why would you actually care? It's not like you can just pop over for alien coffee at any time.
It would just boil down to Are we seen a threat?/Are they seen a threat?, who strikes first? and well, we all know where that tends to end up.
(Jan 1, 2022 12:49 AM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: Does NASA know something they’re not telling us about?
Probably, not however once the pandemic isn't in the news 24/7 theres got to be some other fluff pieces to keep people distracted from whats being done right under their noses.
Could be worse, they could be greeted with: