Would Religion Survive the Discovery of Alien Life?

The science and science fiction website io9 made me aware of a recent conference, SETIcon2, which discussed various aspects of the search for extraterrestrial life. One panel included scientists and a science fiction writer which addressed the question as to whether religion could survive the discovery of alien life. See the article at Space.com on this, and io9's slightly different perspective, more critical of conservative Christian views on the topic (but certainly not the only ones).

Related posts:

Space.com: Are Aliens Part of God's Plan Too?

 An Astrotheology of Alien Life

Space.com: Are Aliens Part of God's Plan Too?

Space.com includes an essay with the intriguing title "Are Alien's Part of God's Plan Too?: Finding E.T. Could Change Religion Forever." The essay mentions a gathering of "Christian thinkers" at the 100 Year Starship Symposium that considered the ramifications of intergalactic travel. As one of the participants put it in regards to the theological aspects of the symposium:

In other words, "Did Jesus die for Klingons too?" as philosophy professor Christian Weidemannof Germany's Ruhr-University Bochum titled his talk at a panel on the philosophical and religious considerations of visiting other worlds.

This issue is a pressing one for theologians who interact with contemporary cosmology and astronomy, and it presents challenges not only to assumptions about life on earth and its relation to the divine, but also about soteriology and incarnation.

See the previous post of mine on "An Astrotheology of Extraterrestrial Life" and a presentation by theologian Ted Peters on the issue that relates to this topic.

An Astrotheology of Extraterrestrial Life

A recent article in the Guardian.co.uk had the title "Earth must prepare for close encounter with aliens, say scientists". The article goes on not to detail elements from the cultural fringe, but to describe a publication on the subject from the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. This interesting publication addresses the subject of extraterrestrial life from a variety of perspectives, including religion. In considering the implications of extraterrestrial life for theology, the paper includes a contribution by Ted Peters with the following abstract:

This paper asks about the future of religion: (i) Will confirmation of extra-terrestrial intelligence (ETI) cause terrestrial religion to collapse? ‘No’ is the answer based upon a summary of the ‘Peters ETI Religious Crisis Survey’. Then the paper examines four specific challenges to traditional doctrinal belief likely to be raised at the detection of ETI: (ii) What is the scope of God’s creation? (iii) What can we expect regarding the moral character of ETI? (iv) Is one earthly incarnation in Jesus Christ enough for the entire cosmos, or should we expect multiple incarnations on multiple planets? (v) Will contact with more advanced ETI diminish human dignity? More than probable contact with extra-terrestrial intelligence will expand the Bible’s vision so that all of creation—including the 13.7 billion year history of the universe replete with all of God’s creatures—will be seen as the gift of a loving and gracious God.

There are several interesting facets to this paper, including Peters's survey of representatives from various religious traditions who state that they would not be upset by the discovery of extraterrestrial life, but they believe their tradition would be threatened. Beyond this, Peters's paper brings together several strands of thought to formulate an "astrotheology" that takes us beyond the reactions against this found many times in evangelicalism, at least in the countercult in response to the UFO phenomenon.

Peters's paper can be read here, and an MP3 of his presentation can be downloaded here.