Would extraterrestrial life disprove religion?

Yes and no, depends what your take on what religion is. It more than likely would if you consider religion to be a purely Earth based concept but then again these days God has expanded his ability from just creating Earth to the universe big bang and what ever else is theorised as well. So if you believe he created the universe then no, ET would be part of the grand scheme, right?

However I know people that firmly believe that they don't exist and if ET did show up then that flies in the face of their beleif system. Fair enough for them but it's like they don't even believe the universe exists, just Earth.
Good luck with that.

So really I'd say no, but that is coming from someone who isn't religious.

I do not read the bible nor am I religious..but I am have heard that there is a line in there about God creating the heavens and the earth. I assume heavens would be considered anything outside of the planet Earth...so no...would it not just reaffirm your belief that there is a higher power capable of anything.

I do not know what I believe...for now God and "aliens are here theory" for me belong in the realm of fantasy until proven otherwise. As for life on other planets in other solar systems....I will say that I believe there is life out...I say this because if it happened once..it is bound to happen again...you can see this in nature.

It would "disprove" some religions but not others. The ones that are too... humanity-specific would be doomed.

Many pagan, eastern, and esoteric religions would still retain their valid points, given that a lot of them do not exclude the possibility of extraterrestrial life, and some view the universe as an emanation of god. Any life outside of earth would be part of and guided by the same forces which culminated in life here. Some new age religions already claim knowledge of extraterrestrial life, so even if it was not the aliens they're thinking of, it would practically be a validation of their faith for extraterrestrials to exist.

I suppose it comes down to which gods the religions venerate and the "scope" of the godhead, with a lot of the tradition and dogma rearrangeable. A religion which embraces the idea of an infinite number of gods, god-in-everything, pantheistic interpretations of god, natural forces as god, anthropomorphic personifications of ideas and forces, and other more abstract godforms would probably stand up pretty well. Religions with flexible traditions and those which are still evolving could also weather the new information without going down in flames.

The major points that would prove problematic for the 3 Mid-Eastern religions is that god is not flexible. Out of them, Christianity would definitely be the most doomed, at least the mainstream segment of the religion. I don't think the Jewish roots of Christianity would fare as badly, nor would the esoteric branches, but a lot of the popular Christian dogma would just not mesh. God as a bearded man in the sky who created the universe six thousand years ago on a fine Sunday morning just seems small compared to the necessary realization that the universe is Huge. Many reform Jews already take a less literal, more abstract view of god and their tradition, and I think Judaism would probably survive based on that. I am really not sure if Islam would make the grade, but my guess is that at least a few sects would be able to sync with reality.

Of Hinduism and Buddhism, I think they'd both fare really well. Hinduism has already proved itself flexible enough to adopt major religious figures of later religions as avatars of its own gods as means of adapting to new information. I should expect that whatever religions ET could bring to earth would receive the same treatment. Buddhism is abstract and philosophically sound enough to make sense in light of pretty much any discovery, and would continue unabated. Out of the major world religions, Buddhism would be the most likely to actually gain ET converts.

Some religions would fail. Judeo-Christian systems and Islamic systems would not fare well due to inflexibility. Other religions with a broader scope and more abstract philosophical points & godform would weather the information better and/or be completely unaffected and/or gain followers from the new ET population.

And that is what the haps are with that, imo

The fact we live on a planet, in a galaxy, in the universe, disproves religion and the existance of a god.
That alone. Other life wouldn't be necessary. It also disproves itself when logic is applied.

The reason God sent His only Son here to Earth is because we are the only planet that has been subjected to sin. When Satan and his angels were cast out of Heaven, they were cast only to this planet, not any other planet. The E.T.s that are seen here on Earth are actually demons. The sinless races that occupy other planets are not allowed to be subjected to sin.

There are indeed races that live on other planets, so it does not affect religion. The Bible even mentions there being life on other planets:

Revelation 12:12(KJV)
12Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.


Notice the verse does not say "third heaven", or planet Heaven, or the skies here on Earth. It says "ye HEAVENS (plural), and YE that dwell in THEM."

I think it would disprove religion, most religions think that their God is the real god and they claim to know everything about their "God". However with extraterrestrial beings, they would disprove all of the religions that claim that their God is the true god and that all other gods are "false prophets"

Originally posted by GonzoSinister
Yes

2nd

No.

2nd.

Originally posted by kn0wh0w
reply to post by Athin

 

christianity would not be proven wrong since they conveniently embraced the possibility of alien life several years ago.

(or openly spoke about it)

Not all Christians are will to accept ET. Some in here call them all Demons. I honesty believe a lot Christians would kill themselves if they were proved to be wrong.

Hilarious...

Why??

Well, define religion??

As in define a UFO..

What is religion.? Nothing more than a BELEIFE(spelling??) system..
Just like science, christianity, hinduism, islam is a BELEIFE system...

Soo, noo! it wouldnt...
You cant disprove a definition...

reply to post by Athin


Not necessarily, I know the Qur'an it states that Allah is Lord of the Worlds, where "worlds" is plural. I am waiting for Optimus Prime to touch down on Earth any day now.

No but i believe it would make it stronger because i think that god,if there is one,is an alien and the clues are in the bible.

God is the god of ''worlds'' anyway.

No, it would prove it. why? because then we know that God made neighbours for us in this universe.

religon is all fake....

its just what someone said or stole ideas off an other religon imo i think if aliens showd there selves everyone who is riligous will understand that god or jesus was an alien or hybrid and then the goverenments will fall

I guess no one remembers the war of the worlds radio show were there was a mass panic of people.So it will destroy peoples belief system and alot of people cant handle that because the radicals believe they are the only ones in the universe.It would blow their mind.

Not only does the Martian panic demonstrate the enormous influence of the mass media in contemporary society, but in recent years an ironic twist has developed. There is a growing consensus among sociologists that the extent of the panic, as described by Cantril, was greatly exaggerated (Miller 1985; Bainbridge 1987; Goode 1992). The irony here is that for the better part of the past sixty years many people may have been misled by the media to believe that the panic was far more extensive and intense than it apparently was. However, regardless of the extent of the panic, there is little doubt that many Americans were genuinely frightened and some did try to flee the Martian gas raids and heat rays, especially in New Jersey and New York.

www.csicop.org...

Originally posted by nithaiah
Christianity would definitely be the most doomed, at least the mainstream segment of the religion. I don't think the Jewish roots of Christianity would fare as badly, nor would the esoteric branches, but a lot of the popular Christian dogma would just not mesh. God as a bearded man in the sky who created the universe six thousand years ago on a fine Sunday morning just seems small compared to the necessary realization that the universe is Huge. Many reform Jews already take a less literal, more abstract view of god and their tradition, and I think Judaism would probably survive based on that. I am really not sure if Islam would make the grade, but my guess is that at least a few sects would be able to sync with reality.

Of Hinduism and Buddhism, I think they'd both fare really well. Hinduism has already proved itself flexible enough to adopt major religious figures of later religions as avatars of its own gods as means of adapting to new information. I should expect that whatever religions ET could bring to earth would receive the same treatment. Buddhism is abstract and philosophically sound enough to make sense in light of pretty much any discovery, and would continue unabated. Out of the major world religions, Buddhism would be the most likely to actually gain ET converts.

Real lazily your opinion is rotten and it will kill others. Posts like this are why if you are a College student in school looking for information for a well-thought out paper, shouldn't listen to people who post in here. Athiests like you are liars and haters.

Christian dogma would just not mesh and of course all of the others would. When everyone else is in consensus that Christianity would be the most embracing and knowing. Where is the nothing new under the sun person? All of the nonsense that people have to deal with in here. God a bearded man in the sky, umm?

Originally posted by Athin
Simple question I thought I would pose:

Would an advanced lifeform in another galaxy mean religion is wrong?
Or do you think if it was found the religions on Earth would apply to their planet(s)?

If God sent his only son, why did he send Him here and not to another planet?

Why did Allah choose Muhammad as his prophet on Earth? Would he have prophets elsewhere?

Please try to be sensitive to others religion in this thread. This isn't a question to bash, flame, disprove or make fun of any religion. Please take extra note of that, as I am certain that it will go on with some of the immaturity on here.

Just something I would like to see responses to.

The big 3 abramic religions probably would have a collective jerk here or there.
New Age, Pagan and possibly NWO one's wouldn't be that shocked imo

the religious say god created man in his own image.

Alien life wont look like us i would assume..

So there is there loophole.

Btw you cant argue religion ect cause they just twist there belief to suit there needs.
they say you just got to have faith.
cant argue faith..and they win again lol

Originally posted by TheMindWar
Religion Yes, spirituality NO

This is exactly what I was going to say.