Religion and extraterrestrial life

I haven't weighed in for a while on this, I've been reading the interesting responses to the 'what if' of finding another civilization who also worships a superior entity. It's interesting that Volt wouldn't be swayed in his Atheist opinions, unless they called their God the "Christian" God. If you ask me, that's some pretty heavy faith in Atheism.

Isn't it funny how we tend to envision another civilization? As if, their evolution and history would have mirrored ours somehow, that societies would have formed on the same basis and morality developed in the same way. We often tend to imagine these civilizations as being 'more advanced' than our own, but isn't it just as likely they would be LESS advanced? Who's to say they would even have the ability to communicate to each other, much less us? Who's to say they would have organized into civilization and societies? And would those societies and civilizations be comparable to our own? We have amazing imaginations, but the reality might be just a tad bit less amazing.

I would even say, if we discovered another civilization, anything similar to our own in terms of societal structure, it would be profound evidence of a Creator, even without the presence of spirituality. The mere fact that another living intelligence was able to form society and civilization, would indicate such a thing is certainly not by chance or fluke, that it is part of the master plan from SOMETHING.
 
Dixie said:
It's interesting that Volt wouldn't be swayed in his Atheist opinions, unless they called their God the "Christian" God. If you ask me, that's some pretty heavy faith in Atheism.
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I would not be swayed unless they had a god that also died for their sins and rose from he dead. Obviously that wouldn't be proof of god's existence, but it would serve as compelling evidence.

I would even say, if we discovered another civilization, anything similar to our own in terms of societal structure, it would be profound evidence of a Creator, even without the presence of spirituality. The mere fact that another living intelligence was able to form society and civilization, would indicate such a thing is certainly not by chance or fluke, that it is part of the master plan from SOMETHING.
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Civilization is the product of intelligence. No god is necessary.
 
Dixie said:
...PROVE IT!
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LOL, that's not how it works Dixie. Since you're the one claiming civilization is evidence of god, you must demonstrate how.

If I claim to have a magic sandwich that cures cancer, the burden of proof is on me. Nobody has to prove that it doesn't cure cancer.
 
Voltaire said:
LOL, that's not how it works Dixie. Since you're the one claiming civilization is evidence of god, you must demonstrate how.

If I claim to have a magic sandwich that cures cancer, the burden of proof is on me. Nobody has to prove that it doesn't cure cancer.
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Yes, that's how it works Volt, when you make a DEFINITIVE statement, you have to provide PROOF, otherwise, it is merely your OPINION and may be right or wrong. I didn't make a definitive statement, you did. Now prove it, or shut the fuck up.
 
Voltaire said:
I think it is likely that we will discover some form of extraterrestrial life within the next 100 years. What are the implications for religious fundamentalism when such a discovery is made? Will it be the final nail in the coffin?
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The fundamentalists will claim they misinterpreted the Bible. After all, Jesus said, "I am not of this world." In that case Jesus was/is, de-facto, an extraterrestrial. Virtually all cultures/religions mention extraterrestrials.

I believe they're here and have been here for a long, long time.
 
Dixie said:
Yes, that's how it works Volt, when you make a DEFINITIVE statement, you have to provide PROOF, otherwise, it is merely your OPINION and may be right or wrong. I didn't make a definitive statement, you did. Now prove it, or shut the fuck up.
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Science has already demonstrated the processes by which life and intelligence - and therefore civilization - arise. Since you are making a claim to the contrary (that civilization is proof that there's a sky faerie), the burden of proof resides with you. Get it now?
 
Voltaire said:
Science has already demonstrated the processes by which life and intelligence - and therefore civilization - arise. Since you are making a claim to the contrary (that civilization is proof that there's a sky faerie), the burden of proof resides with you. Get it now?
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Science hasn't demonstrated anything. Science has adopted theories on how life and intelligence emerged, and that's all. YOU are making the connection between process of life and civilization, and there is no evidence to support that theory... but furthermore, you state it as a fact.

Also, read my words carefully, I never claimed civilization was proof of God.
 
If ETs 'invade' us who's to say they aren't God?

If they can make it here now or in the next couple of hundred years who's to say they weren't here at the dawn of man and engineered our biology?

I can see it now... ship comes down, green guy steps out and says 'our experiment has worked, you are our test tube children.' Religious heads would explode! LOL!
 
Crashk said:
If ETs 'invade' us who's to say they aren't God?

If they can make it here now or in the next couple of hundred years who's to say they weren't here at the dawn of man and engineered our biology?

I can see it now... ship comes down, green guy steps out and says 'our experiment has worked, you are our test tube children.' Religious heads would explode! LOL!
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There is actually a line of thinking that all human spirituality and religion came from the ancient aliens.
 
Dixie said:
Yes, that's how it works Volt, when you make a DEFINITIVE statement, you have to provide PROOF, otherwise, it is merely your OPINION and may be right or wrong. I didn't make a definitive statement, you did. Now prove it, or shut the fuck up.
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Oh, now you want him to prove something?

You...the same guy who REFUSES to prove his own claims when asked...now expects others to do what you want.

ZOMG!
 
ZappedntheHead said:
Oh, now you want him to prove something?

You...the same guy who REFUSES to prove his own claims when asked...now expects others to do what you want.

ZOMG!
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LOL... still whining like a little girl over that pwning? Awwww... poor thing!!

Point of Order; Whenever someone (like Volt) makes a definitive statement, i.e.; "Civilization is the product of intelligence. No god is necessary." or, "Science has already demonstrated the processes by which life and intelligence - and therefore civilization - arise.", then evidence has to be presented and validated in order to make the definitive statement true. Whereas, when a person (like Dixie) makes a statement which is not definitive, i.e.; "it would be profound evidence of a Creator, even without the presence of spirituality." or "The mere fact that another living intelligence was able to form society and civilization, would indicate such a thing is certainly not by chance or fluke, that it is part of the master plan from SOMETHING.", these are opinion statements, not definitive statements. I do not need to prove that my opinion is, as stated, that is self-evident.
 
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Dixie said:
LOL... still whining like a little girl over that pwning? Awwww... poor thing!!

Point of Order; Whenever someone (like Volt) makes a definitive statement, i.e.; "Civilization is the product of intelligence. No god is necessary." or, "Science has already demonstrated the processes by which life and intelligence - and therefore civilization - arise.", then evidence has to be presented and validated in order to make the definitive statement true. Whereas, when a person (like Dixie) makes a statement which is not definitive, i.e.; "it would be profound evidence of a Creator, even without the presence of spirituality." or "The mere fact that another living intelligence was able to form society and civilization, would indicate such a thing is certainly not by chance or fluke, that it is part of the master plan from SOMETHING.", these are opinion statements, not definitive statements. I do not need to prove that my opinion is, as stated, that is self-evident.
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Whining? Not quite...

Merely savoring yet another moment in which I get to highlight your pitiful double standard!

You truly epitomize the statement "do as I say, not as I do."

You refuse to provide proof when asked, but you still expect others to come through when you want proof...
 
Damocles said:
There is a strong likelihood that if we sent a generational starship to another planet that they would be met by people who traveled to the same planet after we learned how to travel much faster.

Wouldn't that be funny?
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There was a short Sci-Fi story, about such a situation; but it went further then just that.
Each successive attempt ended up being surpassed by the next method of travel.
 
ZappasGuitar said:
Whining? Not quite...

Merely savoring yet another moment in which I get to highlight your pitiful double standard!

You truly epitomize the statement "do as I say, not as I do."

You refuse to provide proof when asked, but you still expect others to come through when you want proof...
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Yes, I expect others to provide proof for definitive statements, and I don't believe proof is required for opinions. I also don't think proof is warranted for common sense and conventional wisdom, it is what it is, and doesn't need proving. The fact that you get some kind of jolly from making people run around searching for "proof" of things on the Internet, is nothing more than a distraction from the fact that you were PWNED thoroughly in a debate. Now, you have resorted to following me around, whining like a little girl, because you didn't get away with it. Sorry baby, I have no candy for you.
 
Damocles said:
There is a strong likelihood that if we sent a generational starship to another planet that they would be met by people who traveled to the same planet after we learned how to travel much faster.

Wouldn't that be funny?
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im pretty sure there was a story about that. was it assimov or philip k dick? or someone else entirely?
 
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