What effect would contact with an alien civilization have on religion?

Question

Would it be good for religion or bad? Would the alien's religious beliefs influence our religions? Would the aliens necessarily have a religion? How would your religious beliefs change if you knew that there were extraterrestrials? Would the major religions of the world change their doctrines to include aliens? (for example maybe saying Jesus died for the aliens too) Any thoughts...?

Answer 1

In a smaller scale, it has happened whenever any religion meets another.

- First they discredit the other
- Then they fight the other
- Eventually they reconcyle with the other in order to trade (and stop the bloodshed).
- Gradually one domains over the other.
- Then some people start to mix them both together.
- Given enough time some one inventa a "new" religion with the more appealing elements of the previous religions and spread it far an wide.
- And so on and so forth.

If you believe in god you could say it is the way of divine inspiration, if you don't, it's just history.

With aliens the problem would be that they would be very different to us, they would have to reach some of the same conclusions than us on the way the universe works, and that may give us an edge to communicate, but language and cosmogony would more likely be so different than no conflict of belief would be possible since their particular way to understand things would make no sense to us (nor our to them).

Even between humans, if the background is different enough, religion (even the same religion) is seen very differently.

Answer 2

If the hypothecies are ideal and is an exceedingly advance civilization this may have 4 possibles effects in the course of the contact and after 1st: they were the "gods" and the historic autronauts idea will be be sure and could mark the right of human faiths and faith second: they in fact are an atheists and they made this jorney to earth to threat-free mankind from autodestruction third: they have a faith and they are doing a similar as spain and portugal did in the course of the 16-19th centuries impose faith, take the territory and enslave or face extintion 4th: is a slaving and damaging civilization and they got here to enslave people and take our elements

Answer 3

a. People freak out that aliens have no belief in the gods of earth people or any gods at all

or

a1. Aliens have a belief in their own deity type thing and not THIS god, OR only a science type belief...so people freak out.

or

b. People don't freak out and decide instead that it is necessary to convert the aliens and bring them to Jesus (or whatever) and make them become Christians, etc.

In which case, either through confusion of not being able to understand or through anger over people attempting to force them to do/be something, either way we are attacked and start an intergalactic war over it...and religion does it again...

Answer 4

I've wondered this myself. If a Christian believes the only way to heaven is thru Jesus Christ, and extra-terrestrials were to show up, would they then have to believe that Jesus ALSO at some point appeared to the aliens, too? And since man was supposedly created in "the likeness of God", would these aliens look like us? Or would they be animals that had been created, but had evolved into something more intelligent than was intended? SO MANY QUESTIONS! I totally don't know, but I LOVE asking Christians this question.

Answer 5

Good question. I've often wondered this same thing myself. I believe there would be a lot of people who would demonize the aliens as evil because of their closed minds and the strict religious doctrine they adhere to. As humans, we have proved that we are not very tolerable of things that challenge our beliefs or are different from us. It's sad, but that's how people are. They would make up some crap that the aliens are evil or of the devil and it's the end of the world....

Interested to see what others' answers to this are.

Answer 6

I think it would be very good for religion, very, very good. Religion always seems to do its best work when challenged by new and interesting circumstances. Augustine wrote the masterpiece Civitas Dei (the City of God) as a result of the traumatic fall of the Roman Empire.

Christianity's response to this potential challenge - which you allude to - is just beginning to be shaped. Indeed, you've caught exactly the angle we are likely to take. John 10:16 is the clue to this:

"I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd."

I am very hopeful that - if Christianity can stay true to its calling to universal brotherhood and sisterhood - that one day, Christians will orbit the farthest stars!

Answer 7

It would be interesting to find out wouldn't it? I'm sure you'll get a lot of weird answers.
And what would the religious people on earth say if the aliens told us that thousands of other alien races existed and there was no god?

Answer 8

the christians will hate the aliens no change there then the atheists will like the aliens and when the christians say god made them the aliens will think are thay jockeing

Answer 9

The book of Revelation says that after the antichrist is thrown down the devil will use one last ditch effort to claim souls by using three creatures that "look like frogs" to gather the world into preparing for war against the returning Messiah. They are actually demons. This war never takes place because the brightness of the Messiah's return will destroy them.

Why do you think all of sudden there is a movement being stirred up about the presence of aliens and they being intelligent and smarter than us and whatnot. Usually when ever you see them on t.v., there are usually three of them.

Answer 10

Religious nutters would say that aliens are really demons sent to trick us.


Religion is a mental virus that preys on certain aspects of human nature; our willingness to simply accept what authority figures tell us, our poor innate reasoning skills, our habit of exaggerating tales as we retell them, our tendency toward wishful thinking, our unwillingness to accept "I don't know" as an answer, and our tendency to anthropomorphosise nature.

There is no reason to suspect aliens would have these same tendencies. Religion may well be uniquely human even if there is vast intelligent life out there.