The discovery of intelligent extraterrestrial life on another planet might seem incompatible with a belief in God; yet many theologians are now openly acknowledging the existence of extraterrestrials.
Belief in God and Extraterrestrials and Science are not mutually exclusive positions. In fact, Christian leadership has made public that they also believe there must surely be intelligent extraterrestrial life in the universe that is not of this earth. Conversely, Science has also yielded to accept and include God within its traditionally closed minded scientific considerations on the subject of extraterrestrial existence and communication with beings not of this earth.
Father Emmanuel Carreira, the Vatican’s chief astronomer, stated publicly that there is no conflict between believing in God and in the possibility of “extraterrestrial brothers” that are perhaps more evolved than humans. Father Carreira operates the telescope at the Vatican Observatory in Castelgandolfo, south of Rome.
Reverend Jose Gabriel Funes is a 45-year-old Jesuit priest who manages the Vatican Observatory south of Rome and in Arizona. These observatories are actively seeking other life in the universe and even the origin of the universe itself. Funes was also a scientific adviser to Pope Benedict. He told Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano in an interview. “In my opinion this possibility (of life on other planets) exists. How can we exclude that life has developed elsewhere?” He explained that the substantial number of galaxies with their own planets made this possible. When asked if he was referring to beings similar to humans or even more evolved than humans, he said: “Certainly, in a universe this big you can’t exclude this hypothesis. Just as there is a multiplicity of creatures on earth, there can be other beings, even intelligent beings, created by God. This is not in contrast with our faith because we can’t put limits on God’s creative freedom. Why can’t we speak of a brother extraterrestrial? It would still be part of creation.”
During the interview headlined “The Extraterrestrial is my Brother,” he said he saw no conflict between belief in such beings and faith in God. He held out the possibility that the human race might actually be the “lost sheep” of the universe. “There could be other beings that remained in full friendship with their creator,” he said.
Christians have sometimes been at odds with scientists over whether the Bible should be read literally and issues such as creationism versus evolution have been hotly debated for decades.
Funes said dialogue between faith and science could be improved if scientists learned more about the Bible and the Church kept more up to date with scientific progress. He said he believed as an astronomer that the explanation for the start of the universe was “the big bang”, the theory that the universe exploded into existence from dense matter billions of years ago. He did clarify this position and said this was not in conflict with faith in God as a creator. “God is the creator. There is a sense to creation. We are not children of an accident. As an astronomer, I continue to believe that God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the product of something casual but children of a good Father who has a project of love in mind for us.”
That is a huge shift in Christian policy given that there was a time in the history of Christianity not so long ago, when such statements would be considered heresy and one could be tortured and burned at the stake for making such comments. This openly recognized Church position makes this subject more applicable to this Extraterrestrial Communication Group project, given that the Christian Church is now a safe harbor on earth for the simultaneous belief in both angels and extraterrestrials.
As for the position of science; NASA actually awarded $1.1M to the Center for Theological Inquiry, an ecumenical research institute in New Jersey, to study “the societal implications of astrobiology”; which is a code phrase for intelligent extraterrestrial life. Some scientists were as expected, enraged. The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFR), which actively promotes the division between Church and state, asked NASA to revoke the grant, and threatened to take legal action if NASA didn’t comply. While the FFR stated that their concern was the commingling of government and religious organizations; the FFR also made it clear that they thought the grant was a waste of money. “Science should not concern itself with how its progress will impact faith-based beliefs.”
The FFR’s argument might be easily undermined by people of faith; however, when the day comes that our all-inclusive humanity has to respond to the discovery of extraterrestrials, that discovery will raise numerous complex questions that will exceed the theological limitations of science. For example, when we ask, “What is life?” are we asking a scientific question or a theological one? Questions about life’s origins and its future are complicated, and must be explored equally across disciplines; which includes the way we respond to the discovery of extraterrestrials in the consideration of the origin of “Life.” This is not just a fictional or esoteric fantasy. Many scientists now contend that the detection of extraterrestrial life is more a question of when, and not if.
There are several reasons for this scientific confidence, but the primary reason is mostly about the speed at which scientists have been discovering human-habitable planets outside of our own Solar System. In 2000, astronomers knew of about 50 of these “exoplanets”. By 2013, they had found almost 850, located in over 800 planetary systems. That number may reach one million by the year 2045, says David Weintraub, associate professor of Astronomy at Vanderbilt University, and author of Religions and Extraterrestrial Life. “We can quite reasonably expect that the number of known exoplanets will soon become, like the stars, almost uncountable,” he writes. Of those discovered so far, more than 20 are earth-sized exoplanets that occupy a “habitable” zone around their star, including the most recently (in 2016) discovered Proxima B, which orbits Proxima Centauri. It seems that the more we are able to peek out deeper into space, the more certain we become that our planet is not the only one suitable for life as we know it.
With few exceptions, most of the discussions about SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) tend to stay within the boundaries of the traditional sciences. The implications of SETI however, extend far beyond the biology and physics; reaching to the humanities and philosophy and even theology. As Carl Sagan has pointed out in his book, The Cosmic Question, “space exploration leads directly to religious and philosophical questions”. We would need to consider whether our faiths could accommodate extraterrestrials; or if it will shake our faiths beliefs to their core.
Finding answers to these questions might be a new science called exotheology or astro-theology; terms defined by Ted Peters, Professor Emeritus in theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, to refer to “speculation on the theological significance of extraterrestrial life”. As he notes, Peters isn’t the first or only one to use the term, which dates back at least 300 years, to a 1714 publication titled ‘Astro-theology, or a “Demonstration of the being and Attributes of God from a Survey of the Heavens”.
What issues might the discovery of intelligent extraterrestrials raise? Let us start with the question of our uniqueness which is an issue that has troubled both theologians and scientists for a very long time.
There are three principals guiding SETI, as Paul Davies explains in the book Are We Alone? First, there’s the principle of nature’s uniformity, which claims that the physical processes seen on earth can be found throughout the universe. This means that the same processes that produce life here on earth produce life everywhere in the universe.
Second, is the principle of plenitude, which asserts that everything that is possible will be realized eventually. For the purposes of SETI, the second principle claims that as long as there are no impediments to the forming of life, then life will form; or, as Arthur Lovejoy, the American philosopher who coined the term, puts it, “no genuine possibility of being can remain unfulfilled”. That is because, claims Sagan, “The origin of life on suitable planets seems built into the chemistry of the universe.”
The third guiding principal is the mediocrity principle which claims that there is nothing special about earth’s status or position in the universe. This could present the greatest push-back from the major Abrahamic religions, which teach that human beings were and are purposefully created by God and occupy a privileged position in relation to other creatures.
With the loud protests of a small number of religious groups over teaching scientific concepts like evolution and the Big Bang in public schools, and the equally loud proclamations of a few scientists with personal, anti-religious philosophies, it can sometimes seem as though science and religion are at war. News outlets offer plenty of reports of school board meetings, congressional sessions, and Sunday sermons in which scientists and religious leaders launch attacks at one another. But just how representative are such conflicts? In reality, the attention given to such clashes hides the far more numerous cases in which science and religion harmoniously, and even synergistically, coexist.
In fact, people of many different faiths and levels of scientific expertise see no contradiction at all between science and religion. Many simply acknowledge that the two institutions deal with different realms of human experience. Science investigates the natural world, while religion deals with the spiritual and supernatural and therefore, the two can be complementary. Many religious organizations have issued statements declaring that there need not be any conflict between religious faith and the scientific perspective on evolution.
Furthermore, contrary to stereotype, a person doesn’t have to be an atheist in order to become a scientist. A 2005 survey of scientists at top research universities found that more than 48% had a religious affiliation and more than 75% believe that religions convey important truths. Some scientists, like Francis Collins, former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, and George Coyne, astronomer and priest, have been outspoken about the satisfaction they find in viewing the world through both a scientific lens and one of personal faith.
Though the two generally deal with different realms (natural vs. spiritual), disagreements do arise about where the boundaries between these realms lie when dealing with questions at their interface and sometimes, one side crosses a boundary in its claims. For example, when religious tenets make strong claims about the natural world (e.g., claiming that the world was created in six days, as some literal interpretations of the Bible might require), faith and science can find themselves in conflict.
Though such clashes may warrant publicity, it’s important to remember that, behind the scenes and out of the spotlight, many cases exist in which religious and scientific perspectives present no conflict at all. Thousands of scientists busily carry out their research while maintaining personal spiritual beliefs, and an even larger number of everyday folks view the natural world through an evidence-based, scientific lens and the supernatural world through a spiritual lens. Accepting a scientific worldview needn’t require giving up religious faith.3
References:
1 Reuters. Vatican scientist says belief in God and aliens is OK. Philip Pullella, Reporting. May 13, 2008
2 BBC. If we made contact with aliens, how would religions react? Brandon Ambrosino. December 16, 2016
3 Berkley.edu: Understanding Science. Science and religion: Reconcilable differences