What do you think will happen to Religion if Extra Terrestrial Life were discovered?

[Darwinian]

Or they'd say, "Yes, we had an operative working on your world a couple of thousand years ago but he blew his cover by trying to impress people so we had to fake his death and remove him. Jesus! Come over here and say sorry."

[Godhead]

I'm not sure where some people are getting the idea that any aliens out there who are religious wouldn't have the intelligence to make it here.

[Darwinian]

Any trip across interstellar space from one star system to another would require a huge investment in science over a very long period of time. It therefore follows that any such race capable of doing this would be, shall we say, very scientific.

Here on Earth, which is our only frame of reference, the vast majority of scientists who would be capable of furthering this kind of space fairing behaviour are at the very least, non religious.

Would it not therefore be reasonable to assume that a race that has so far advanced in this particular field would also be similarly secular by nature.

After all, it is science and it's pursuit of knowledge that has brought us to the civilisation that we have today and not the church, theologians or other religious organisations.

[Godhead]

Darwinian -

There are many different types of theistic beliefs, and different types of religions. As you say and obviously it's true, we only have earth as a frame of reference. However, we can quite easily conceive of the idea of a religion which doesn't hinder scientific pursuits. So, for example, it's conceiveable that there could be extra terrestrials who have a religion, but which doesn't get in the way of scientific advancement. Their theistic belief could quite simply be : There's a god, it created the universe, strive to become the best person you can, explore the universe, learn, evolve.

[Darwinian]

Godhead -

This is very true and in fact, if ever there was a religion I could have respect for it would be one such as this. Know you of any

[superstarr]

Darwinian -

There are many different types of theistic beliefs, and different types of religions. As you say and obviously it's true, we only have earth as a frame of reference. However, we can quite easily conceive of the idea of a religion which doesn't hinder scientific pursuits. So, for example, it's conceiveable that there could be extra terrestrials who have a religion, but which doesn't get in the way of scientific advancement. Their theistic belief could quite simply be : There's a god, it created the universe, strive to become the best person you can, explore the universe, learn, evolve.

I also doubt that they would have any religion because if they are as scientificly advanced as we portray them to be, they most likely will have methods of time travel and therefore, go back in time to see the start of their civilization. They could use the time travel to see if there was indeed an omnipotent being at work. If they find out that there wasn't (which will most likely be the case) there wouldn't be any need of any religious beliefs because traveling back in time would answer if those beliefs were right or not.

[Godhead]

Superstarr -

That's assuming that going back in time would confirm god's existence or otherwise. I don't believe it would at all, but that's another discussion altogether. The point is that theistic beliefs don't necessarily get in the way of scientific advancement, far from it. The reference point is usually christianity and the other main religions. ETs would not be involved with those and you have no idea what their beliefs would be. Besides, there are plenty of theist scientists, and the fact that they exist (the fact that even 1 would exist) shows that you can be a theist and scientifically minded. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Even a simple example illustrates this :

A theistic belief that god is the creator of the universe. The purpose of (little green) man is to explore and enjoy this universe, meet your fellow creations, and learn as much as you can about the workings of the universe.

A belief like that (regardless of whether you agree with it or not) wouldn't get in the way of scientific advancement. Nothing about it would hinder scientific progress.

[Cego_Colher]

Maybe they'd be like the Go'ould and one or five would claim to be a God or sons of God or something.

[superstarr]

@Godhead

Theistic beliefs don't get in the way of scientific advancement? Have you heard of humanity? People are too religious to get into a career in science. It doesn't get in the way, but we are progressing at the speed of a snail. We are still using gasoline to power our vehicles, we are still using the same rocket fuel that we've been using for 50 years, we are still using the same methods of transportation, science is progressing incredibly slowly because there aren't enough people in the scientific community.

Why wouldn't they go back in time to realize if they were right in the first place or not? That's probably what most people on Earth want, to travel back in time to unveil the truth. Of course, we can't assume that they have any religions because as much as we know, and that I said before, religion is an invention of man. Going back in time wouldn't prove a theist being, but it will prove how that civilization grew, so that it would rule out a god for cause for making a civilization. Another possibility could be that the advanced civilization withh advanced scientific knowledge could have grown while studying their environments and had no need of having unlogical explanations for happenings, unlike humans which were pretty illogical back then to have any natural explanations because people didn't know how to explain nature. And humanity has gone through extinction of religions if you haven't noticed. Religions will always slowly die off, because throughout the world, more and more people are realizing reality and forgeting religion every year, and sooner or later, it will die off. It's a slow process, but it sooner or later will happen.

[Godhead]

Superstarr -

It depends on the belief. It's perfectly possible to believe in god and pursue science as far as you want to go with it. I have no ambitions to pursue science, but I know that none of my beliefs would get in the way, should I ever choose to. And I'm sure I speak for many. If you were to make a list of beliefs based on theism, or which could be connected in any way with any kind of theism, I could go over that list and tell you which of those beliefs apply to me. I doubt any of them will.