Not A Religious Debate

[Legend Zero]

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/12/04/does-a-new-life-form-mean-god-is-dead/?icid=maing|main5|1|link2|29355

Do you agree with this theory? Does finding new life spell the end for all religion?

[Dаrkrai]

I scanned through it briefly, yes, I guess it does, however I am an atheist so it doesn't really make much difference to me except from the fact people won't be living in denial.

[Tentacruel]

How in the hell is this not a religious debate?

OT: Explain to me how that would contradict theism.

[Icy]

How does this change anything? o_O... It's just a new kind of lifeform to learn about. Nothing changes religiously, or anything else for that matter. It's something new to learn about, like we do every day.

[Juuzou]

This actually does the opposite than make religion die off.

Think of it this way: According to atheists; nothing just happens. Normally, everything has a reason for happening. If this life form just 'sprang up', then it could be created by some sort of 'god'. The people who wrote this article have a screw loose or something :/

[Legend Zero]

[quote name='ADHD-Guitar' timestamp='1291557720' post='4831069']
How in the hell is this not a religious debate?

OT: Explain to me how that would contradict theism.
[/quote]
Not a religious debate in the sense that God is real and the like.

I don't agree that it goes against it...that's just one guys point of view.

[.Starrk]

It really depends. If an extraterrestrial existed or something of the sort, you could believe that god created this new form of life. Or you can be on another side, saying that yes, god is dead because he only created humans, and now we have found something that is clearly not human.

[Dark]

I read the title and stopped. No matter how anti-religious I can be, I can at least notice a false claim when I see one. There are many religions that [i]believe[/i] in other beings, and usually a lot of the hate towards people who don't believe in aliens are aimed at Muslims and Christians and Jews. However, there are a ton of religions that accept the fact that we may not be the only ones in the universe, so I see no reason for the discovery of these beings cause the end of all religions.

It will, however, make some of the [i]more intelligent[/i] people be skeptical of whether their religion (if they are part of the aforementioned monotheistic religions) is actually true, but religion has such a strong pull that they probably won't deconvert. How sad.

EDIT: Some Christians do believe that aliens exist, but the hardcore-Bible Christians most obviously don't. It depends how liberal you are within your own religion.

[Tentacruel]

[quote name='Dark' timestamp='1291566568' post='4831437']
I read the title and stopped. No matter how anti-religious I can be, I can at least notice a false claim when I see one. There are many religions that [i]believe[/i] in other beings, and usually a lot of the hate towards people who don't believe in aliens are aimed at Muslims and Christians and Jews. However, there are a ton of religions that accept the fact that we may not be the only ones in the universe, so I see no reason for the discovery of these beings cause the end of all religions.

It will, however, make some of the [i]more intelligent[/i] people be skeptical of whether their religion (if they are part of the aforementioned monotheistic religions) is actually true, but religion has such a strong pull that they probably won't deconvert. How sad.

EDIT: Some Christians do believe that aliens exist, but the hardcore-Bible Christians most obviously don't. It depends how liberal you are within your own religion.
[/quote]
I fail to see how the existence of aliens conflicts with the Bible at all, no matter how literal you take it.

[Catterjune]

[quote name='ADHD-Guitar' timestamp='1291571458' post='4831710']
I fail to see how the existence of aliens conflicts with the Bible at all, no matter how literal you take it.
[/quote]
This guy knows what's up. The Bible doesn't say "and on the sixth day God made a bacteria based on phosphorus, one of the six building blocks of all life". Not to mention there's nothing saying Religion and Science can't coexist.

[Dark]

So I guess the tons of Christians who don't believe in alien life just developed that idea by themselves, without any influence by religion or the Bible.

Give me a break. <___<

[Tentacruel]

[quote name='Dark' timestamp='1291573019' post='4831789']
So I guess the tons of Christians who don't believe in alien life just developed that idea by themselves, without any influence by religion or the Bible.

Give me a break. <___<
[/quote]
It's because they Bible doesn't specifically say that there is life outside of our Planet, but likewise, it doesn't say that there isn't.

[Catterjune]

[quote name='Dark' timestamp='1291573019' post='4831789']
So I guess the tons of Christians who don't believe in alien life just developed that idea by themselves, without any influence by religion or the Bible.

Give me a break. <___<
[/quote]
There are plenty of people from all various groups of religion (or lack of religion) who do or do not believe in alien life. What's your point?

[GenzoTheHarpist]

1. The form of life is not "completely different and new". It is related to other normal, phosphorus based lifeforms. It itself is phosphorus based, it just has a developed ability to replace phosphorus with arsenic in many organic compounds. If put in a high-phosphorus, low-arsenic environment, it will end up looking basically the same as any other lifeforms we see.

2. Even if it was, it wouldn't have the slightest implications on Christianity.

[Βyakuya]

So it's possible life forms can be created by some sort of chemical reaction.....well, the religious view in scientific terms, was just a hypothesis, or just exaggerated by god. But as said, God is only a being created by humans and that's it.

[Doomboi]

They. Are. Idiots.

[~/Coolio Prime\~]

Some gods, yes. Other gods, no.

At any rate, radicalist believers tend to raise radicalists or loose believers. And loose believers tend to raise loose, agnostic, or atheistic believer. Good thing for that.