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ET and God

Hodgepodge

Paul Davies, The Atlantic:

Absent from these accounts is any mention of miracles. Ascribing the origin of life to a divine miracle not only is anathema to scientists but also is theologically suspect. The term "God of the gaps" was coined to deride the notion that God can be invoked as an explanation whenever scientists have gaps in their understanding. The trouble with invoking God in this way is that as science advances, the gaps close, and God gets progressively squeezed out of the story of nature. Theologians long ago accepted that they would forever be fighting a rearguard battle if they tried to challenge science on its own ground. Using the formation of life to prove the existence of God is a tactic that risks instant demolition should someone succeed in making life in a test tube. And the idea that God acts in fits and starts, moving atoms around on odd occasions in competition with natural forces, is a decidedly uninspiring image of the Grand Architect.

Could earthly religions survive the discovery of life elsewhere in the universe?

Comments

Yo, Amerikkka's obsession wit X-tianity as the only proper religion has got to end. Fact is, hinduism knows other universes exist, buddhism knows, kaballistic judaism knows, the native americans knew, even JC himself did, too (dude was mystic to the core, y'all). Nobody with a worldview that includes OTHER UNIVERSES populated w/ way higher spiritual beings than ourselves would ever be threatened by the existence of other intelligences. Oh, on the p-shizzle: Mars ain't where it's at, y'all. Check the oceans of Europa for that deep down C'thulu-type sh*t. lefthandpathinthehousesay: "YEAH!"

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