Notes:
(1) There already is a Christian denomination founded on the idea that
there are
other intelligent species in the Universe, it is called Swedenborgianism
(2) Why the "silence" of the cosmos? At least 3 plausible reasons-
* Civilizations are rare and distant from each other and communication
between such centers is problematic; but even "rare," say .00001% of all
planets, when there are trillions of planets to consider = at least
thousands
of civilizations, or even millions,
* Communications to us are ongoing but since our technology is still
primitive
and is only about a century old, we cannot receive the hyperzaptron signals
yet,
* Earth is under quarantine because a Satanic monster exists among us,
operating
in secret like the KGB to sabotage human society for its own purposes; that
is
the Devil is real, has extreme power sources to use, and is utterly
malignant
and a danger that must be contained to our planet.
Take your pick
Billy
==================================
Christianity and the search
for extraterrestrial intelligence
Emma Crichton-Miller ("New Statesman," August 30, 2013)
In 1960 in West Virginia, the astronomer Frank Drake initiated the first
systematic scientific attempt to scan the heavens for alien communication.
Today, SETI (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence), which requires
significant investments of money and hope, remains the most daring attempt to
settle the question of whether we are alone in the universe or whether, at
some point in time, on some faraway, spinning extrasolar planet, other
forms of intelligent life evolved.
For some, a single clear sign – a purposeful blip in the background radio
hum of the universe – would be enough to change for ever their understanding
of the universe and, in particular, the place of human beings within it.
Above all, it is Christians whose belief system would require the most
recalibration: they are devoted to a biblical understanding of man’s position
in
the universe and believe that the unique events of Christ’s birth, death
and resurrection confirmed the special relationship between a creator God
and His earthbound creation. The late-18th-century thinker Thomas Paine
declared in The Age of Reason that anyone who believes himself to be both a
Christian and a reasonable defender of the idea of the existence of other
worlds has “thought but little of either”.
This book is a brave riposte to Paine. David Wilkinson, a professor of
theology and religion at Durham University, is both an astronomer and a
Christian. He holds PhDs in theoretical astrophysics and systematic theology.
Here he undertakes to examine the consequences for Christian thinking of the
latest developments in the search for extraterrestrial life. A Methodist, he
scrupulously investigates the science involved and offers a detailed
reconsideration of that science in the light of his and other Christian
beliefs.
In the 3rd century BC, the Greek philosopher Epicurus wrote: “There are
infinite worlds both like and unlike ours . . . We must believe that in all
worlds there are living creatures.” For over 2,500 years human beings have
speculated about life beyond our planet. The logic of infinity has seemed to
require the belief that somewhere, whether in this or another, parallel
universe, the purposeful (or purposeless) accidents that brought about our
existence have achieved the same for little green men or other, unimaginable
forms of life. As Wilkinson points out, philosophers and scientists in the
Judaeo-Christian tradition have often been at the forefront of such
thinking, their faith in a benign, all-powerful God leading them to assume an
inherent order in the natural world and to exult in His capacity to encourage
life extravagantly throughout the universe.
Set against this candid presumption in favour of extraterrestrial
intelligence have been two lines of thought. Some Christians, attached to the
biblical account of God’s special relationship with human beings, have
considered it blasphemous to challenge earth’s central place in God’s plan
(Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in 1600 for his temerity to do so).
From an
opposing perspective, evolutionary biologists from Charles Darwin up to the
present day have teased out the multitudinous improbabilities of the
evolution of any life at all, let alone intelligent life. For some
contemporary
cosmologists, it has come to seem almost miraculous how perfectly aligned
these chances have been in the case of our “goldilocks” planet – and
therefore practically impossible that the same could occur elsewhere. As
Wilkinson puts it, even if we were to find traces of primitive life on Mars,
“It is
a long way to proceed from archaea to an accountant.”
Wilkinson valiantly defends SETI from every corner, however. With one foot
on the rock of science, he tackles the paradox, enunciated in 1950 by the
physicist Enrico Fermi, that if earth is not special in having intelligent
life, “Where is everybody?” With his other foot on the rock of faith, he
explores how Christian thinkers have extended the reach of salvation to the
furthest limits of the known and unknown universe while imagining hopefully
that on other planets there may have been no apple, and so no sin.
The difficulty is that, despite this straddling, the book falls into two
halves. The uneasy fit between evidence-based science and Christian
apologetics is exacerbated by the unnecessary attention that Wilkinson gives
to
wacky theories about UFOs and other fantasies and by the absence of analysis
of
the perspectives of the other major religions. His argument is thorough
rather than elegant and on some occasions he irritatingly fails to identify
beyond the name the authorities he quotes, so that the reader has to check
the position they occupy in the debate.
In keeping with the teaching of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, who
urged those eager to embrace the idea of extraterrestrial life to “be not
so positive”, Wilkinson is carefully agnostic about its eventual discovery.
However, it is clear that, for him, as for many Christians, “the eternal
silence of those infinite spaces”, as Pascal put it, offers a greater
existential threat than the demotion of earth’s centrality that the discovery
of
extraterrestrials would require.
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