Might Astrobiological Findings Evoke a Religious Crisis?

Details Might Astrobiological Findings Evoke a Religious Crisis? Might Astrobiological Findings Evoke a Religious Crisis?

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p33c..06p&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P33C-06

Biology

[5200] Planetary Sciences: Astrobiology, [5215] Planetary Sciences: Astrobiology / Origin Of Life

Scientific paper

What might be the likely impact of confirmed discovery of extraterrestrial life—microbial or intelligent life—on terrestrial religion? Many have speculated that the anthropo-centrism and earth-centrism which allegedly have characterized our religious traditions would be confronted with a crisis. Would new knowledge that we are not alone in the universe lead to a collapse of traditional religious belief? This presentation will summarize the results of the Peters Religious Crisis Survey of 1325 respondents. This survey shows that the majority of adherents to Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism demonstrate little or no anxiety regarding the prospect of contact with extraterrestrial life, even if they express some doubts regarding their respective religious tradition and the traditions of others. This presentation will also show that theological speculation regarding other worlds has sparked lively debate beginning as far back as the middle ages and continuing into our present era. Ted Peters is a research and teaching scholar with the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He is co-editor of the journal, Theology and Science, and author of the books, The Evolution of Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Life (Pandora 2008) and Playing God? Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom (Routledge, rev. ed., 2003).

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