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667 Comments
- MaximusIGN, on 05/14/2008, -21/+123The only reason they are saying it's ok is because they've learned from past mistakes when they said that the earth was flat and then the center of the universe. If they tried to say that aliens can't exist and that God only made man, then as soon as we find microbes on Mars or Titan, the church is done.
Remember this one:
To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin. [Cardinal Bellarmino, 17th Century Church Master Collegio Romano, who imprisoned and tortured Galileo for his astronomical works, during the trial of Galileo]
Oops.. - Hellman109, on 05/14/2008, -5/+82IMO believing that there is no life anywhere in the universe apart from on earth, regardless of your religious beliefs, is crazy.
When people ask me if I believe in aliens the answer is I do, I cannot believe that in all that space there is no life anywhere. Whether aliens have ever come to earth is another thing altogether though... - dubloe7, on 05/14/2008, -29/+104Once you believe that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree, I'd think the possibility of other intelligent life wouldn't be that hard to accept.
- jjustice, on 05/14/2008, -10/+75Fundamentalists != Protestants
- sanman, on 05/14/2008, -10/+66Big deal, Scientology was way ahead of everyone with the aliens stuff
Hail Xenu!
And what about those Hale-Bopp comet people?
And don't forget the Raelians - loki1983, on 05/14/2008, -8/+53please.... there is no place in church doctrine that says alien life doesn't/can't exist... some of you are just blathering anti-religious statements cause it makes you feel smart/important.
- olsonea, on 05/14/2008, -12/+53I, for one, welcome our new alien saviors.
- elhaf, on 05/14/2008, -46/+99You know, this is why I like Catholocism sometimes. They may have some backward dogma, but at least they are able to change it sometimes to keep up with the times. Fundamentalist (protestants) are stuck with a book that was written 2000 years ago, and they can't argue with a single word in it.
- Tillermo, on 05/14/2008, -4/+38Vatican information is free, but scientology charges hundreds of thousands of dollars to allow alien beliefs...
- ironhide, on 05/14/2008, -6/+44So, did the aliens get their own Christ or are they all condemned to hell?
- sanman, on 05/14/2008, -2/+28Biblestar Galactica
- dtele, on 05/14/2008, -9/+37they are warming us up for tomorrows headline: The Pope is an Alien.
- Chaoticx, on 05/14/2008, -6/+34Why? God didn't tell people everything there is to know about the Universe. He basically said how to live and that he existed, and gave us free will to figure everything else out. This isn't changing Catholicism, it's just saying it doesn't contradict it.
- Phyltre, on 05/14/2008, -1/+23I think you're misunderstanding. The basics of right and wrong as presented in the Bible haven't changed one bit. What HAS changed is the political atmosphere inside the Vatican. No matter where you live, even if it's in the "holiest" place on Earth, you're subject to the same human shortcomings as everyone else. We're all extremely fallible, especially if we're given power.
- Chatchkie, on 05/14/2008, -4/+24I'd be awfully pissed if I were Galileo right now.
- sleepyjjk, on 05/14/2008, -6/+27This made me think of Richard Feynman's quote:
Some years ago I had a conversation with a layman about flying saucers — because I am scientific I know all about flying saucers! I said "I don't think there are flying saucers'. So my antagonist said, "Is it impossible that there are flying saucers? Can you prove that it's impossible?" "No", I said, "I can't prove it's impossible. It's just very unlikely". At that he said, "You are very unscientific. If you can't prove it impossible then how can you say that it's unlikely?" But that is the way that is scientific. It is scientific only to say what is more likely and what less likely, and not to be proving all the time the possible and impossible. To define what I mean, I might have said to him, "Listen, I mean that from my knowledge of the world that I see around me, I think that it is much more likely that the reports of flying saucers are the results of the known irrational characteristics of terrestrial intelligence than of the unknown rational efforts of extra-terrestrial intelligence." It is just more likely. That is all. - Feynman
Though it is reasonable to think that there's other life, but having outer life visit us is extremely unreasonable. - JABro, on 05/14/2008, -2/+25Yes , yes they are. A Protestant is just about any Christian denomination that is not catholic...this goes back to the 1600s and the Protestant Reformation (John Calvin, Martin Luther, Henry VIII to name a few). From these Protestant groups, we get Fundamentalists, Methodists, Evangelicals, Lutherans, Calvinists, Presbyterians, Baptists, etc. Not all Protestants are Fundamentalists the same way not all rectangles are squares.
- x0epyon0x, on 05/14/2008, -1/+21Now this interesting. First, there are countries all over the world, most recently Great Britain, who are releasing all of their UFO information. Now, the Vatican is saying it's perfectly plausible to believe in the existence of extraterrestrials and that we should embrace them as our brothers and sisters. I've also heard that NASA is supposedly going to make a major announcement today saying that they've found something they've been looking for for 50 years. I think something's definitely up....*firmly secures tin-foil hat*
- bicyclethief, on 05/14/2008, -2/+19Any system that changes as our understanding of reality changes is a good system. It's the rigid, static ones you have to worry about because they'd often rather bend their understanding of reality to fit their beliefs.
- Nougat, on 05/14/2008, -1/+17A willingness to change belief based on sound reason and new empirical evidence is exactly what science does. I can't fault the Vatican for finally coming around.
It's wrong to rail against dogma, then require religion to adhere to unalterable dogmas. - yikiad, on 05/14/2008, -2/+18The difference with the Catholic Church is that they realize that mankind's knowledge is always changing and expanding. They have been very open to new ideas since Vatican II.
- hrc1983, on 05/14/2008, -6/+20Vatican: Still not OK to use condoms
- shadeOfGrey, on 05/14/2008, -6/+21That's not what an oxymoron is.
- centran, on 05/14/2008, -1/+15I prefer to think that our God is the God of planet Earth and there are other gods in charge of other planets.
This way, there will one day be a galactic battle between the gods and whole solar systems, possibly whole galaxies will be lost in the struggle.
Why do I believe this?... because it plays out better in my head and is more amusing. - Shiftgood, on 05/14/2008, -2/+16Im not sure the church will be done, logic left this argument a long time ago.. and is sitting on its porch by the lake in Missouri itching its its ass, drinking chai tea wondering what the hell happened to its life.
poor little fella. - Hetman, on 05/14/2008, -0/+19You could look at it two ways. 1) Jesus died for mans sin and you categorize aliens as man so Jesus would have died for there sins also. 2) They have never fell like man did, so they have no originial sin. So they would not need Jesus to die for there sins because they have never commited any.
- Rikkochet, on 05/14/2008, -3/+16Oh, we do.
Hail Xenu! - timbellomo, on 05/14/2008, -5/+22Except, they're not editing the Bible or their dogma...
- Fordi, on 05/14/2008, -8/+22Far as I can tell, having a fixed sense of right and wrong in a changing society seems... well, stupid.
- a6n28f, on 05/14/2008, -30/+48Meh. If their beliefs are so malleable, what does that say about their veracity from the beginning? And if it's just a correction of man made errors, why do the believers need official Holy Papal permission to think certain thoughts and believe certain things? Either the foundations of their beliefs are flawed or the administration of their faith is flawed. And unfortunately for Catholics, they're inseparable, i.e. the Church is a creation and extension of God.
It seems a lot like that neighborhood kid who has a new style every week trying to stay popular and relevant. - wilywampa, on 05/14/2008, -0/+12I've always said that if we discover intelligent life on another planet who believe in a religion identical to a religion we have on Earth, I'd give that religion a whole lot more credibility.
- inactive, on 05/14/2008, -2/+14You mean happy?
- doremon313, on 05/14/2008, -15/+29Word just in...the officials at the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster said believing in Chow Mein does not contradicts faith in the Monster, however the belief in Udon is inappropriate should should be denied.
- Hetman, on 05/14/2008, -8/+22The catholics are quickly becoming the most forward thinking Christians around. And as much as I fell religion is bad for society, this is a good thing.
- JQP123, on 05/14/2008, -0/+11"They don't care about God, if they did, they would actually do what the Bible says."
Either that ... or maybe they realize something about the Bible that you don't. Seeing as how the Catholic Church was the original editor and publisher of the New Testament, I'm more inclined to their perspective. - wedges, on 05/14/2008, -1/+12you think microbes on mars would end the church? if yoda himself decended from the stars in a purple spaceship shaped like a high heeled shoe it wouldn't change any christian minds. people want to believe in something, so people will believe anything.
- spazoidspam, on 05/14/2008, -7/+20This is a prime example of why all the ID people need to BACK OFF. I'm not religious, but if I was, I would just say that evolution is the TOOL that god used to create all of existence. In my opinion it would be much harder, and thus it would show how powerful god is, to envision what you want to create, and go about creating the laws of science to create it, instead of just snapping your fingers and going POOF....there it is.
If the rest of the religious right would listen to their leaders, there wouldn't even be an argument. - kh99, on 05/14/2008, -1/+11I think it would be better to say you believe in the possibility, because to believe in something without any evidence would be...oh, right....never mind.
- sholt, on 05/14/2008, -0/+10Actually, no. Fundamentalists, without any other modifier, are a union of subsets of every religion large enough to have them.
- xanadu2113, on 05/14/2008, -1/+101517 is the traditional date for the start of the Reformation, when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses in Wittenberg
- livestradamus, on 05/14/2008, -2/+15Excellent question. Any takers?
- timbellomo, on 05/14/2008, -1/+11I think what the article is pointing out is that fact that there is no dogmatic conflict between "alien life" and faith in God. Similarly, they've also noted that there is no conflict between belief in evolution and belief in God.
It's not a position change (which *has* happened, like when John Paul II apologized for the Church's persecution of the heliocentric model). - whatever01, on 05/14/2008, -2/+12Actually, Roman Catholics don't believe that the bible is the word of God, infallible or not open to interpretation. It is an "inspired writing", but it is not alone in that category.
- inactive, on 05/14/2008, -4/+20"Heavenly luminaries were formed to provide light for Earth and markers for the seasons." (Genesis 1:14-16).
1 Chronicles 16:30: “He has fixed the earth firm, immovable.” Psalm 93:1: “Thou hast fixed the earth immovable and firm ...” Psalm 96:10: “He has fixed the earth firm, immovable ...” Psalm 104:5: “Thou didst fix the earth on its foundation so that it never can be shaken.” Isaiah 45:18: “...who made the earth and fashioned it, and himself fixed it fast...”
Isaiah 11:12
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH. (KJV)
Revelation 7:1
1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. (KJV)
Job 38:13
13 That it might take hold of the ENDS OF THE EARTH, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? (KJV)
Jeremiah 16:19
19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ENDS OF THE EARTH, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. (KJV)
Daniel 4:11
11 The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the ENDS OF ALL THE EARTH: (KJV)
Matthew 4:8
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; (KJV - asnider, on 05/14/2008, -5/+19All Fundamentalists are Protestants, but not all Protestants are Fundamentalists.
- quill, on 05/14/2008, -0/+10I would watch this movie.
- Pixelante, on 05/14/2008, -3/+15Catholics have no problems at all with evolution.
- inactive, on 05/14/2008, -1/+9Not true, you can be a Fundamentalist Catholic.
- quill, on 05/14/2008, -0/+8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Observatory
"The Vatican Observatory (Specola Vaticana) is the astronomical research and educational institution of the Holy See. The headquarters of the observatory are located at Castel Gandolfo, Italy, sharing the summer residence of the Pope. The dependent Vatican Observatory Research Group is hosted in the Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona. Its current director is José Gabriel Funes." - Birdoftruth, on 05/14/2008, -0/+8Blanket statements for the win.
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