What if there other earths out there?

[tabloid]

keplers mission is to find other planets similar to earth.How would it affect religion here on Earth if such discoveries are made?

 

[DaveC426913]

keplers mission is to find other planets similar to earth.How would it affect religion here on Earth if such discoveries are made?

No effect at all. Why would they have a problem with it?

 

[harvellt]

Eh the question is how many people will even notice or understand exactly what the mission will find.

 

[DaveC426913]

The mission will find a rocky, terrestrial planet. I can't think of a single religion on the planet that would have any problem with that.

I wonder of the OP wanted to know what they might think if they found intelligent life on a distant planet.

To which the response is: the chances are so astronomically unlikely that you might as well count of the second or third coming of Christ first.

 

[Pythagorean]

The mission will find a rocky, terrestrial planet. I can't think of a single religion on the planet that would have any problem with that.

I wonder of the OP wanted to know what they might think if they found intelligent life on a distant planet.

To which the response is: the chances are so astronomically unlikely that you might as well count of the second or third coming of Christ first.

how do you go about calculating those chances?

 

[DaveC426913]

how do you go about calculating those chances?

You don't. You guess. (But we are pretty confident it's very, very low).

The Drake Equation is the most well-known attempt to mold this into a formula.

 

[Thrilho]

Yeah, it would be highly improbable that they would find intelligent life. Even if we did survive on Earth long enough to discover intelligent life/signs of evolution elsewhere I am sure science will have advanced so far that religion would be a thing of the past, just like the fall of all other ancient civilizations, cultures and religions. However my money is on "civilization" collapsing before any discoveries of intelligent life are made. Which is kind of ironic, we are intelligent enough to search for other intelligent life, but not intelligent enough to ensure survival for our own race, on our own planet.

 

[DaveC426913]

...I am sure science will have advanced so far that religion would be a thing of the past, just like the fall of all other ancient civilizations, cultures and religions...

I wouldn't count on that. How many major religions exactly would you say have "fallen"? Methinks they're actually growing.

 

[Chronos]

Our destructive capabilities have already outgrown our common sense. We might have a few hundred years, or a few decades left to avert suicide. Now is the the most critical time in human history. We need to reach out to every human on this planet and forge common bonds. Acceptance, not conflict, is our future. Do we need an alien threat to stir us into action? i hope not.

 

[tabloid]

The mission will find a rocky, terrestrial planet. I can't think of a single religion on the planet that would have any problem with that.

some religions get easily intimidated when pple try to know more about God or look for answers that no one has.About the mission itself of finding a rocky terrestrial planet,i think the mission would end up creating a huge database of planets but what they still can't detect is water.Remember NASA has spent years tryin to figure out if there's water on Mars alone.

 

[gabrielh]

The mission will find a rocky, terrestrial planet. I can't think of a single religion on the planet that would have any problem with that.

I wonder of the OP wanted to know what they might think if they found intelligent life on a distant planet.

To which the response is: the chances are so astronomically unlikely that you might as well count of the second or third coming of Christ first.

What about the anthropic principle? What exactly makes finding life elsewhere so unlikely?

 

[buffordboy23]

keplers mission is to find other planets similar to earth.How would it affect religion here on Earth if such discoveries are made?

I believe that many individuals want to believe that there is an underlying reasoning for their existence. Recently, I have read some parts of a religious text (won't mention it due to guidelines) that was written a couple millennium ago and I found so many contradictions in regards to what the "objective" nature of science has taught us. Subsequently, some missionaries knocked on my front door and attempted to sell their religion. The funny thing was that their religion was based on the text that I had just read and had a new and modern scripture recorded by a prophet that existed less than two centuries ago. So, my guess is that if we find any life, even intelligent life, religion will evolve to accommodate and explain such scenarios.

 

[gabrielh]

my guess is that if we find any life, even intelligent life, religion will evolve to accommodate and explain such scenarios.

I agree. Science may eventually grow enough that religion ceases to exist, but I don't think that is any time soon. And I certainly don't think finding another Earth-like planet would cause much harm to religion. Some may be persuaded that their religious convictions are wrong, but I still find it unlikely that religion as a whole would suffer any clear impact.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

One of the newest religions is based on belief in aliens and alien civilizations. :-/