The discovery of alien life may be close. How will religion survive it?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Face it, folks, the religious have denied the entire 20th C. A little thing like alien life won't bother them.

[Alex K]

Klingons have Klingon Jesus. Klingon Jesus turns YOUR other cheek and cripples the healers.

[Whateverist]

Exactly. They would laugh at biblical jesus, what a loser.

[Isis]

I have absolutely no idea. They've survived everything else, so I am sure they can survive this.

[Anomalocaris]

If the aliens are more advanced, then their religion will take over ours.

The more advanced they are the less likely they'll be to have any religion.

Perhaps, but the more advanced they are, the more they can weigh up and implement the option of exploiting our backward tendency towards religion to manipulate and control us cost effectively.

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I have absolutely no idea. They've survived everything else, so I am sure they can survive this.

Of course, You most assuredly will survive everything before encountering the thing that kills you.

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Klingons have Klingon Jesus. Klingon Jesus turns YOUR other cheek and cripples the healers.

Klingon will kill the resurrected Jesus for good to teach him his place.

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Face it, folks, the religious have denied the entire 20th C. A little thing like alien life won't bother them.

Unless alien life kills those who would propogate religion.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The more advanced they are the less likely they'll be to have any religion.

Perhaps, but the more advanced they are, the more they can weigh up and implement the option of exploiting our backward tendency towards religion to manipulate and control us cost effectively.

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I have absolutely no idea. They've survived everything else, so I am sure they can survive this.

Of course, You most assuredly will survive everything before encountering the thing that kills you.

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Klingons have Klingon Jesus. Klingon Jesus turns YOUR other cheek and cripples the healers.

Klingon will kill the resurrected Jesus for good to teach him his place.

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Face it, folks, the religious have denied the entire 20th C. A little thing like alien life won't bother them.

Unless alien life kills those who would propogate religion.

Okay, but there might be a down side as well.

[Whateverist]

I have absolutely no idea. They've survived everything else, so I am sure they can survive this.

So basically you're saying that the religious are like cockroaches, mosquitoes and rats - likely to survive us and anything we can do to the planet.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I have absolutely no idea. They've survived everything else, so I am sure they can survive this.

So basically you're saying that the religious are like cockroaches, mosquitoes and rats - likely to survive us and anything we can do to the planet.

Cockroaches have lodged a formal complaint against you for that comment.

[Whateverist]

I intended no disrespect, but I certainly see how they could have taken it that way.

[Crunchy]

Interesting discussion in the Guardian. I suspect discovery of alien life won't have so much effect on the devoutly religious, they will sweep it into the 'science+facts to be erased' brain compartment. It will be helpful to stem religious take up of the educated young hopefully and perhaps be a light bulb moment to those not completely beyond help.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre..._clipboard

I agree that it won't make a bit of difference to the religious, but I also don't think it will make any difference to the scientific community either since almost all already believe tht such life already exists or has existed. http://www.space.com/32793-intelligent-a...-high.html

Other than a huge "I told you so" moment, nothing will change IMO.

However, if you're talking about us actually meeting up with Aliens, then all bets are off as to what kind of effect this would have on us.