Posted on 05/13/2008 1:10:00 PM PDT by meandog
VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God. The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.
In an interview published Tuesday by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes says that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures.
The interview was headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother." Funes said that ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom.
bttt
Britain releases batch of files on UFO sightings.
The men were air traffic controllers. Experienced, calm professionals. Nobody was drinking. But they were so worried about losing their jobs that they demanded their names be kept off the official report.
No one, they knew, would believe their claim an unidentified flying object landed at the airport they were overseeing in the east of England, touched down briefly, then took off again at tremendous speed. Yet that's what they reported happened at 4 p.m. on April 19, 1984.
The incident is one of hundreds of reported sightings contained in more than 1,000 pages of formerly secret UFO documents being released Wednesday by Britain's National Archives. It is one of the few that was never explained.
The air traffic controllers' "Report of Unusual Aerial Phenomenon" was filed from an unspecified small airport near the eastern coast of England.
The men, each with more than eight years on the job, described how they were helping guide a small plane to a landing on runway 22 when they were distracted by a brightly lit object approaching a different runway without clearance.
"Everyone became aware that the object was unidentified," their report said. "SATCO (code name for a controller with 14 years experience) reports that the object came in 'at speed,' made a touch and go on runway 27, then departed at 'terrific speed' in a 'near vertical' climb."
The incident is one of the more credible in the newly public files because it was reported by air traffic controllers, said David Clarke, a UFO expert who worked with the National Archives on the document release.
"They were absolutely astonished," he said. "It was a bright, circular object, flashing different colors, and after it touched down it disappeared at fantastic speed. The report comes from very qualified people, and it's one of the few that remained unexplained."
But while there are some unexplained cases in the papers, there is no reported instance in which the Ministry of Defense found any evidence of alien activity or alien spacecraft, said Clarke, who nonetheless expects conspiracy theories about a UFO cover-up by the British defense establishment to persist.
"The Ministry of Defense doesn't have any evidence that our defenses were breached by alien craft," Clarke said. "They never found one, no bits of one. That's all we can say."
Clarke said the released documents, dealing with the late 1970s and early 1980s, are the first batch in a series that will be made public in the next few years. The National Archives is releasing the files because of numerous freedom of information requests seeking information about the government's UFO reports. Officials said that names of many individuals had been blacked out to protect their privacy and that the entire files had been reviewed to make sure their release did not compromise national security.
Ministry of Defense officials indicate in the files that UFO reports were only investigated to make sure no enemy aircraft had illegally entered British airspace. This was crucial during the Cold War when Russian planes posed a threat.
Officials said they did not try to solve UFO riddles once an enemy attack had been ruled out.
The vast majority of UFO reports come from members of the public who see strange things in the sky and jump to the conclusion that a UFO is involved even though there are logical explanations for what they observe, experts said.
"The most common things are aircraft lights, bright stars and planets, satellites, meteors, airships and things like that," said Nick Pope, another UFO expert who helped the Ministry of Defense investigate the phenomenon.
That was the case when a number of people leaving a Tunbridge Wells pub one night reported seeing a strange craft "with red and green" lights, according to the released documents.
Asked by police where the object seemed to be traveling, the pub crawlers said it appeared to be heading for London's Gatwick Airport. It didn't take a scientist to figure out it was a commercial plane making a routine approach.
See! Photographic proof of green-skinned Orion slave-girls!
Hooray! Hurrah!
That’s right...Callisto is the other Galilean satellite.
Yvonne Craig (who also played Batgirl in late ‘60s) was, IMHO, the hottest babe to guest star on the original Trek.
I am eager to learn. Tell me where.
WHEN
large ships are stationary over large cities for hours to days at a time . . .
and there are public events a la “V” . . .
how else would one put it?
However, I’m skeptical that will occur until there’s a massive horrific world war, first.
Thanks, Dave.
The only half truth I recall from the article is the one about
defenses not being breached.
With their demonstrated capacity to appear over nuclear bunkers and neutralize nuclear missles in silos at will and nuclear arms in the bunkers at will . . .
I’d call that defenses breached.
However, I’ll give them that admitting so would have beeen . . . problematic.
Can we get a thread about the British UFO Files. I know there are folks on the ping list who have sources. I'd like to be able to get a good look at the reports that Britain released.
Start in Genesis.
God created the Heavens and the Earth, and the Earth became void. He eliminated the Dinosaurs, and most other things in the First Earth Age, when Lucifer rebelled against him, along with a whole lot of the Angels.
As for ‘Aliens’ Satan when he is released from Heaven will arrive in a ship. Mention of a vessel is, I think in Isiah.
No, no.
I figure it’s at least 6-9 months away and probably a few years away.
I’d just as soon it was several decades away. But it’s not.
That would be good but I don’t think I’ll have the time here at Dad’s.
Maybe when I get home.
has some good threads on such, IIRC.
Thanks.
How about posting some sample docs for good discussion?
Would they know about Jesus, the Son of God?
Wouldn’t that hold true for all religions here on earth also?
But they do know what happens after death?
Well, the assumption would be that that “correct” alien belief system would have evolved essentially parallel to Christianity, i.e. they are created in Gods image and subsequently they are proffered a redeemer.
Obviously, they could just as easily be evil and follow their version of Satan, or they could be all pagans and worship their “nature”, or they could be a heck of a lot better than us from the start and not screw up their initial commandments, still living under their “old testament”.
At this point, it’s merely interesting speculation. The real conundrum would arise upon a first contact. What does the Vatican know we don’t??? :-)
Of course, if you follow the literature on Alien sightings, abductions, etc... then you’re like me and believe they should be shot or captured on sight. You don’t probe Earthmens rectums for decades and get away with it scott free!
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