God knows how we will respond if Beagle 2 finds life on Mars (extraterrestrial life and religion)

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | December 23, 2003 | Chris McGillion

[Ciexyz]

Hell, if they find life on Mars, I'm extending an invitation in advance: you all are welcome to come to my house for dinner, anytime.

[TheGeezer]

Why is this a threat to anything religious?

Almighty God can create anything He wishes...

[cynicom]

You serving krow and ketchup??? hehe

[TheBigB]

What time should we be there?

[Lazamataz]

The only reasonable thing to do, if we find life on Mars, is declare war on it.

[Lazamataz]

Almighty God can create anything He wishes...

True, but Man likes to blow stuff up.

[The_Victor]

The only thing a Mars life confirmation will threaten is the writer's dogma of religious beliefs.

[ElkGroveDan]

That in turn would suggest that life arises wherever conditions are favourable to it and is not the product of a discrete creative act on Earth in which, according to the Book of Genesis, God made man in his own image.

Asa devout Christian. I dispute this contention. It's not even sound reasoning. Nothing in our Christian beliefs rules out life elsewhere.

[nmh]

There is NO life on mars! It's certainly no "threat" either.

[Ciexyz]

What time should we be there?

Anytime from noon on -- it's an open house!

[KellyAdmirer]

I thought they already found a Mars fossil. If life existed there in the past, how is that different in religious terms than if it exists now? I think this is a complete non-issue, all the religions have to do is lump extraterrestrial life with earthly non-human life as a manifestation of God's presence and any religious problem disappears.

[Vinnie_Vidi_Vici]

There will probably be an encryted delayed downlink, and if finds anything that smacks of life other than simple micro-organisms, we shall never hear of it.

[Ciexyz]

You serving krow and ketchup??? hehe

I'll clean out the back of my fridge to serve the little green guys, they won't know any better. Here's hoping they bring along some out-of-this-world alcoholic libations!

[Jeff Chandler]

Their may be life on Mars, but is it edible?

[TheBigB]

Excellent! We can hang out and watch the Special Edition DVD of Independence Day (martian subtitled)

[cynicom]

Dont remind me, been putin of cleaning the fridge for months. yuk

[TomHarkinIsNotFromIowa]

French are going along just to find somebody else to surrender to.

[smith288]

I better get ready to jump ship on my religion...