Difference between revisions of "Extraterrestrial life"

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The term ''race'' here means a species of sentient individuals (not an ethnographic subdivision of a single species); for example, humans all belong to only one race, the human race.
 
The term ''race'' here means a species of sentient individuals (not an ethnographic subdivision of a single species); for example, humans all belong to only one race, the human race.
  
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== Extraterrestrial life as a scientific hypothesis ==
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==Scientific terminology applied to evolution==
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Vigorous scientific research on the subject is fairly limited, and has focused on both the "micro" and "macro" aspects of the problem:
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The terms fact and theory can be applied to evolution, just as they are to gravity.<ref name=Moran/> Misuse and misunderstanding of how those terms are applied to evolution have been used to construct arguments disputing the validity of evolution.
  
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# The [[exogenesis]], nature, survival, and movement of primitive life forms, including the hazard that such microbes might pose to [[astronaut]]s or to the earth itself.
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In the study of biological species, the facts include fossils and measurements of these fossils. The location of a fossil is an example of a
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# The possibility of prior or future detection, contact, trade, or war with an extraterrestrial [[civilization]].
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fact (using the scientific meaning of the word fact). In species that rapidly reproduce, for example  [[fruit flies]], the process of evolutionary change has been observed in the laboratory.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Dobzhansky T, Pavlovsky O |title=Experimentally created incipient species of Drosophila |journal=Nature |volume=230 |issue=5292 |pages=289–92 |year=1971 |pmid=5549403 |doi=10.1038/230289a0}}</ref> The observation of fruit fly populations changing character is also an example of a fact, using the scientific meaning of the word fact. So evolution is a fact, at least using the scientific meaning of the word fact. These facts require an explanation, just as the observations of gravity did.
  
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=== Microbes and other primitive forms ===
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In biology, there have been many attempts to explain these observations over the years. [[Lamarckism]], [[Transmutationism]] and [[Orthogenesis]] were all non-Darwinian theories that attempted to explain the observations of species and fossils and other evidence. However, the '''Theory of Evolution''' is the explanation for all relevant observations regarding the development of life, based on a model that explains all the available data and observations. Thus, evolution is not only a fact but also a theory, just as gravity is both a fact and a theory.
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[[Image:PIA09027 a anno br.jpg|400px|right]]
 
  
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Extraterrestrial microbes have been and remain the subject of much serious scientific speculation. Such speculation has centered on three questions:
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{| class="wikitable" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3
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|-  
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# Could a microbe of extraterrestrial origin somehow come to earth and cause a killer [[pandemic]]?<ref>This question of ''back-contamination'' was a serious worry in the middle years of [[Project Apollo]]--that is, the time of the first four missions of that project. [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration|NASA]], the launch authority for Apollo, required the crews of the first three missions actually to reach the [[moon]] to spend weeks in [[quarantine]] while under the constant care and watch of a [[physician]]. Only after three crews landed on the moon and returned to earth with no ill effect and no evidence of having contracted any communicable disease on the moon or in space did NASA drop that requirement. (The crew of [[Apollo 13]] did not face this requirement because their in-flight emergency precluded their planned landing.)</ref>
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!style="background:#d0e5f5;color:black" |Gravity!!style="background:#d0e5f5;color:black" |Evolution
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# Did life on earth begin with the "seeding" of the earth from outside? This theory, called [[panspermia]], alleges that either (a) the earth acquired the seeds of life by passing through the tail of a [[comet]], or (b) an extraterrestrial ''civilization'' sent the seeds of life ''deliberately'' for one reason or another. Extraterrestrial microbes would be involved in either case.
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|-
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# Might a human crew or human-directed robotic explorer find extraterrestrial microbes on another [[planet]]?
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|Things falling is an observation of the pull of bodies towards each other.||Fruit flies changing generation to generation is an observation of generational organism change.  
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|-
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With the continued development and perfection of telescopes, [[Astronomy|astronomers]] and [[rocket]] [[science|scientists]] have openly and often feverishly speculated about whether the other planets in our [[solar system]] might harbor forms of life that originated on those planets. This speculation has also extended to [[Titan]], the largest satellite of the planet [[Saturn]].
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|Bodies pulling towards each other is called gravity.||Organisms changing generation to generation is called evolution.  
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The major considerations driving such speculation are the requirements of life, and the difficulty with the theory of [[abiogenesis]] as a workable origin of [[life]] on [[earth]]. Most scientists engaged in such speculation seem to agree that life requires at least two things in order to self-generate in any environment:
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|Gravity is a fact.||Evolution is a fact.
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|-
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# [[Water]]
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!style="background:#d0e5f5;color:black" |An explanation for the facts of gravity.!!style="background:#d0e5f5;color:black" |An explanation for the facts of evolution.
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# An [[atmosphere]]
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|-
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[[Image:Mars_meteorite.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Meteor]]ite believed to have once been a part of [[Mars]] and to contain [[fossil]] evidence that primitive [[life]] may have existed on Mars.[http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/mars/meteorites/html/s94_032549.html Image source] ]]
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|[[Aristotle]] and [[Galileo]] created explanations of the ''fact'' of gravity. These are now obsolete explanations. ||[[Lamarckism]], [[Transmutationism]] and [[Orthogenesis]] were created as explanations of the fact of evolution. These are now discredited explanations.  
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Currently the most exciting subject for speculation concerning extraterrestrial life is the planet [[Mars]]. Its atmosphere is quite thin, and this would militate against the presence of life or, more to the point, the presence of standing or flowing water. But photographs taken from orbit and from the surface of Mars reveal erosion channels that strongly suggest that water once flowed on Mars. Indeed, the first graphic above shows changes in a gully in two views of it, taken four years apart--as if liquid water had opened another erosion channel in the meantime. (The operators of the Mars Global Surveyor insist that such pictures might still contain artifacts that make them unsuitable for scientific research, and hence disclaim any definite conclusion that anyone might be tempted to draw from them.) The second graphic shows a [[meteor]]ite, found in [[Antarctica]] in 1984, containing microscopic cavities that once might have held [[microbes]] and that, until recently, was believed to have fallen to earth from Mars.<ref>Donald L. Savage, James Hartsfield, and David Salisbury, "[http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/nasa1.html Meteorite Yields Evidence of Primitive Life on Early Mars]," ''Mars Meteorite Project'', press release 96-160, August 7, 1996. Retrieved April 17, 2007, from the [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] Web servers.</ref>
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|-
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|[[Isaac Newton|Newton's]] explanation of gravity is approximately correct but required refinement.||[[Charles Darwin|Darwin's]] explanation of evolution is approximately correct, but required refinement.
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If one could show that abiogenesis occurred on Mars, then that process was far more likely to have occurred on earth than it would be absent such a showing or finding. Yet apart from the reliability of such evidence is this one inherent weakness for this argument: it assumes that life ''found'' on Mars ''originated'' on Mars. The [[Hydroplate theory]] of the [[Great Flood]] suggests that large quantities of water, including muddy slurries, were ejected into space during the initial fissure of the original earth's crust, and that these ejecta persist today as [[comet]]s, [[asteroid]]s, and [[meteor]]oids. If such ejected water and mud fell to Mars from above, then they might have held [[microbes]]--and therefore any microbes found on Mars are far more likely to have come from earth during the Noachic Flood than to have originated on Mars.<ref>If such life forms survived, that need not be a great shock to any observer. [[Extremophiles]], or microbes known to thrive under conditions that would kill or render dormant any other form of life, are well-known on earth and have even been the subject of engineering studies attempting to find practical uses for them.</ref>
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|-
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|[[Einstein]]'s explanation is a refinement of Newton's explanation of gravity. Einstein's explanation is currently the most accepted explanation of the fact of gravity. || The [[modern evolutionary synthesis]] is a refinement of Darwin's explanation of evolution. This modern synthesis is currently the most accepted explanation of the fact of evolution.
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Space scientists have searched for extraterrestrial microbes for years. To date, no definitive proof of such microbes has been found. The Antarctic meteorite mentioned above, and the alleged bacterial fossils on it, fueled speculation for months, until other scientists finally determined that the microbes involved probably were earthly contaminants.<ref>Rick Lockridge, "[http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9801/15/contaminated.rock/ Scientists dispute NASA's claims about Mars meteorite]", ''The Cable News Network'', January 15, 1998. Retrieved April 17, 2007 from CNN's web servers.</ref>
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|-
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|Einstein's explanation of the fact of gravity is called ''The General theory of relativity''. ||The explanation of the fact of evolution provided by the modern synthesis is the latest and most widely accepted ''Theory of Evolution''.
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Nevertheless, the finding of extraterrestrial microbes on [[Mars]] is one of the fondest expressed hopes of NASA planetary scientists<ref>Authors unknown, "[http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/life/ Do Martians Exist?], ''NASA Mars Exploration'', 05 Oct 2005 04:51:40 UTC. Retrieved April 17, 2007, from [[NASA]].</ref> and of other scientists and advocacy groups<ref>Everett Gibson, Jr., David S. McKay, and Kathie Thomas-Kerpta, "[http://www.marssociety.org/portal/TMS_Library/MAR_98_046/view Life on Mars: Evidence from Martian Meteorites]," ''Proceedings of the Founding Convention of the Mars Society'', R. M. Zubrin and M. Zubrin, eds. 1998. Retrieved April 17, 2007, from [http://www.marssociety.org The Mars Society].</ref> hoping to persuade the [[United States]] government, or perhaps the [[United Nations]], to fund crewed expeditions to Mars. Furthermore, no sane space mission planner could in good conscience ignore the potential hazard of the transport of a microbe to earth and the release of that microbe into earth's [[biosphere]]. Happily, measures for containing such a microbe, perhaps derived from those measures taken during [[Project Apollo]], would contribute a relatively insignificant amount to the total budget of a program of crewed missions to Mars or to any other celestial body.
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|-
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!style="background:#d0e5f5;color:black" |Gravity is a fact and a theory.!!style="background:#d0e5f5;color:black" |Evolution is a fact and a theory.   
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[[Francis Crick]] and [[Leslie Orgel]], in 1973,<ref>Crick, F. H. C., and Orgel, L. E. "Directed Panspermia," ''Icarus'', 19, 341 (1973).</ref> openly speculated on a form of exogenesis called [[Panspermia#Directed panspermia|directed panspermia]], in which such an extraterrestrial nation-state fired a brace of missiles, each laden with [[bacteria]] and/or [[blue-green algae]], in all directions. One such  missile crashed on earth, and we are its by-product, as it were, their theory states.<ref>For a detailed discussion on the logical weaknesses and omissions of such a position, see the main article on [[Panspermia]].</ref>
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|}
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====Candidates for extraterrestrial life in our Solar System====
 
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Besides [[Earth]] there are two moons and one planet that scientists consider possibly habitable to some form of life.
 
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#[[Mars]], as mentioned above, is the most popular candidate. Ice is known to exist at the poles. Some liquid water might exist on Mars because temperatures occasionally rise above freezing.
 
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#The [[Jupiter|Jovian]] moon [[Europa (moon)|Europa]] is covered with a thick sheet of ice. Scientists speculate that a liquid ocean may exist under the crust and that may harbour life.
 
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#[[Titan]], a moon of [[Saturn]], has approximately the same percentage of [[nitrogen]] in its atmosphere as in Earth's. Titan also has [[ocean]]s and thick clouds. Scientists have determined that the oceans are liquid [[methane]], not water, and that the low temperatures of -178° Celsius make life, at least as we know it, highly improbable.
 
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=== Extraterrestrial Civilizations ===
 
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Do one or more extraterrestrial civilizations exist? Until recently, speculation about extraterrestrial races was confined either to [[science fiction]] or to innumerable anecdotal reports of "[[UFO|unidentified flying objects]]." These latter reports were once the subject of an investigation, known as [[Project Blue Book]], by the [[United States Air Force]].<ref>Anonymous, "[http://www.ufoevidence.org/topics/ProjectBlueBook.htm Project Blue Book]", ''[http://www.ufoevidence.org/ UFO Evidence.org]'', retrieved April 16, 2007</ref><ref>Anonymous, ''[http://www.bluebookarchive.org/ The Project Blue Book Archive]'', retrieved April 16, 2007</ref><ref>Fund for Unidentified Flying Object Research (FUFOR), ''[http://www.nicap.org/index.htm Official Site of the National Investigative Committee for Aerial Phenomena]'', Francis L. Ridge, editor and Webmaster, December 15, 1997 to present. Retrieved April 16, 2007.</ref><ref>Presumably the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Soviet]] Army Air Forces had their own version of Blue Book as well.</ref> But years after Blue Book wound down, a large cadre of scientists began to entertain seriously the notion that extraterrestrial civilizations might exist.
 
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SETI ('''S'''earch for '''E'''xtra'''t'''errestrial '''I'''ntelligence)<ref>[http://www.seti.org/site/pp.asp?c=ktJ2J9MMIsE&b=178025 Home of the SETI Institute]</ref> is the name given to several government and privately-funded projects that over the years have searched for evidence of extraterrestrial civilizations. This is done by listening via [[radiotelescope]] on a defined frequency band for any transmission having any semblance of order. The frequency band is one that, they believe, is the likeliest region in the [[electromagnetic spectrum]] for anyone to be sending a signal intended to cross interstellar, or even intergalactic, space.
 
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No definitive evidence exists for any form of extraterrestrial civilization. While the [[Project Blue Book]] investigators found a number of cases that they had to classify as "unknown," they were able to classify the bulk of the anecdotes as anything from outright hoaxes to misinterpretations of common weather features to misinterpretation of the sightings of ordinary aircraft.<ref>The Air Force might also have acted in a deceptive manner in certain isolated cases in which what the witnesses took for [[UFO]]s were actually secret experimental prototypes. Perhaps some of these prototypes exist today as the [[B-2]], [[F-117]], and other [[Stealth aircraft]].</ref> Neither has any [[Astronomy|astronomer]] or [[astronaut]] reported a definite sighting of, much less contact with, any carrier-like vessel that would have been capable of launching any of the alleged two-seater or similar small-crewed craft that various "witnesses" report having encountered. Nor has any [[physics|physicist]] yet suggested a method by which such a craft could have visited our [[solar system]], given the fixed speed limit set by the [[Special Theory of Relativity]]. Finally, the SETI project, for all their searching for a signal (even to recruiting civilians to participate in a "distributed computing" project to process the noise they have received from their radiotelescopes), have never isolated anything like a definite signal.
 
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====The Drake Equation====
 
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In 1961, astronomer Frank Drake developed a method for estimating of the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in the galaxy.  The Drake Equation simply begins with the number of stars, then multiplies that number by a series of probabilities (probability that a star has planets, that a planet can support life, etc.) to obtain the quantity desired (number of populated planets, number of civilizations whose existence is detectable, etc.).
 
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In principle, the Drake Equation can provide an upper and lower bound for the number of extraterrestrial civilizations by setting upper and lower bounds for each probability factor, which can then be improved upon as better information becomes available. Because the number of stars in so huge, even the lower bound is often calculated to be a respectable number.  However, a serious problem is that some of the probabilities are completely unknown, or even unknowable. For example, the probability of life emerging on a planet is a meaningless concept if life is created directly by God and not by some naturalistic process.
 
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If any of the probabilities appearing in the equation is zero, then the number of extraterrestrial civilizations of course goes to zero.  This is a serious problem if one relies only on naturalistic explanations of the genesis of life.  One of the most well-accepted scientific laws, the [[law of biogenesis]], says that life only comes from life, which means that it cannot come from non-life.  Furthermore, scientific observations are that evolution itself is impossible, as evolution requires ''increasing'' genetic [[information]], whereas observations show that living things ''lose'' genetic information.<ref>Wieland, Carl, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/431/ The evolution train’s a-comin’], ''Creation'' 24(2):16–19, March 2002.</ref>
 
  
 
== Extraterrestrial Life in Science Fiction ==
 
== Extraterrestrial Life in Science Fiction ==

Revision as of 23:52, June 23, 2008

Extraterrestrial life is life, whether demonstrated, hypothesized, or merely imagined, that did not obviously originate on the earth. It has been a staple of science fiction since the Edwardian era, but has also lately become the subject of intense speculation, scientific debate, and even theological debate.

The term life is here used in its usual manner to connote living things, regardless of complexity or condition of sentience. However, in science fiction especially, extraterrestrial life may take unconventional form, such as non-carbon-based life forms or even disembodied intelligence.

The term race here means a species of sentient individuals (not an ethnographic subdivision of a single species); for example, humans all belong to only one race, the human race.

Scientific terminology applied to evolution

The terms fact and theory can be applied to evolution, just as they are to gravity.[1] Misuse and misunderstanding of how those terms are applied to evolution have been used to construct arguments disputing the validity of evolution.

In the study of biological species, the facts include fossils and measurements of these fossils. The location of a fossil is an example of a fact (using the scientific meaning of the word fact). In species that rapidly reproduce, for example fruit flies, the process of evolutionary change has been observed in the laboratory.[2] The observation of fruit fly populations changing character is also an example of a fact, using the scientific meaning of the word fact. So evolution is a fact, at least using the scientific meaning of the word fact. These facts require an explanation, just as the observations of gravity did.

In biology, there have been many attempts to explain these observations over the years. Lamarckism, Transmutationism and Orthogenesis were all non-Darwinian theories that attempted to explain the observations of species and fossils and other evidence. However, the Theory of Evolution is the explanation for all relevant observations regarding the development of life, based on a model that explains all the available data and observations. Thus, evolution is not only a fact but also a theory, just as gravity is both a fact and a theory.

Gravity Evolution
Things falling is an observation of the pull of bodies towards each other. Fruit flies changing generation to generation is an observation of generational organism change.
Bodies pulling towards each other is called gravity. Organisms changing generation to generation is called evolution.
Gravity is a fact. Evolution is a fact.
An explanation for the facts of gravity. An explanation for the facts of evolution.
Aristotle and Galileo created explanations of the fact of gravity. These are now obsolete explanations. Lamarckism, Transmutationism and Orthogenesis were created as explanations of the fact of evolution. These are now discredited explanations.
Newton's explanation of gravity is approximately correct but required refinement. Darwin's explanation of evolution is approximately correct, but required refinement.
Einstein's explanation is a refinement of Newton's explanation of gravity. Einstein's explanation is currently the most accepted explanation of the fact of gravity. The modern evolutionary synthesis is a refinement of Darwin's explanation of evolution. This modern synthesis is currently the most accepted explanation of the fact of evolution.
Einstein's explanation of the fact of gravity is called The General theory of relativity. The explanation of the fact of evolution provided by the modern synthesis is the latest and most widely accepted Theory of Evolution.
Gravity is a fact and a theory. Evolution is a fact and a theory.

Extraterrestrial Life in Science Fiction

Extraterrestrial nation-states and, almost as often, extraterrestrial microbes, have been a staple of science fiction since soon after science-fiction writers first began speculating on what sort of inventions might carry men into outer space, and what they might discover there. H. G. Wells even speculated on an extraterrestrial civilization on the moon, populated by man-sized insects (The First Men in the Moon). Wells also speculated that the Martian nation-state would launch an invasion of earth (The War of the Worlds), an invasion that would fail when the Martian soldiers and pilots fell terminally ill with earthly microbes against which their immune systems would have no defense. Edgar Rice Burroughs indulged in far richer speculation on an entire civilization on Mars, and on semi-regular commerce between his Martians and a select few visitors from earth.

The middle twentieth century saw the introduction of a number of popular-culture icons that were either:

  1. Humans caught up in events on other, inhabited worlds, some of which were making war against the earth, or
  2. An extraterrestrial "refugee" that became an obvious God-substitute after, Moses-like, he crashed to earth in a small space capsule launched from a world that later destroyed itself in a cataclysm far more devastating than the Great Flood had been.

In addition to this, the motion picture industry, especially in the United States but also in Great Britain, produced scores of low-budget films having a theme involving an extraterrestrial nation-state attempting either:

  1. To recruit humans, usually by fraudulent means, into assisting them in weapons or defensive-systems development,
  2. To subvert human society and/or the international community by infiltration or by playing some individual humans or human nation-states against others, or:
  3. To invade the earth by main force.

The motion picture industry abandoned that theme as the century progressed, and produced a number of films showing extraterrestrials to be friendly. Toward the very end of the century, the theme of extraterrestrial invasion returned, in the form of a number of high-budget films that linked the basic theme to a number of modern-day legends, including:

  1. The alleged crash of an extraterrestrial scout craft near Roswell, New Mexico, United States.
  2. The synthetic religion, called Scientology, developed by the late L. Ron Hubbard. This movement informed many of Hubbard's works, including Battlefield Earth (which the actor John Travolta, an adherent of Scientology, has lately adapted for the motion pictures), and Mission Earth, a ten-volume series completed shortly before Hubbard's death and published posthumously.

The Star Trek television franchise that Gene Roddenberry created, with its myriad of extraterrestrial and often trans-galactic nation-states and empires hardly needs introduction. But in addition, producer Quinn Martin created a series that centered on one man's attempt to warn his government that certain people were not what they appeared, but were instead extraterrestrial spies. More recently, Kenneth Johnston created a concept (V) of a space-borne force whose commanding admiral and officers at first puts on a friendly appearance similar to that of Matthew Perry (the American commodore who first visited Japan) but, soon afterward, subvert human governmental and media institutions in order to further their true purpose, which is to steal earth's water and carry away earth's population for food.

Nor have science fiction writers ignored speculation on the finding of extraterrestrial microbes. Usually they have portrayed such microbes as capable of producing deadly extinction-level pandemics. (See, for example, The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton.) John B. Olson and Randall S. Ingermanson, however, speculated that the first crew to fly to Mars might discover incontrovertible evidence of microbial life--including a culturable microbe. This would engender excitement in the hearts of their launch authorites, but would also inspire such fear in the mind of a NASA engineer that she would actually attempt to strand or murder the crew to stop them from back-contaminating the earth with their culture.

Christian Views on Extraterrestrial Life

The question of whether the existence of an extraterrestrial race is compatible with the Bible is in sharp dispute. The dispute is probably of modern origin--the Catholic Church never issued any formal pronouncement on the question of alien life, and most Protestant confessions are silent on the matter. Those insisting that the Bible is entirely compatible with extraterrestrial races hold that the Bible contains no verse that says directly that man is the only sentient race in the universe.

John 10:16

Compatability advocates quote this verse:

I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. John 10:16 (NASB)

Critics of this position point out that that verse probably referred to the distinction between Jew and Gentile, and reject the proposition that "other sheep" might include extraterrestrial races.

Uniqueness of the Atonement

Opponents hold that the presence of such a race would give the lie to the claim of Jesus Christ that He came to take away the sin of the world.[3], and that He died once and only once to bring this about. They contend that since Jesus is referred to singly (as he was an individual person), this rules out the possibility of an alien counterpart to Jesus, and that an alien counterpart to Jesus is a necessary precondition for an alien nation to exist.[4][5]--and that Kingdom is also not of this universe, or "cosmos".

Defenders of the compatibility position might insist that neither of the two verses named above speaks directly to the uniqueness claim. But the original Hebrew and Greek texts use definite article adjectives and references to a specific person named Adam (and another, named Jesus), with no hint that either Adam or Jesus had any counterpart elsewhere in the cosmos. These things militate in favor of uniqueness almost as well as any direct negation of plurality might. Again, compatibility defenders might cite a lack of evidence that any hypothetical alien race would require counterparts to Jesus or Adam. But Christian critics reply that if the Bible is real at all, then life does not arise out of non-life. Therefore every race would have its Adam--and if any given Adam did not fall into sin, then his race would be under strict Divine orders to avoid contact with humans until the "hour of temptation" (see above) came to pass.[6]

The speculation concerning Jesus dying multiple deaths on other worlds has occasionally found poetic expression. See, for example, The Innumerable Christ by Hugh McDiarmid.

Extent of the Creation

The presence of extraterrestrial microbes on one or more of the other planets in our solar system (most likely Mars) does excite some fear in Christian quarters. But not all Christians harbor such fear, and even young earth creationists are quite confident that they could explain such a finding. For example, if the hydroplate theory is correct and a slurry of mud from the Great Flood traveled to Mars and poured itself out upon it, then such a slurry would almost certainly contain microbes. That some of these might be extremophiles, and thus capable of long-term survival even in such a harsh environment as that of Mars, is entirely possible and would allow complete harmony between the finding of microbes in such locations and the Biblical account of earth pre-history.

Non-Christian Views on Extraterrestrial Life

Outside of the Christian faith, other religions, as well as movements exhibiting characteristics common to pagan religions, have adopted or expressed tenets dealing with extraterrestrial life:

  1. Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard has lectured on and written accounts of complex extraterrestrial civilizations and alien interventions in earthly events.
  2. The Raelians believe that their minds are the once-disembodied souls of extraterrestrial persons (and therefore believe that their minds are extraterrestrial in origin though their bodies are not).
  3. The Hale-Bopp movement, whose members committed mass suicide in the season of the close passage near the earth of Comet Hale-Bopp, believed they would be taken away by an alien craft concealed in the comet's tail.
  4. The UFO movement, which exists as a loose alliance of organizations often having the initials "UFO" (for Unidentified Flying Object) in their names, viz., "Mutual UFO Network", "Center for UFO Studies," "Fund for UFO Research", express various beliefs concerning the extrterrestrial nature of unidentified flying objects.
  5. The Nation of Islam, especially when it came under the leadership of Louis Farrakhan, expressed a belief that the original founder of the Nation of Islam lives today in an extraterrestrial spacecraft called the "Mother Wheel," and that Farrakhan himself has been taken on board that vessel for consultations with this person.[7]

Explanations given for UFO sightings and belief

Lynn Cato, senior bibliographer for the library of Congress, created a 1600 entry on UFO bibliography for the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research. After a two year investigation, in which she reviewed thousands of documents, Catoe stated:[8][9]

“ A large part of the available UFO literature...deals with subjects like mental telepathy, automatic writing and invisible entities...poltergeist manifestations and 'possession'....Many of the UFO reports now being published in the popular press recount alleged incidents that are strikingly similar to demonic possession and psychic phenomenon which have long been known to theologians and parapsychologists. ”

Prominent UFO researcher John Keel concurred. After surveying the literature on demonology Keel stated,[9]

“ The manifestations and occurrences described in this imposing literature are similar if not entirely identical to the UFO phenomenon itself. ”

Astronomer Dr. Hugh Ross states that ninety-nine percent of what people have told him were UFOs, experienced astronomers can identify as a star, cluster, or other object in the night sky. The 1 percent of sightings, which he calls residual UFOs, have attracted his attention. [10] According to Dr. Ross very few astronomers have seen residual UFOs.[10]

The following newspaper excerpt[10] summarizes Dr. Ross's findings:


“ In 1969, however, Dr. Ross met two astronomers who were having regular UFO encounters. Both also happened to be involved in occult activity.

Upon investigation, Dr. Ross consistently found a connection between occult involvement and residual UFO encounters. For example, he said, countries with a high degree of occult activity such as Russia during the Soviet era, France, and certain parts of Brazil also had high percentages of UFO encounters. During Russia?s Soviet period when every expression of religion except occult activity had been outlawed, he said, “Russians were seeing UFOs at five to eight times the rate Americans were.

”

Christians who reject naturalistic explanations of life such as the theory of evolution have presented arguments in the field of Christian apologetics regarding UFO's being spiritual in nature and not amenable to naturalistic explanation.[9][8][11][12][13]

Political speculation on ET's and UFO's

Politicians (among them, former President of the United States Jimmy Carter) have openly speculated on the existence of extraterrestrial nation-states.[14] More recently, US Representative and Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich D-OH) was asked in a primary debate whether he had, as earlier alleged, seen a UFO--and answered in the affirmative.[15][16]

For further details, see the article on Exotheology.

References

  1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Moran
  2. ↑ Dobzhansky T, Pavlovsky O (1971). "Experimentally created incipient species of Drosophila". Nature 230 (5292): 289–92. doi:10.1038/230289a0. PMID 5549403. 
  3. ↑ I_John 2:2 (NASB)
  4. ↑ Genesis 1:26-28 (NASB)
  5. ↑ Romans 5:14 (NASB)
  6. ↑ For a further exposition of the uniqueness position, see Essay: Extraterrestrial Life and the Bible.
  7. ↑ Farrakhan seems recently to have abandoned this theory and attempted to steer the movement he now leads toward the orthodox Islam taught by Muhammad.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Authors unknown. "A UFO 2nd Coming." Let Us Reason Ministries, 2007. Retrieved November 3, 2007.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Gleghorn, Michael. "UFO's and Alien Beings." Probe Ministries. Retrieved November 3, 2007.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Tarjanyi, Judy. "Astronomer links UFOs to Occultism." The Toledo Blade, January 4, 2003. Retrieved November 3, 2007.
  11. ↑ Bohlin, Ray. "Are We Alone in the Universe?" Leadership University, July 14, 2002. Retrieved November 3, 2007.
  12. ↑ Authors unknown. "Alien Life/UFO Questions and Answers." Creation Ministries International. Retrieved November 3, 2007.
  13. ↑ Authors unknown. "Alien Life/UFO Questions and Answers." Answers in Genesis. Retrieved November 3, 2007.
  14. ↑ Carter claims to have witnessed an unidentified flying object in 1969; he remains the only U.S. President to have formally reported a UFO. He filed a report with the International UFO Bureau in Oklahoma City after a request from that organization.[1] See Jimmy Carter.
  15. ↑ User "nikbaron". Representative Dennis Kucinich UFO." <http://youtube.com>, posted October 31, 2007. Retrieved November 17, 2007.
  16. ↑ Feagler, Dick. "So Dennis Kucinich saw a UFO; what's the big deal?" The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), October 28, 2007. Retrieved November 17, 2007.

See Also

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