NASA Asked Theologians to Prepare People for Potential Alien Life Discovery

How would we react if aliens really show up? To find an answer to this question, NASA has enlisted theologians including priests, rabbis, and imams to deal with alien discovery, according to The Times.

Some starting from that point may say an announcement of the alien discovery is imminent, but it seems NASA is just taking every possibility into account by bringing 24 theologians together at the Center for Theological Inquiry (CTI) at Princeton in the US. Rev. Dr. Andrew Davison, a priest and theologian from the University of Cambridge are among these theologians for the program sponsored by the Washington-based agency.

To note, Davison has a doctorate in biochemistry from Oxford University, and the theologians are responsible for evaluating reactions that would come from several religions to the news regarding the discovery of aliens beyond our planet. Without a doubt, NASA’s latest move has increased the interest in the potential finding of the aforementioned creators.

SETI that stands for Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence is monitoring the depth of space to obtain signs from other possible civilizations on other planets. For this, scientists working as part of the project are examining electromagnetic radiation for transmissions. Moreover, NASA’s newly-built James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) launched to divulge the immense universe. The largest and most powerful space-based observatory ever built is expected to transform our understanding of alien life, inspecting the atmosphere of exoplanets to be sure whether they could harbor life.

“The headline findings are that adherents of a range of religious traditions report that they can take the idea in their stride,” said Davison in a book “Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine.” According to Davison, those who live in non-religious communities tend to “overestimate the challenges that religious people” would encounter in case of alien evidence.

Many of us, even all of us, wonder if aliens exist, but in fact, we don’t know how to react in the event of a possible encounter. A rabbi, an imam, and another priest said the doctrines of their religions for such discovery would fine, reports Futurism.

Searching for alien life

NASA-led project is titled “The Societal Implications of Astrobiology.” Religious scholars think that the overwhelming majority of religions of the world will embrace a possible alien life discovery. Some of these scholars highlighted a verse of the Quran, which is: “Among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the creatures He has spread in them.” Accordingly, some pointing out the passage have the opinion that there may be life on other planets. As for Judaism, rabbis have discussed the possibility of aliens since Medieval times, according to IFL Science.

A famed physicist and astronomer Stephen Hawking told us in a documentary named “Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places” there could be living creatures in places miles away from our planet. “One day, we might receive a signal from a planet,” he said, referring to Gliese 832c, one of the most Earth-like exoplanets discovered in 2014. “But we should be wary of answering back. Meeting an advanced civilization could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus. That didn’t turn out so well,” he added.

We don’t know if we will hear about evidence of alien existence in the near or distant future; however, it is a fact that NASA is taking this seriously.