Pope's Astronomer Would Baptise Aliens

[Eaquae Legit]

Also: Calls Intelligent Design "bad theology"

Pope's astronomer says he would baptise an alien if it asked him

An alien – 'no matter how many tentacles it has' – could have a soul, says pope's astronomer

Aliens might have souls and could choose to be baptised if humans ever met them, a Vatican scientist said today. The official also dismissed intelligent design as "bad theology" that had been "hijacked" by American creationist fundamentalists.

Guy Consolmagno, who is one of the pope's astronomers, said he would be "delighted" if intelligent life was found among the stars. "But the odds of us finding it, of it being intelligent and us being able to communicate with it – when you add them up it's probably not a practical question."

Speaking ahead of a talk at the British Science Festival in Birmingham tomorrow, he said that the traditional definition of a soul was to have intelligence, free will, freedom to love and freedom to make decisions. "Any entity – no matter how many tentacles it has – has a soul." Would he baptise an alien? "Only if they asked."

Consolmagno, who became interested in science through reading science fiction, said that the Vatican was well aware of the latest goings-on in scientific research. "You'd be surprised," he said.

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, of which Stephen Hawking is a member, keeps the senior cardinals and the pope up-to-date with the latest scientific developments. Responding to Hawking's recent comments that the laws of physics removed the need for God, Consolmagno said: "Steven Hawking is a brilliant physicist and when it comes to theology I can say he's a brilliant physicist."

Consolmagno curates the pope's meteorite collection and is a trained astronomer and planetary scientist at the Vatican's observatory. He dismissed the ideas of intelligent design – a pseudoscientific version of creationism. "The word has been hijacked by a narrow group of creationist fundamentalists in America to mean something it didn't originally mean at all. It's another form of the God of the gaps. It's bad theology in that it turns God once again into the pagan god of thunder and lightning."

(more at the link)

I'm just totally tickled that the theology I research in the fourteenth century is being applied to theoretical aliens.

[jotabe]

I had heard of Consolmagno before... probably not in the best of situations. He was caught between a geocentrist and his inability to say straight up that Galileo was right.
I hope he has stepped up his gameplay against pseudoscientists since then. Pseudoscientists might defend extravagant and contrary-to-evidence ideas, but they are often very intelligent.

More on topic, wasn't Bishop Peregrino who said that the church had always had a term to refer to aliens? "children of God". Right before he attempted to convert the pequeninos.

[Luet]

I immediately thought of The Sparrow and it's sequel, appropriately named Children of God.

[Satya]

The UFO / Alien / Nephilim / Angel Deception;
Satan's plan involves deceiving humans into accepting aliens and UFO's, and a global religion based on the occult which will pave the way for anti-Christ. The main focus of this deception will be to convince humans that the Bible was wrong -- that life evolved on other planets and that these "alien space brothers" perhaps were the ones who created humans and the Bible was just a primitive misinterpretation of alien and UFO encounters. Look at the current fascination with the occult and divination in our popular culture, how aliens and ufos have become mainstream, and how the recent discovery of fossils in Mars rock, and the images of the Cydonia region of Mars have caused many to speculate that humans are not the only intelligence in the universe. What is more insidious is the assertion that superior beings out there -- aliens, or the White Brotherhood, or enlightening angels -- are giving us the technology and spiritual wisdom to become gods. Humans have been vulnerable to that temptation since Eve bit the apple.
Source - David Flynn


http://disasterpredictions.com/pyramid- ... ing-world/
http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/artic ... a/19632027

[Olhado_]

I find it funny that this is coming from the same group that this is coming from the same religion, which refused to believe that the Earth was not the center of universe. I guess things can change within 400 years.

And since we are are "religion" and aliens/UFOs you should also check out the beliefs of Joe Jordan's UnHoly Communion, where he explains alien abductions a different way. However, you have to listen to an hour and a half video to understand his point.

[jotabe]

Look at the current fascination with the occult and divination in our popular culture, how aliens and ufos have become mainstream

When have the occult and divination not been a fascination in popular culture? Quite the contrary, i'd say: a smaller proportion of people believe now in those than ever. Believing that the occult was real was, after all, a part of mainstream christianity in the past.

This is part of the reason why we have flying saucers (not ufos) and little green men in pop culture: the legends of the past, and the tales to scare children, like goblins, ghost and night monsters have just had removed the supernatural element, seeking a naturalistic explanation. But they are still the same thing they were when we called them goblins: the product of nightmares and our fear of the dark.

[Eaquae Legit]

I find it funny that this is coming from the same group that this is coming from the same religion, which refused to believe that the Earth was not the center of universe. I guess things can change within 400 years.

We got over that relatively quickly. Didn't take 400 years. It just took us 400 years to forgive the man who pointed it out for personally pissing off some high-ranking churchmen.

[surditate_vero]

Eaquae's right.

It wasn't until Galileo pissed off a few cardinals and even the pope (!) that he was hauled before the Inquisition. Believe it or not, folks, but the Church actually supported Copernicus and Galileo.

At least until Galileo decided to tell the pope that he was a simplistic dick by telling the whole world via one of his books instead of telling the pope to his face.

And this book was the same one in which he expounded his scientific discoveries confirming Copernicus' theory and work in full.

Not such a good idea. For him, and for science.

The moral? Never insult the pope in the same work you use to publicise a ginormous scientific discovery. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaad idea.

[jotabe]

At least until Galileo decided to tell the pope that he was a simplistic dick by telling the whole world via one of his books instead of telling the pope to his face.

It was the Pope's decision to put himself in the role of Simplicius. Noone had put a crossbow on his head forcing him to do it. In the same fashion, noone had forced him to forbid Galileo to present his discoveries as such, hence compelling Galileo to present them as a dialogue.

If the dialogue seems biased is because science is biased (in favour of reality).

[Eaquae Legit]

Urban didn't choose to be Simplicius. He was actually a fair supporter of Galileo and his theories.

??

[neo-dragon]

Is no one else going to say it?

"When we declare an alien species to be raman, it does mean that they have passed a threshold of moral maturity. It means that we have."

[Satya]

The road to hell is paved with theology.

[jotabe]

Urban didn't choose to be Simplicius. He was actually a fair supporter of Galileo and his theories.

??

I know, i was using "Pope" in a broad sense, as in the official position of the Vatican theologists. They felt their arguments against heliocentrism identified in Simplicius. They just didn't get down to the fact that if Simplicius arguments seemed silly it could be because they were silly. They could have chosen to change their mind, but they didn't. Instead, they chose to be Simplicius.

[Eaquae Legit]

The road to hell is paved with theology.

While I'm not sure I disagree with this, I'm curious exactly what you mean. (Sorry I missed it initially, I now have more time on my hands than I otherwise would and am re-reading old threads.)