# Creationist Ken Ham calls to end space program because aliens are going to hell anyway **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 22, 2014, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704 "2014-07-22T00:35:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/1 "2014-07-22T00:35:12Z")
[http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/21/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/21/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/) > [@](#): > > Creationist Ken Ham has said that the U.S. space program is a waste of money because any alien life that scientists found would be damned to hell. Harsh. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/2 "2014-07-22T00:53:20Z")
But…what if we could bring the Gospel to them? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/3 "2014-07-22T00:58:04Z")
Ken Ham has no honor. He will not go to Sto’Vo’Kor ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/4 "2014-07-22T01:09:39Z")
Gotta be the funniest story I’ve seen in a long time. Doesn’t this fool know that the aliens ARE god? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/5 "2014-07-22T01:10:37Z")
When I first heard about this, I looked in vain for a quotation from Ham in which he actually said “End the space program because aliens are going to Hell anyway,” because it would be so cool on a t-shirt with “Creationist Ken Ham” attribution. But apparently he confined himself to saying things like: > [@](#): > > You see, the Bible makes it clear that Adam’s sin affected the whole universe. This means that any aliens would also be affected by Adam’s sin, but because they are not Adam’s descendants, they can’t have salvation. …which actually is even more hilarious. (What a rotten piece of Catch-22 luck for the poor aliens!..the sin of some far-off alien has damned them, but because they’re not that alien’s blood kin, they are unable to receive the benefit that _should_ come from belief in the divinity of _another_ far-off alien!!!) But that’s just not pithy enough for a good t-shirt. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/6 "2014-07-22T01:19:13Z")
Aliens would not have partaken in the eating of the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil Knowledge. Only Man is so inherently wicked. If we do find intelligent aliens, let’s all pray to God they’re not hungry: Oh father, we beseech thee to grant us our prayers, Grant us our boon and make us taste bad, And as the mana from heaven may they taste good; Amen ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/7 "2014-07-22T01:21:57Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > But that’s just not pithy enough for a good t-shirt. ☹ But it is really Stupid. ETA: Oooops. Wrong thread. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/8 "2014-07-22T01:22:41Z")
the hell with _him_! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/9 "2014-07-22T01:55:39Z")
I think Ken Ham is a troll. Maybe not on a message board, but I think he’s saying wacky stuff to get a reaction. And it’s working. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/10 "2014-07-22T02:01:44Z")
I thought the aliens were the demons. We live on the edge of Hell. But Heaven is Kolob… ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/11 "2014-07-22T02:11:01Z")
So Ken Ham’s argument is that he worships a monster, a tyrant who subjects the maximum possible collective to the maximum possible punishment? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/12 "2014-07-22T02:17:58Z")
Ham probably confused Aliens with Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/13 "2014-07-22T02:27:35Z")
Creationists lie, distort, misquote, and take quotes out of context. I expect better from our side. Unfortunately, in this thread, I’m not getting it. Why are we accepting a blogger’s second-hand distortion of what Ham is saying? The Internet wasn’t invented last week. Ham posts [copious amounts of writing online](https://answersingenesis.org/), and if he’s worth mocking, he’s worth mocking from the original source. Here is what Ham says: > [@](#): > > God created the entire universe. God’s Son Jesus Christ came to Earth as a human being, the “last Adam,” (I Corinthians 15:45-47) to die for all human beings who, like their real common ancestor—the first Adam—are sinners. We also know from God’s Word that the whole creation groans with corruption (Romans 8:21-22) under the curse of man’s sin. Thus the theological position of extraterrestrial intelligent life would cast aspersions on God’s character, as such beings would be reaping the guilty whirlwind of man’s sin without access to the grace of Christ. Observe first that Ham is not talking about the space program, nor calling to end the space program, but only talking about SETI. Observe also that he is not saying “who cares if we find intelligent life, because said life would be damned”, but that “said life would be damned, and God wouldn’t do that, so we are unlikely to find it”. The second version is still plenty mock-worthy. Generation upon generation of human beings, outside of the Middle East and Europe, lived and died “without access to the grace of Christ”, which seems to trouble Ham not at all. But it’s unthinkable that God would do this to aliens? But at least, we would be mocking him for what he said, rather than what some blogger said he said and we were too lazy to look up. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/14 "2014-07-22T02:28:00Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Aliens would not have partaken in the eating of the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil Knowledge. C.S. Lewis wrote that story. In the second book, the protagonist goes to Venus to wrestle with the devil who has shrouded the Earth in silence with his evil, or something like that. But at least Clive was imaginative about it. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/15 "2014-07-22T02:37:28Z")
Do you think Ken is happy? I sometimes wonder if I would be happier if I was a complete fruitloop with a simple and certain outlook on life, without room for self doubt. It would all be so much easier. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/16 "2014-07-22T03:09:55Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > I thought the aliens were the demons. That’s what I was taught as a kid. Humans are made in God’s image, therefore aliens are not made in God’s image and must be demonic in origin. UFOs are real and piloted by demons. ---
**Author:** ![Itself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d07c76/32.png) [@Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/17 "2014-07-22T03:14:55Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Do you think Ken is happy? I sometimes wonder if I would be happier if I was a complete fruitloop with a simple and certain outlook on life, without room for self doubt. It would all be so much easier. You know, I’ve honestly wondered the same thing. It must be nice to have a complete set of answers (granted, they’re batshit answers) for any issue that comes up, to be utterly convinced of your correctness and immune to any arguments to the contrary, and to be able to summarily dismiss your detractors as evil unbelievers or ignorant tools of a secret athiest secular conspiracy. (Conspiracy theorists must get a similar sense of satisfaction, although they’re not as well organized). For that matter, Ham also seems to be quite comfortably financially. He even has a museum teaching people that representatives of all the animals in the world, including dinosaurs, were put on a magic boat about 4500 years ago to save them from a worldwide flood. So he’s got that going for him. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/18 "2014-07-22T03:57:40Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > [Creationist Ken Ham calls to end space program because aliens are going to hell anyway](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/21/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/) it’s all that anal probing, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/19 "2014-07-22T04:04:15Z")
James Blish wrote a novella, which he expanded into a novel in 1959, called _A Case of Conscience_. It’s about a Jesuit priest who finds an alien race who are perfectly moral, but because they have no concept of a deity, the priest is afraid that they must be damned. It’s an excellent read. It won a Hugo award. It’s available at [http://worldtracker.org/media/library/English%20Literature/B/Blish,%20James/Blish,%20James%20-%20A%20Case%20of%20Conscience.pdf](http://worldtracker.org/media/library/English%20Literature/B/Blish,%20James/Blish,%20James%20-%20A%20Case%20of%20Conscience.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/20 "2014-07-22T04:12:24Z")
Isn’t there something about this in the Bible in Paul’s letter to the Venutians? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704.md?page=2)