# 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:** 3
**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, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/41 "2014-07-22T14:32:32Z")
> [@Askthepizzaguy](#): > > Why, may I ask, does anyone care what Ken Ham thinks? > > What’s his claim to fame besides being a public idiot? What’s he ever done or contributed to society? > > He’s a creationist and evangelist. The only way people like that make money is to tell other people who are creationists and evangelicals the things they already believe, and then accept money for it. > > Why isn’t life that easy for me? Why couldn’t I run around telling scientists that their methods are valid, and then get paid for it? you could, at least in theory. you choose not to. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/42 "2014-07-22T15:08:34Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > you could, at least in theory. you choose not to. 🙂 Really? There would be a way to make money doing something like this, the same dishonest way Ham does it? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/43 "2014-07-22T15:37:41Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > 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”. Of course intelligent ETs can exist, they just wouldn’t have souls. You know, like the Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/44 "2014-07-22T15:39:04Z")
what if God needs a starship? We need to fund the space program so we can bring Him one ---
**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, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/45 "2014-07-22T16:21:11Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Of course intelligent ETs can exist, they just wouldn’t have souls. You know, like the Japanese. Or gingers. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/46 "2014-07-22T16:52:41Z")
The title of this thread betokens a fantastic line of reasoning, I agree…I think this creationist has stuck his neck out and made an awkward, embarrassing comment on a topic completely irrelevant to the theme of the Bible. And probably only because it’s in the public eye, thanks to \* Star Wars \* and its ilk. ---
**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, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/47 "2014-07-22T16:53:11Z")
It’s fun to think about how Ken Ham and his ilk would handle contact with alien life. But what worries me is if the aliens think more like him than us rational people. At best they will try to gently convert us to their Blaherbavergianity or whatever, or at worst treat us like the Ken Hams would treat vermin. Or more likely, some sects of the aliens will treat us one way, and some the other, and all levels in between. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/48 "2014-07-22T17:51:01Z")
Who would want all those icky aliens in (Human) Heaven anyway? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/49 "2014-07-22T18:07:25Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > It’s fun to think about how Ken Ham and his ilk would handle contact with alien life. But what worries me is if the aliens think more like him than us rational people. At best they will try to gently convert us to their Blaherbavergianity or whatever, or at worst treat us like the Ken Hams would treat vermin. Or more likely, some sects of the aliens will treat us one way, and some the other, and all levels in between. IOW, pretty much what the American Indians came in for. But without the contagious diseases. I hope. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/50 "2014-07-22T18:08:48Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Who would want all those icky aliens in (Human) Heaven anyway? Because Allah has promised the faithful 72 virgins each, the supply is limited, and creatures who reproduce by sporulation or fission gotta count, right? ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/51 "2014-07-22T19:03:21Z")
Yes, but what would marklar do? This marklar is a real marklar, pushing his irrational marklars on poor innocent marklars, marklar should just leave marklar alone, free to marklar or marklar what they marklar What a marklar! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/52 "2014-07-22T19:38:51Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Yeah, I just assume he’s a Kaufman-esque performance artist. The alternative is too horrible to ponder. If only. He’d be about 27 years overdue for dying from lung cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/53 "2014-07-22T19:48:03Z")
Ay yi yiiiii [Here’s his explanation for what he actually meant.](http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2014/07/22/huffington-post-admits-its-site-was-always-meant-to-be-fiction/) Points of interest: 1. He has Google Alerts notify him of what those nasty atheists are saying about him. 2. He must be aware of the criticisms leveled against him, because he copies and pastes it back to the nasty atheists. "Sadly, it’s typical of this Illinois writer and other atheists (not surprisingly they have no basis in absolute truth in their purposeless universe) who are not concerned at being accurate. “Truth” to them is relative, and whatever they can post or print to attack AiG that is not accurate is okay by them. 3. He laughs at the idea that the nasty atheists think he said that aliens are going to hell. He said he doesn’t believe in aliens in the first place, because “the gospel makes it clear that salvation through Christ is only for the Adamic race—human beings who are all descendants of Adam.” Why would he mention aliens in that context at all then? If they don’t exist, then he doesn’t need to address their potential salvation, but for some reason he does. “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.” 4. He has a one-minute video of him and _some guy_ with a camera who said he hasn’t found alien life yet. Apparently, the massive SETI satellite dishes working around the clock don’t compare to a tripod and light shield. Ham actually encourages NASA to look for alien life and not find it so he can be proved right. ---
**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, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/54 "2014-07-22T20:05:05Z")
> [@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. > [@Itself](#): > > 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. … I don’t see how dogma-clingers can be happy, given that they are continually under siege by, well, _facts_. At every waking moment they have to engage in mental battle against inputs–events, conversations, and physical realities–that contradict their dogma. It must be exhausting. ---
**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, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/55 "2014-07-22T20:26:46Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > I don’t see how dogma-clingers can be happy, given that they are continually under siege by, well, _facts_. At every waking moment they have to engage in mental battle against inputs–events, conversations, and physical realities–that contradict their dogma. > > It must be exhausting. I think facts roll off them effortlessly like water droplets off a duck’s back. The ones that don’t have that ability probably tend to become rational skeptics, to some degree, after enough time. ---
**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, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/56 "2014-07-22T20:38:14Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > I think facts roll off them effortlessly like water droplets off a duck’s back. The ones that don’t have that ability probably tend to become rational skeptics, to some degree, after enough time. Rational skeptics in the best-case scenario, or axe murderers in the worst, possibly. Or if no axe is handy they may work out the massive cognitive dissonance in other unpleasant ways (as with Warren Jeffs and his child-sexual assaults). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/57 "2014-07-22T20:42:49Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Ham actually encourages NASA to look for alien life and not find it so he can be proved right. What will he say if they **do** find it, I wonder? ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/58 "2014-07-22T20:46:41Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What will he say if they **do** find it, I wonder? Why then - as in **Locrian** ’s pie-in-the-sky, aliens-land, now-who’s-the-idiot scenario - we all get to point and laugh at Ken Ham. But don’t hold your breath until then. As to the aliens being damned. [1 Cor 15:22](http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/15-22.htm). ---
**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, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/59 "2014-07-22T21:12:13Z")
**Malacandra** your username is kinda related to this subject, am I correct? ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creationist-ken-ham-calls-to-end-space-program-because-aliens-are-going-to-hell-anyway/693704/60 "2014-07-22T22:40:03Z")
Indeed, but **eschereal** basically got there in post #23. [Previous 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) [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=4)