# Would ET negate God? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 2, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045 "2006-10-02T23:10:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045/41 "2006-10-04T17:54:04Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] Ummmm, would it negate god? Well, if ET came down and said that god was crud and had proof of it, then yeah, I’d say it would negate it pretty damned good. [/QUOTE] No human scientist, theologian or philosopher has ever been able even to conceive of any hypothetical scientific evidence which, if found, would conclusively prove God does not exist. (Can you?) Why would an ET be in any better position? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045/42 "2006-10-04T20:42:54Z")
[QUOTE=Nature’s Call] Robert J. Sawyer wrote a book called [Calculating God](http://www.amazon.com/Calculating-God-Robert-J-Sawyer/dp/0812580354) in which aliens land and visit the Royal Ontario Museum (far-fetched enough for ya?). The ET asks for the head paleontologist. After some discussion, ET lets slip something that indicates belief in God. Paleontologist says, “I don’t believe in God.” ET says, “Are you sure you are the _chief_ paleontologist?” Turns out ETs are convinced of God’s existence due, in part, to their discovery of a 5th fundamental force that clinches the idea. I assume the OP presumes that the ETs would say, “What is this God of which you speak?” But what if they said, “Wow Christ died for your sins only 2000 years ago? Lucky!” [/QUOTE] C.S. Lewis had a series of not so well known book starting with Out of Silent Planet. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045/43 "2006-10-04T20:45:18Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] I look forward to making love to our future alien overlords. You might welcome them. I’ll boink them. Ummmm, would it negate god? Well, if ET came down and said that god was crud and had proof of it, then yeah, I’d say it would negate it pretty damned good. Would the existence of an alien negate it? At first glance, it might make some uneasy, but I think that belief in god would spark back up when people start saying that ET was made by god and they just don’t know it. [/QUOTE] The Uplift War series posits a universe that contemplates some of those issues. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045/44 "2006-10-04T20:58:02Z")
What if the aliens came up with surveillance tapes to show that, say, the resurrection of Christ actually happened? What would be the reaction of fundies, general religious folks, and atheists? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045/45 "2006-10-04T21:08:52Z")
[QUOTE=athelas] What if the aliens came up with surveillance tapes to show that, say, the resurrection of Christ actually happened? What would be the reaction of fundies, general religious folks, and atheists? [/QUOTE] It would, if it could be proven not to be Hollywood type special effects, reinforce my idea that Jesus was a cool frood who really knew where his towel was, but not do much about his Divinity either way. He’s not the only person who’s been reported to have resurrected (or at least appear dead for a time and then come out of it) and Ascended, and IMHO, Ascension is a skill that can be learned, and has occasionally been done. Not that I have any hope of doing it in this lifetime, you understand. I’m far too concerned with earthly matters to achieve Enlightenment any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045/46 "2006-10-05T00:13:14Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] No human scientist, theologian or philosopher has ever been able even to conceive of any hypothetical scientific evidence which, if found, would conclusively prove God does not exist. (Can you?) Why would an ET be in any better position? [/QUOTE] Well, if aliens operate under a different set of physics, which has been postulated, it’s possible…and almost by definition..that aliens would have a different point of view about theology. Hell, maybe they ARE god. Maybe they introduced some fun stuff into the water and started the ooze. That’s at least a possibility, right? ---
**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:** [October 5, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045/47 "2006-10-05T00:24:16Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] Hell, maybe they ARE god. Maybe they introduced some fun stuff into the water and started the ooze. That’s at least a possibility, right? [/QUOTE] _Second Advent_, by Mack Reynolds. Jesus shows up at the White House, and explains that he and his race are aliens that created the world and humanity ( “And as you can see, when we created man, we did so in our own image.” ) And yes, it _did_ take 7 days to make the Earth; when they inspired the Bible they found it amusing to make it as historically accurate as possible . . . ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045/48 "2006-10-05T00:30:57Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] . . . and IMHO, Ascension is a skill that can be learned, and has occasionally been done. [/QUOTE] 😕 Details? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045/49 "2006-10-05T00:53:05Z")
Well, If ET arrives, the fundies won’t be surprised if he is very intelligent and horny. But they will most likely will call for ET’s elimination before God gets really mad and wipe out the earth like He did the last time ET arrived. See [Genesis 6; NIV - Wickedness in the World - When human - Bible Gateway](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%206;&version=31); > [@](#): > > When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with [a] man forever, for he is mortal \*\* ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.” > The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. > > The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045/50 "2006-10-05T03:32:07Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] 😕 Details? [/QUOTE] Perhaps I should say has occasionally been reported by more than Jesus’s followers. Some of the Taoist Masters were reported to have Ascended, leaving only their clothes, hair and nails (the dead bits) behind, after a lifetime of learning to gather and store their vital life force. They do this while still alive, though, not after death, and by some theories escape obliteration and absorbtion into the Tao and retain their individuality after death and become “immortal” by doing so (a very big deal for a Taoist). “Imperial Prince Jin, a Taoist holy prince, the pious son of Emperor Lin of the ancient Zhou Dynasty (1027-256 BC) who ruled from 571-546 BC, was reported to have ascended to heaven before death, riding a white crane.” ([from here](http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/EH01Ad01.html)) Krishna, as well as his assailant Jara, ascended to heaven, apparantly without dying first, but stories vary. [You can read one version here (near the end).](http://www.suite101.com/lesson.cfm/18770/2387/6) There are reports of other Ascended Masters from India, as well. Muhammad, of course, Ascended to talk to God. My point was simply that Ascension is not a phenomenon unique to the Christian faith, so showing me the Ascension of Jesus would indeed tell me he was a cool guy in fine company, but it wouldn’t seal his unique Divinity for me, unless you could somehow also show me that none of these other guys (or gals, a few of the Taoists were reportedly women) managed it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045/51 "2006-10-19T16:50:26Z")
Other than for some extremely fundamentalist/species-ist members of various faiths for whom ETs would be an abomination, no, I don’t think their arrival would negate God. Most religions have enough doctrinal flexibility to deal with new circumstances as they arise, or they wouldn’t have lasted so long. Arthur C. Clarke’s _Childhood’s End_ addresses some of these issues, with a twist that’s particularly interesting. And George R.R. Martin’s short story “The Way of Cross and Dragon” is a fascinating look at the Catholic Church in the distant future, after it has come to terms with - and incorporated as priests, bishops, etc. - sentient and even nonhumanoid aliens. Both are well worth a look. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045/52 "2006-10-19T18:28:32Z")
Recently read a book by Michael Shermer in which he mused that for an alien species to visit earth they would have to be so scientifically more advanced than us that perhaps they would be indistinguishable from God/gods. In fact, given a few million years of evolution combined with applied genetic engineering and advanced technology, we might evolve into gods ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045/53 "2006-10-19T20:01:41Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Arthur C. Clarke’s _Childhood’s End_ addresses some of these issues, with a twist that’s particularly interesting. [/QUOTE] Definitely. Remember to look at the disclaimer page, where he says “The opinions in this book are not necessarily those of the author.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-et-negate-god/375045.md?page=2)