NASA gathers experts and religious leaders. The United States space agency seems to want to anticipate how the human race might react if aliens were really found in the future.
As quoted by us from the Daily Mail, Monday (12/27/2021) NASA recruited 24 theologians to take part in its program at the Center for Theological Inquiry (CTI) at Princeton University, which received a NASA grant of USD 1.1 million.
The program was formed to answer questions that have been raised for a very long time. For example, what is life to what is the boundary between humans and aliens. If aliens are found, it is hoped that there will be an adequate explanation from a religious perspective.
NASA itself is intensively searching for life on other planets. The latest mission on Mars, for example, will return samples obtained to Earth to investigate whether there is life there.
Then, James Webb's super-advanced telescope has just taken off, which will be far more capable of observing planets outside the Solar System and tracking aliens.
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Rev Dr Andrew Davison, a pastor and theologian at the University of Cambridge is one of the 24 experts recruited by NASA.
"Religious traditions will be important in terms of how humanity deals with confirmation that there is life elsewhere," he wrote in the blog.
"That's why it's part of NASA's ongoing goal to support work on the social implications of astrobiology, as they work with a variety of organizations including CTI."
According to him, if aliens are really found with strong evidence, then there will indeed be challenges for religious people, even those who have no religion.
But some religious experts believe there will be no problem if aliens are found. "If we are a product of creation, why can't life develop on other planets?" asked Duolle de Mello, an astronomer at Chatolic University.
Some religious leaders believe that aliens do not exist. "We have no excuse that there is a story of life elsewhere," said Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He mentions in the Bible, the purpose of this universe in the end is for humans to be saved from their sins.
