NASA Hired 24 Theologians to Study How the Public Might React to the Existence of... Aliens

Any, uhhh, particular reason you're explorin' this particular conundrum at this particular time, fellas?

Between heaven and Earth, where do aliens fit in?

That's the question that NASA hopes theologians at the Center for Theological Inquiry (CTI) in Princeton, New Jersey, can answer, in a recent effort to understand how humans will react to news that intelligent life exists on other planets.

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Davison's upcoming book, "Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine," due out in 2022, according to the Times, will cover part of CTI and NASA's joint spiritual exploration, in which his "most significant question" is how theologians would respond to the notion "of there having been many incarnations [of Christ]" in the universe, he added in the blog post.

This is the latest dispatch to come in a partnership between the US space agency and the religious institute. In 2014, NASA awarded CTI a $1.1 million grant to study worshippers' interest in and openness to scientific inquiry called the Societal Implications of Astrobiology study.

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According to the Times, Davison's book notes that a "large number of people would turn to their religions traditions for guidance" if extraterrestrials were found...

You don't say. You don't say. You're telling me that when faced with a paradigm-shattering revelation, people will turn to the foundational traditions that sustain them for guidance..."

You don't say.

I could have told you that for $50,000.

No, for you, friends and family discount -- $40,000.

I don't know if this means they're anticipating the world being confronted by the existence of alien life in the near future, or if, as usual, the government just likes pointing the Money Hose in random directions and soaking everything in US currency.

I suspect the latter.

posted by Ace at 03:41 PM

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