There were 39 Mormons, 1 by paper and the rest by e-mail, out of 1325 people who responded. It asked various questions about belief in life on other worlds, but mostly if discovery of such life would be damaging to faith. As reported in a New Scientist article, few believe E.T. would damage their own faith, but a larger percent believe that wouldn't be the case for others.
To be fair, there wasn't that much difference between the respondents as to their personal position on discovery of aliens and crisis of faith. All of them had strong numbers in the belief they would not have a major crisis. Mainline Protestants were virtually tied with Mormons, although using the mainline label poses difficulties in interpretation. Even the lowest number among the faithful was above 80 percent in the belief discovery of alien life wouldn't be harmful. Buddhists were the highest in those who didn't believe the discovery of E.T.s would undercut what they believe.
It is when asked about the official doctrines that the numbers become less even. Although still above half for all faiths, only Buddhist respondents had higher numbers than Mormons when asked if the faith tradition itself would be challenged. The survey singled out Mormons in particular as a religion that could survive discovery of alien life on other planets. It reported:
Note how high Mormons score. Many Mormon respondents added comments to the effect that belief in ETI is already a part of Mormon doctrine. "My religion (LDS, Mormon) already believes in extra-terrestrials."
A greater disparity exists between Mormons and other religions when asked if Extraterrestrials would have sharp conflict of beliefs and practices compared to humans on Earth. Almost 30 percent more Mormons than other respondents disagreed that there would be significant differences. It didn't go without notice by those who gave the survey who wondered if incorporation of ETI in doctrine contributed to the responses.
Where does this positive acceptance of life on other world's come from? It is a combination of new revelations and doctrinal speculation. Mormonism can be seen as more than a religion based on a single planet called Earth. It extends The Gospel to both the Cosmic and the Eternal of existence. Critics might see this as "science fiction" rather than religion, but that is no worse than the "fantasy" of pure paranormal or metaphysical belief systems. Mormonism can often be science friendly and rather modern in theory.
9 comments:
I've always liked how the church stresses that Jesus is universal, and never really understood other church's insistence that Jesus only ever appeared to a specific ethnic/cultural group, or that believing in God means disavowing the possibility of life on other planets.
It appears that at a personal level other religious people agree that Jesus is not just the Savior of this world. Doctrinally, other religions are stuck on the Hellenistic concept of Earth as the center. They just have shifted the center of gravity.
But why does Earth have to be the center? That's what I don't get. Surely, God is all-powerful/vast enough to have created more than one form of intelligent life?
Who knows. You would have to ask them :)
You know, I have, but I've never gotten a satisfying answer. When you ask people about their religious beliefs--assuming they're comfortable talking about the issue at all, which in the northeast they're largely not--they tend to take it as an effort to convert them, or make fun of them. I've personally had pretty good luck talking to people about religion (although many of my friends have not), but once religion comes up, we seem to inevitably turn to me explaining why I'm not a hair shirt wearing polygamist hiding in a bunker somewhere (which seems to be the typical perception of LDS folks around here). Those have, by and large, been great discussions, where both parties have learned a lot--but I've never yet learned anything about extraterrestrials!
this is THE most interesting blog I have ever read! Believe me that saying something!
According to the Koran (Islam), God created many earth like planets and life forms. Many life forms will also be judged at judgment day. Many Muslim scholars take that as this means the universe are full of intelligent lifeforms. According to the Koran, God has also created bridges in the universe that allows us to move quickly from one place to another. Scholars believe this is what Einstein discovered and often referred to as wormholes. The Koran mentions that we (mankind) will one day interact with other life from space. Scholars believe this could mean communication (as between planets) or physical contacts. Many believe the wormholes (bridges) described by the Koran means we will one day have the capability to travel....but I guess it could also mean that other life forms have traveled to us. Who knows....
I am Mormon, Here in Houston I recall a letter being shown to me by my visiting Elders. This letter was a sort of announcement by the President Hinckly regarding the churches position on life on other planets. It said that the church acknolwedges exsistance of life on other planets and they are all pat of "creation". It was also said that they would appear much like us as this was the opriginal creation design with only slight diffrences in featurs. Do you recall this letter??
Sorry I don't recall such a letter. If you ever find it then it would be nice to read.
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