The chief astronomer of the Roman Catholic Church says intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space.
It's OK to believe in aliens
news.yahoo.comFound 52 days, 10 hours, 24 minutes, and 49 seconds agoBelieving that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.
It's OK to believe in aliens
breitbart.comFound 52 days, 15 hours, 23 minutes, and 41 seconds ago
Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens
msnbc.msn.comFound 52 days, 8 hours, 8 minutes, and 28 seconds agoThe Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God.
scienceblogs.com
Category:
There was a brief flurry of surprise a while back that Richard Dawkins acknowledged the possibility of extraterrestrial life, and that it was even possible that aliens might have visited Earth - for some reason, creationists thought this was hilarious, although it's actually a very clear element of scientific thought. We can admit a possibility - Dawkins even admitted the possiblity of a god in The God Delusion - but that does not imply that we think there is evidence for such a thing, and evidence is a necessary prerequisite for an idea to enter the purview of science.
Found 51 days, 21 hours, 26 minutes, and 59 seconds ago
j-walkblog.com
Extraterrestrial news: Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens . The Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God. The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones. In an interview published Tuesday by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes says that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures.
Found 52 days, 10 hours, 24 minutes, and 48 seconds ago
wickedstageact2.typepad.com
Whew. I wonder if Reverend Hagee will be glad to hear this one. The Vatican chief astronomer says that believing in aliens shouldn't contradict one's faith in God. According to the chief astronomer aliens would still be God's creatures. The headline of the article in which this was reported is "The Extraterrestrial is My Brother." I think the Vatican is planning on extending its ministry. Via MSBNC
Found 52 days, 8 hours, 8 minutes, and 24 seconds ago
truthdig.com
The pope's chief astronomer has written an article in the Vatican newspaper that argues that intelligent beings "created by God could exist in outer space." The article, "Aliens Are My Brother," is likely a move by the Vatican to strengthen its scientific credentials, bringing science and religion closer while maintaining papal control over the entire universe.
Found 51 days, 13 hours, 59 minutes, and 42 seconds ago
savas.parastatidis.name
Now, I wouldn't usually blog about a ./ article like this but the highlighted sentence made me laugh, something that I seriously needed after a tiring day full of meetings... "According to BBC, the director of the Vatican Observatory stated in an article titled 'Aliens Are My Brother' that intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space . 'The search for forms of extraterrestrial life does not contradict belief in God. - Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God.
Found 51 days, 11 hours, 54 minutes, and 26 seconds ago
badastronomy.com
I'm getting approximately eleventy bazillion emails about two news items: one is that the Vatican is welcoming our new alien overlords (if they exist), and that the UK has released lots of UFO files .
On the first, I'm not sure what to think. Given that it took the Vatican four centuries to fess up that just maybe possibly Galileo was right, I'm not so sure I care what they think about aliens. On the other hand, this is in direct disagreement with the oh-so-logical proclamations of creationists (in a nutshell -- haha -- special creation precludes life elsewhere), so maybe this will provide some fun schadenfreude.
Found 51 days, 13 hours, 59 minutes, and 49 seconds ago
skeptico.blogs.com
So the Vatican's chief astronomer thinks extraterrestrial life
might exist :
Found 51 days, 5 hours, 10 minutes ago
sensibleerection.com
Found 51 days, 22 hours, 3 minutes, and 28 seconds ago
genx40.com
There must be plenty of fun around the water cooler when you work at the Vatican's observatory : Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space...The official Vatican newspaper headlines his article 'Aliens Are My Brother'. Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could even be free from original sin, he speculates.
Found 51 days, 22 hours, 3 minutes, and 24 seconds ago
scienceblogs.com
Category: Science and Religion
A couple months ago, we learned that the Vatican named pollution a new sin and now it seems they like astronomy too...
Funes [Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory ] said science, especially astronomy, does not contradict religion... The Bible "is not a science book," Funes said, adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most "reasonable" explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.
Found 51 days, 20 hours, 46 minutes, and 15 seconds ago
calamur.org
Stuff that made me - in no particular order - think, chortle, smirk, snigger , nod my head wisely. I shan't identify which is what …coz it will be fun a year later to figure
a) Vatican Astronomers say that God may have created Aliens too ….
Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could even be free from original sin, he speculates.
Somewhere out there is a species of intelligent fern .
Found 52 days, 5 hours, 28 minutes, and 22 seconds ago
entangledstates.org
This really just says it all:
"The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.
In an interview published Tuesday by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes says that such a notion 'doesn't contradict our faith' because aliens would still be God's creatures.
The interview was headlined 'The extraterrestrial is my brother.' Funes said that ruling out the existence of aliens would be like 'putting limits' on God's creative freedom.
Found 52 days, 10 hours, 24 minutes, and 42 seconds ago
sondrak.com
The Pope's chief astronomer says that life on Mars cannot be ruled out.
Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space.
Father Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory near Rome, is a respected scientist who collaborates with universities around the world.
The search for forms of extraterrestrial life, he says, does not contradict belief in God.
The official Vatican newspaper headlines his article 'Aliens Are My Brother' .
Found 52 days, 10 hours, 19 minutes, and 48 seconds ago
theimpolitic.blogspot.com
Oh, brother. Now I've heard everything.
Found 52 days, 10 hours, 19 minutes, and 54 seconds ago
pseudojournalist.blogspot.com
Just in case you were worried about your place in heaven...
Found 52 days, 8 hours, 8 minutes, and 17 seconds ago
ironiccatholic.blogspot.com
Full story here.
Found 52 days, 5 hours, 11 minutes ago
blondesense.blogspot.com
bbc story
Found 52 days, 7 minutes, and 14 seconds ago
kipesquire.powerblogs.com
--What did the Vatican just tell Catholics it was now permissible to do ? (Hint: It would seem to contradict Genesis 1:26 , but who takes the Bible literally, right?)
Found 51 days, 23 hours, 4 minutes, and 35 seconds ago
bagofnothing.com
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God.
The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.
In an interview published Tuesday by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes says that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures.
Found 51 days, 22 hours, 32 minutes, and 57 seconds ago
vindauga.typepad.com
The Vatican has said it's okay to believe in aliens.
Found 51 days, 20 hours, 46 minutes, and 3 seconds ago
donklephant.com
Wow. I really never thought I'd see the day.
But how does this square with the Bible?
From the AP :
Found 51 days, 19 hours, 32 minutes, and 41 seconds ago
covertoperations.blogspot.com
Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens
Found 51 days, 17 hours, 8 minutes, and 46 seconds ago
boingboing.hexten.net
Woody Allen interviews Billy Graham on a 1960s talk show, asking him questions like what his favorite commandment is ("Honor thy father and mother," says Billy, to which Woody replies, "That's my *least* favorite commandment"). Both men are in their prime here. If only TV were still this interesting and entertaining. ( Part 2 )
Found 51 days, 17 hours, 7 minutes, and 44 seconds ago
yirah.com
Break out the tinfoil hats.
Yahoo : "Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday."
Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes: "How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere? Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."
Found 51 days, 16 hours, 32 minutes, and 12 seconds ago
churchhopping.com
So the Vatican's chief astronomer recently said that belief in aliens does not contradict faith in God . This is a hilarious discussion. One time Mindy and I got into a big argument because she wouldn't admit that it is more likely than not that there are aliens. Yes, we actually had this discussion. I think that logically with the size of the universe and the huge number of other planets, you have to say that there is a greater probability that there is life elsewhere than not. I am not saying that there are in fact aliens, but just that the probability of there being other life is greater than the probability of no other life.
Found 51 days, 16 hours, 31 minutes, and 34 seconds ago
hipandthigh.blogspot.com
Continuing in their historic manner of making profoundly grand pronouncements, the Vatican has stated that it is OK to believe in aliens .
Found 51 days, 15 hours, 24 minutes, and 11 seconds ago
dailymantra.com
Funes' recent L'Osservatore Romano interview, which has garnered much press , is not the first time the Vatican has gone on the record with regards to embracing the concept of alien life. A colleague of Funes', Brother Guy Consolmagno , the director of the Vatican Observatory's Research Group, which is based at Arizona's Steward Observatory, published a 48-page pamphlet on the subject in 2005 entitled Intelligent Life in the Universe? Catholic Belief and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life.
Found 51 days, 14 hours, 47 minutes, and 46 seconds ago
rhymeswithright.mu.nu
They've decide that believing in you doesn't constitute a theological problem.
Found 51 days, 13 hours, 1 minute, and 6 seconds ago
discardedlies.com
The 1930's Wife Evaluation Test
Found 51 days, 7 hours, 3 minutes, and 25 seconds ago
news.propeller.com
( news.yahoo.com )
Found 50 days, 20 hours, 18 minutes, and 20 seconds ago
politopics.com
Atheists and Scientists say I'm childish for holding onto this "God," but I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. And neither does the Vatican. Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens - Yahoo! News . It's position is that believing that there is other life, even intelligent life, in the universe does not contradict God and his plan for us on this planet. It's all part of creation. Even if you take the bible literally, which I would advise against, there isn't anything that rules this out.
Found 50 days, 17 hours, 19 minutes, and 37 seconds ago
vegblog.veggiedude.com
The only change made in the chart presented at Guantánamo was to drop its original title: "Communist Coercive Methods for Eliciting Individual Compliance." NY Times - China Inspired Interrogations at Guantánamo
Found 296 days, 3 hours, 38 minutes, and 59 seconds ago
paxalles.blogs.com
"Vatican says aliens could exist" from BBC News reports that Father Gabriel Funes, the Vatican's head astronomer says that aliens could exist in creation beyond Earth. Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space.
Father Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory near Rome, is a respected scientist who collaborates with universities around the world.
Found 52 days, 4 hours, 26 minutes, and 10 seconds ago
newscoma.wordpress.com
The Catholic Church is saying some things. N o, not about communion, but about aliens. From Mars.
The Pope's chief astronomer says that life on Mars cannot be ruled out.
Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space.
Father Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory near Rome, is a respected scientist who collaborates with universities around the world.
The search for forms of extraterrestrial life, he says, does not contradict belief in God.
Found 51 days, 22 hours, 41 minutes, and 20 seconds ago
planetatheism.com
If you're looking for more members of my tribe, here's a a list of The Top 100 Liberal Arts Professor Blogs . There's no indication of how they determined that these were "top" blogs, or what a "top" blog is (there is some sexual innuendo we could indulge in there), and strangely, Aetiology is classified as a psychology blog…it was probably compiled by a liberal arts professor. Anyway, you can find some interesting blogs here!
Read the comments on this post...
Found 286 days, 2 hours, 14 minutes, and 23 seconds ago
tiriongfx.blogspot.com
News from the Vatican
Found 51 days, 20 hours, 24 minutes, and 19 seconds ago
neuroti.ca
From Austria. Jesus. Is there something in the water over there?
Ah, yes. THIS is what I was baptized for. Proof positive that celibacy does strange things to your head.
Of Kings and Carnies is JimFormation Jim's latest project. Go read it. It's good. Jim's a terrific writer and has the admirable discipline to add lots of content to his space everyday. And all of it is worth reading. I so admire that.
Wednesday May 14, 2008 | 01:20 PM in Odds and Sods
Found 51 days, 16 hours, 24 minutes, and 28 seconds ago
science.slashdot.org
An anonymous reader writes "According to BBC, the director of the Vatican Observatory stated in an article titled 'Aliens Are My Brother' that intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space . 'The search for forms of extraterrestrial life does not contradict belief in God. - Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God.' Mind that this is not the same director who said that evolution is more than a mere theory - that was Father Coyne .
Found 51 days, 13 hours, 14 minutes, and 59 seconds ago
hoosierdiary.blogspot.com
has suggested that there might be life on other planets.
Found 51 days, 8 hours, 10 minutes, and 27 seconds ago
skeptico.blogs.com
So the Vatican's chief astronomer thinks extraterrestrial life
might exist :
Found 51 days, 5 hours, 9 minutes, and 29 seconds ago
outchurched.com
From the BBC :
Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space.
Father Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory near Rome, is a respected scientist who collaborates with universities around the world.
The search for forms of extraterrestrial life, he says, does not contradict belief in God.
The article doesn't seem to include the American Catholic response which was to suggest that we build a huge-ass dome to cover the entire United States to protect the economy from extraterrestrials who obviously don't have work permits.
Found 51 days, 5 hours, 9 minutes, and 24 seconds ago
goatrope.blogspot.com
HOLD THE BAPTISM ON THE ALIENS . The Vatican's chief astronomer says life could exist in outer space and that some aliens may not have our original sin thing going on.
Found 50 days, 22 hours, 58 minutes, and 24 seconds ago
seeward.com
For so many years the church has been behind the curve on scientific issues: gravity, the solar system, etc. This time it seems that they want to be way ahead on the Extraterrestrial issue. Today the Vatican's top astronomer announced that "the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones." He even went on to say that it is important that, if aliens exist, we see them as children of God just like human beings. This shocked me on several levels.
Found 52 days, 13 hours, 16 minutes, and 35 seconds ago
tzinski.wordpress.com
If there ARE aliens among us…it is now okay for you to believe in them.
According to the Vatican.
And if I sound like I'm being snarky about it…well, I am, because the headline of the story is the goofiest thing. But actually, it makes me happy. It's good to hear.
Although personally, I think the Big Bang theory is silly. It's a placeholder theory until we come up with something smarter. It was best summarized by a bumper sticker that says in the beginning, there was nothing, which exploded.
Found 52 days, 10 hours, 24 minutes, and 40 seconds ago
liturgical.wordpress.com
This has to be the biggest news item of the day, bar none:
Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.
I remember reading a breathless article in a fundamentalist publication -- more than 20 years ago now -- alarming everyone about E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial . It seemed that Steven Spielberg's cute alien was corrupting the children of the nation. The article quoted a little girl, who had proclaimed, "I love E.
Found 51 days, 20 hours, 11 minutes, and 3 seconds ago
pottermania06.blogspot.com
In other odd ramblings, I saw this headline today . Hmm, so let me get this straight--I can believe in crop circles and little green men, but because I use birth control I'm basically going to hell. And people wonder why I don't consider myself Catholic anymore. The fact that the Pope looks like a gremlin doesn't help matters any either.
Found 51 days, 15 hours, 23 minutes, and 19 seconds ago
blogwonks.com
I don't know about you, but I feel so used :
Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.
The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.
I just can't believe this! The Vatican has a chief astronomer? Hopefully they ran this story by the Vatican seismologist and Vatican pathology department before releasing it to the media.
Found 51 days, 14 hours, 10 minutes, and 43 seconds ago
johnjenright.blogspot.com
Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could even be free from original sin, he speculates.
Found 52 days, 9 hours, 9 minutes, and 4 seconds ago
expatbrian.wordpress.com
Oh, brother. Now I've heard everything.
Father Gabriel Funes, the Vatican's chief astronomer said that life on Mars cannot be ruled out and and that intelligent beings may exist in outer space. And, of course, God created them.
Found 52 days, 7 hours, 58 minutes, and 4 seconds ago
fornow.wordpress.com
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7399661.stm
Found 52 days, 5 hours, 58 minutes, and 57 seconds ago
vetta.org
Father Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory, recently wrote in the official Vatican newspaper that aliens may indeed exist . Just as I was trying to wrap my head around how these two world views could be integrated, Funes went on to suggest that aliens may even be free from original sin.
At that point I think my mind imploded.
It has a kind of Zen kōan quality about it. If the sound of one hand clapping isn't doing it for you, just try contemplating how the doctrine of original sin applies to aliens.
Found 52 days, 2 hours, 12 minutes, and 37 seconds ago
jaccuse.wordpress.com
Father Gabriel Funes, the Vatican Chief astronomer has not ruled out the possibility that aliens could exist. " Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could even be free from original sin, he speculates ." ( BBC ). Even if the statement is of itself mind boggling I have a particular problem with the use of the words "some aliens" . Had the sentence been that all aliens could be free from original sin I would understand.
Found 52 days, 33 minutes, and 46 seconds ago
ultimibarbarorum.com
AP reports: Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens
The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.
In an interview published Tuesday by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes says that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures.
Imagine the shock Funes will get when said aliens arrive on Earth and they have no idea what this god thing is he keeps on going on about.
Found 52 days, 33 minutes, and 42 seconds ago
carrietomko.blogspot.com
Read it here...
Found 51 days, 22 hours, 41 minutes, and 16 seconds ago
startlingmoniker.wordpress.com
So… the Pope's "chief astronomer" now says that aliens could exist , and that some of them might even be free from original sin. Sounds to me like the Vatican is covering its ass for the day we dig E.T. up!
In the spirit of being helpful, here's a few more amazing facts for the pope to add to his next muttering:
1) Tom Cruise might be a complete loon.
2) It's entirely possible that corporate radio sucks audibly.
3) The teapot's celestial orbit is more eccentric than originally thought.
Found 51 days, 19 hours, 20 minutes, and 16 seconds ago
in2deep.wordpress.com
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7399661.stm
Found 51 days, 18 hours, 5 minutes, and 51 seconds ago
eatmorecookies.wordpress.com
Sometimes I'm downright proud of my church.
In a recent story , a Vatican astronomer indicated that extraterrestrial life is in no way contradictory to Catholic doctrine.
You've come a long way, baby.
That's right, nothing in the Catechism precludes the existence of life elsewhere in the universe. Our faith is built around the human experience here on this planet - there's no telling what sort of other projects God may have in the works. Makes sense to me.
We Catholics are such a confusing lot.
Found 51 days, 14 hours, 35 minutes, and 16 seconds ago
aproposnothing.wordpress.com
Some more interesting things from the intertubes.
A page of examples of good typography - some beautiful stuff on here.
A story from BBC News about the problems caused to marine ecosystems when foreign species get transported in the ballast water of large ships and then released. The proposed solution? A big fuck-off microwave.
Also from BBC News: it turns out there could be intelligent life on other planets after all. We know this because the Vatican said so . It's funny how the Vatican employ a Chief Astronomer.
Found 51 days, 7 hours, 15 minutes, and 45 seconds ago
anselmic.wordpress.com
Quite a few years ago I remember stumbling across a radio programme in the UK about UFO's and Aliens. Unlike most of these kind of programmes it didn't go for the jokey 'close encounters folks are all weirdo's approach' rather it was all rather serious, and to be honest quite chilling. The main interviewee as I recall was Nick Pope an insider who looked into UFO sightings for the MOD. Serious, and sober, he didn't reveal any secrets, but he said enough to freak me out. The long and the short of it was that there is enough evidence for UFO's (in the sense of aliens flying around), and that government policy would need to change in the future from a 'theres no evidence for this kind of stuff' line to a ' there is evidence for this kind of stuff' line.
Found 51 days, 2 hours, 30 minutes, and 1 second ago
geoffrossisfamous.com
:: Vatican says aliens could exist
Found 50 days, 20 hours, 41 minutes, and 30 seconds ago
geeksaresexy.net
By Mark O'Neill
To all you UFO geeks out there, yes you read that headline right. The Vatican is officially acknowledging that aliens could actually exist out there in the galaxy and that their existence is not incompatible with God. Quick, alert Agent Mulder!
Although, this is not Pope Benny saying this mind you. That would be going one step too far. No, these are the words of the Pope's " chief astronomer " Father Gabriel Funes (what does he do? stare through a telescope all day ?
Found 50 days, 20 hours, 41 minutes, and 24 seconds ago
