Life on other Planets?

Some of the recent buzz in the astronomy world has been around a star you may have heard of if you're listening to the news.

Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star we have been looking at because it seems to have some planets around it that we can detect with our telescopes. These guys are so much smarter than I am, that I don't fully understand the math behind it, but the basic idea here is that we can watch a star, and based on it's wobble, determine that there are planets around it and how far out they orbit.

The cool thing about this is that we have figured out the perfect distance from a star where it is warm enough for liquid water. That means it is possible to support life as we know it.

Now the article over at Cosmos Magazine presents a couple of hurdles and obstacles that may inhibit life (link to article here). However, this is extremely interesting on many levels.

First off, the possibility of a planet that humans could move to is exciting! Visions of Sci-fi movies swim through my brain as I think about it. I'm already making plans for a ship named Serenity2. Though we have to get past that annoying issue of physics known as FTL (Faster Than Light for those non-Scifi readers.) There is this annoying limit that Lightspeed is the fastest speed attainable by matter. We could get bogged down by specifics about particles that have exceeded light speed, and so forth, but to current physics, it isn't possible, so a trip out to Gliese 581 is several lifetimes away.

Secondly, and perhaps more controversially is the idea of actual living things on planet that isn't Earth. Scientifically, there's no reason this couldn't happen. If you find a rock flying around another sun, similarly distanced with a similar atmosphere, then there is no good reason that life wouldn't have "developed" similarly to earth. There's not much controversy there. The controversy arises when you delve into the religious realm.

I have to say, I've never really understood the whole uproar surrounding life on other planets and religion. The anti-God crowd claim that finding life on other planets would be the final nail in the coffin for organized religion. I'm not exactly sure the logic behind it, but that seems to be the stance they take.

I've even had some conversations with Christians that believe it is not possible to have life on other planets. This conversation has always been difficult for me since it is not only scientifically ignorant but theologically shortsighted as well.

My dilemma is this: Why can't a God that is powerful enough to create life, the universe, and everything, also create a universe that could sustain multiple life forms scattered all over? Or Why does alien life exclude the existence of a supreme creator?

Digging into some of the doctrines, I suppose the idea centers around the crucifixion of Jesus. According to most mainstream churches, he became the sacrifice to God that cleared away the sins humans have committed. It follows that if there is life on other planets, then Jesus didn't die for them, only for human kind, since he lived on this planet, among these people.

But why would that have to be? There is no chapter and verse that limits that to this planet. There isn't anything in any of the scriptures that suggests the sacrifice couldn't extend to beings on other planets, around other stars. Some churches may have doctrines addressing this issue, but they are not based on the scriptures they claim to believe. I assure you, there is nothing in the bible about aliens or other planets. It's just not there.

For that matter, it isn't a grand leap of faith to accept that a God that can create such a grand universe, and can create life on multiple planets, could also have a plan in place for the salvation of all of those beings. Perhaps they have their own Christ. Perhaps they did not sin and therefore have no need for a savior. Perhaps they don't have the freewill that allows them to choose a sinful life.

We don't know. And we can't know until we solve that annoying little FTL issue, or figure out a way to survive the long, slow trip.

My suggestion is this:

If you believe in an all powerful God, don't limit him by saying it isn't possible to find life on other planets. If he's all powerful, he's bigger than that.

If you don't believe in a god at all, don't show your anti-religion bias by condemning Christians simply because we may have found other beings. It doesn't mean anything religiously. Aliens do not make God impossible, anymore than entropy invalidates evolution.

Just because you don't understand how, doesn't mean it's impossible.