The discovery of intelligent aliens would be mind-blowing in many respects, but it could present a special dilemma for the world's religions, theologians pondering interstellar travel concepts said Saturday (Oct. 1).
Christians, in particular, might take the news hardest, because the Christian belief system does not easily allow for other intelligent beings in the universe, Christian thinkers said at the 100 Year Starship Symposium, a meeting sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to discuss issues surrounding traveling to other stars.
In other words, "Did Jesus die for Klingons too?" as philosophy professor Christian Weidemannof Germany's Ruhr-University Bochum titled his talk at a panel on the philosophical and religious considerations of visiting other worlds.
"According to Christianity, an historic event some 2,000 years ago was supposed to save the whole of creation," Weidemann said. "You can grasp the conflict."
Here's how the debate goes: If the whole of creation includes 125 billion galaxies with hundreds of billions of stars in each, as astronomers think, then what if some of these stars have planets with advanced civilizations, too? Why would Jesus Christ have come to Earth, of all the inhabited planets in the universe, to save Earthlings and abandon the rest of God's creatures?
This is the only picture available of a UFO that has been terrorizing residents in the state of Missouri for the past few days. Apparently the brightly-lit vehicle has been flying low over cars on the highway, and appears to break up into smaller craft. Dozens of witnesses have reported seeing it, boosting Missouri to a "UFO Alert" level 3. The state had the 8th highest number of UFO reports in the U.S. last month. What's going on?
A woman who saw the UFO earlier this week in a car with her family near Kansas City reported to MUFON:
We saw this object that had shape of stealth bomber that had green and white lights hovering over the highway. At first I told my husband and children that I thought it was a blimp, but as we got closer it was doing weird maneuvers."
We turned around to get closer, and by the time we got close enough it shot if like a rocket. There was another object in sky that it flew over and the light on it was a white, very bright light. I then called my father - retired navy - to ask him if stealth bombers hover and have green and white lights - and he said 'no.' He said that it might be a Harrin. So I looked it up and it didn't look like it either. So what was it that I saw?
Read more: The UFO PhenomenonDozens witness strange UFO over Missouri
A new documentary about Mayan civilization will provide evidence of extraterrestrial contact with the ancient culture, according to a Mexican government official and the film's producer.
"Revelations of the Mayans 2012 and Beyond," currently in production, will claim the Mayans had contact with extraterrestrials, producer Raul Julia-Levy revealed to TheWrap.
"Mexico will release codices, artifacts and significant documents with evidence of Mayan and extraterrestrial contact, and all of their information will be corroborated by archaeologists," said Julia-Levy, son of actor Raul Julia.
In a release to TheWrap, Luis Augusto Garcia Rosado, the minister of tourism for the Mexican state of Campeche, said new evidence has emerged "of contact between the Mayans and extraterrestrials, supported by translations of certain codices, which the government has kept secure in underground vaults for some time."
He also spoke, in a phone conversation, of "landing pads in the jungle that are 3,000 years old."
Raul-Julia claims there is proof that the Mayans had intended to lead the planet for thousands of years, but were forced to escape after an invasion by "men of dark intentions," leaving behind evidence of an advanced race.
"The Mexican government is not making this statement on their own -- everything we say, we're going to back it up," he said.
According to an organization that tracks UFO reports, this summer has been an especially busy period for UFO sightings. The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) noted that sightings increased over the past six weeks, with some states more than doubling their normal numbers.
Are we on the cusp of an alien invasion? Or maybe people just have more time on their hands to spot — and report — strange things in the sky?
More space news from MSNBC Tech & Science Curacao takes another step toward space tourism
Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: XCOR Aerospace and a tourist venture in Curacao flesh out a deal worth more than $10 million to offer rocket plane rides on the Caribbean island.
MUFON International Director Clifford Clift told Life's Little Mysteries that he's not sure what to make of the data at this point. It could be the start of something big, or it could merely be a computer glitch that accidentally counted some reports twice. Another possibility is that we're simply in the midst of a "UFO flap," one of many periodic increases in sightings over the years.
There are several reasons UFOs might appear in flaps, or clusters. One is that objects in the sky are usually seen by many people, especially when they appear over urban areas. UFOs typically don't hover close to Earth or in someone's back yard; instead, they are often sighted high in the sky — just far enough away so that we can't see details or get sharp photos.
The 23-year-old man, who has a history of mental illness, fired two pistol shots through his apartment window before opening fire from the window at what he imagined to be were alien invaders.
According to the Dale-Demokraten newspaper, the gunman said one shot hit a UFO, causing it to explode.
A woman who was in the apartment at the time of shooting in the central Swedish town of Hedemora called the police.
Despite the presence of armed officers it took the police several hours to convince the Swede that aliens had not earmarked him for abduction and that he was safe. The shooter, who has not been named, was later charged with illegal possession of a firearm and threatening a police officer.
“We do not believe that the threats voiced were anything other than the desperation of a confused person,” said local police in a statement.
A psychologist who examined the suspect after his arrest said he was suffering from a severe psychiatric disorder.
Police are now trying to ascertain where and how the man, who also has previous convictions, managed to get hold of the gun.
Story & source: Telegraph
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