Denver Newsroom, Jan 13, 2021 / 03:01 am (CNA).- This week, scientists discovered an FM radio signal emitting from Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter. No, it’s not aliens blasting some Kanye, NASA said, it is a naturally occurring phenomenon.
But what if scientists someday do discover intelligent extraterrestrials? What would that mean for humans? How would these beings relate to God, and in turn, how would humanity be called to relate to them? Or what if man-made AI started thinking for itself?
These are the kinds of questions that Society of Catholic Scientists will address at their conference in June.
“It’s a very hot subject scientifically now, because scientists have begun to discover large numbers of planets orbiting other stars. They’re called exoplanets…and many of them are habitable in theory,” Stephen Barr, president and co-founder of the Society of Catholic Scientists, told CNA.
“And it’s only going to become a bigger subject scientifically as more and more planets are discovered, and as scientists think of ways to investigate them,” he said.
Barr is professor emeritus in the department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Delaware and former director of its Bartol Research Institute.
He and some fellow Catholic scientists founded the SCS in 2016 with a desire to foster community among Catholic scientists, and to be a resource for Catholic science students and teachers. They also wanted to dispel the myth that Catholicism and science are somehow opposed. “People think that the world of science is completely atheistic, because up until now, atheist scientists have been much more outspoken,” Barr said. “We wanted…to make people aware that there are a lot of religious scientists out there, including a lot of believing Catholics.”
The SCS conference in June will address the topics of extraterrestrial as well as artificial intelligences from all kinds of scientific and theological angles, Barr said, such as whether aliens could have rational souls.
“It’s because we (humans) are free and rational that we are capable of love, and that we are spiritual. And so any being elsewhere in the universe to be a spiritual being…that requires a spiritual soul that is a gift from God. That’s why the Church teaches that every human being, from the first human beings, to every child that’s born or conceived, receives directly from God, – not simply just through the physics and chemistry, the biology of reproduction, but God – must act in a special way to confer a spiritual nature on a being,” Barr said.
The possibility of embodied spiritual beings who are not humans raises a host of additional questions, Barr added. “If there are rational beings elsewhere in the universe… would they be fallen? Would they need salvation?” he said.
Jonathan Lunine is the vice president of SCS and the David C. Duncan professor in the physical sciences of Cornell University and director of the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science. Lunine will be speaking at the SCS June conference about extraterrestrials from an astrophysical perspective.
“One of the things that I actually do work on is the question of whether there’s life elsewhere in the solar system and elsewhere in the cosmos,” Lunine said.
“And my interest in particular is not in looking for advanced civilizations,” he added. “I am interested in finding microbial life elsewhere in our own solar system. And in particular, as a first step, understanding which environments elsewhere in our solar system might support life.”
Lunine said that in the past 25 years, at least three moons in the outer solar system have been discovered to have oceans of liquid under their surfaces. “In the case of one of those, which is underneath the ice of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, that material is actually leaking out into space, it’s spewing out into space in form of water vapor and ice and dust,” he said.
“So we know that that ocean is salty. We know how salty it is. We know it has carbon-bearing molecules. Of course, carbon is the scaffolding of life.”
While microbial life, or any kind of life for that matter, has yet to be discovered in space, Lunine said it would be an “incredible discovery because it would tell us that in just one planetary system, our own in our galaxy, which contains 200 billion stars and probably as many planets, that the universe could be teaming with microbial life.”
As a Catholic, Lunine said the discovery of even microbial life would say something about the nature of God: “that we should not expect that life should have only begun on this planet, in the very same way that we should not expect that the only species of plants and animals that we see today on the earth are all there ever was over 4 billion years of the Earth’s history,” he said.
“Many theologians have pointed out that these wonderful creatures that we see in the fossil records that have evolved through time – that’s part of the super abundance of God’s creation. The same would be true for microbial life elsewhere in the universe.” Lunine said while the search for life is a “bona fide scientific goal,” he would leave most of the theological discussions up to the theologians.
As a practicing Catholic and scientist, Lunine said he hoped students of faith who were studying the sciences would look to SCS and famous scientists of faith to see that faith and science are not in conflict.
“I think many of us who are scientists, who have faith as well, feel that our faith gives us a deeper sense of appreciation for what it is that we’re discovering about the universe or about biology or whatever we’re studying in sciences,” he said.
Karin Öberg is an associate professor in the department of astronomy of Harvard University, and a convert to Catholicism. At the June conference, Öberg will be addressing the question of extraterrestrial intelligence from the perspective of astrochemistry.
The possibility of extraterrestrials “pushes us to think about what it means to be human,” she said. “When we think about intelligent extraterrestrials … it forces us to think about what makes humans special and to remind ourselves what some of the teachings of the Church are on that as well,” she said.
Oberg said one of the most interesting questions raised by the possibility of intelligent life outside of Earth is “if they exist, how that could possibly be reconciled with our salvation through the incarnation? And their possible salvation?”
It is something that the Church has not answered definitively, in part because intelligent extraterrestrials have yet to be discovered, if they exist at all. But Oberg said she and many scientists have an intuition that life does exist outside of the earth, at least in some form.
“I think if you polled scientists, the vast majority would say that they think it’s very likely that life exists elsewhere in the universe and perhaps quite abundantly,” she said.
For Oberg, membership in CSC has provided her with fellowship with other Catholic scientists. It also inspires her “to be a witness to younger Catholics, especially to Catholic students, to show by our lived lives that the faith and science exist quite harmoniously in both our private and professional lives, and that they don’t have to choose.”
She said she often wears a cross in class as part of that witness, to let other students of faith know that they belong in the sciences.
“I was a scientist before I was a Christian or a Catholic,” she said. “So I converted when I was in my late 20s, so after I’d gotten my PhD. I’ve never personally experienced any sense of conflict (between faith and science).”
Oberg said this idea of a faith-science conflict is really a “myth” born out of misunderstanding.
“It comes from, I would say, a misunderstanding either of what the Church teaches or a misunderstanding of what can actually be done with the scientific method, in terms of what things and processes are actually open for scientific investigation,” she said.
“Concepts such as the monotheistic God, or the soul of humans … are not actually open for scientific investigation and therefore not in conflict with scientific investigation.”
Christopher Baglow is the director of the Science and Religion Initiative of the McGrath Institute for Church Life of the University of Notre Dame. He serves as a theologian and liaison for the SCS, and will be speaking at the June conference about the theological questions raised by the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
“What’s exciting to me (about SCS) is that here you have scientists beginning to think seriously about an important truth that animates our faith. And that’s great for them obviously as persons, but also as representatives of the faith in academia,” he said.
Besides the questions about incarnational salvation, Baglow said other interesting questions arise when considering what solidarity with extraterrestrial beings would look like.
Furthermore, he asked, if they are spiritual beings worshipping the triune God, how might their liturgies differ from those here on earth?
“We could imagine that they’re set in a different environment, a different rational species with a different evolutionary history than ours. Their sacraments might be different. What would the sacrament of initiation look like for an aquatic rational species? Would you take them out of the water three times?” he said.
While there are a lot of interesting questions surrounding the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligent beings, Baglow said that Christians can have serenity in the face of these questions.
“We do not need to be disturbed that we’re even asking them, because no matter what new truths we discovered through the use of reason or the use of technology, the truths of the faith will always be greater than them, and able to encompass them in some kind of harmony,” he said.
“One theologian might argue, ‘Well, I think there would be one salvific death for all species.’ Another might argue, like I do: ‘For every fallen species, the Son of God would enter into their actual condition.’”
“As long as we are all affirming the same principles, we can come to a number of different conclusions and have great arguments about it,” he said.
When it comes to artificial intelligences, Baglow said that while those also pose some interesting questions, it is unlikely that the Church would ever say that they have been given souls by God.
“I think that in the case of any AI, you would always have a situation where whatever has the appearance of reason and will would ultimately simply be an extension of the program or of programmers,” he said. “Even in those programs that can learn algorithms…they’re always learning within a certain parameter in which that learning is totally conditioned by the programmers that made it.”
The SCS 20201 conference will be held June 4-6 in Washington, D.C., and interested participants can find registration information on the SCS website.
Barr said he hoped more Catholic scientists would become involved in the society. He also encouraged other Catholics to make use of the resources available on the SCS website, such as biographies of Catholic scientists throughout history, or articles and videos about various topics and commonly asked questions about science and faith.
“One of our four missions is to be a resource for the public on science-based questions, for apologetics and catechetical and evangelization purposes. We want to be available to answer people’s questions. We’re not just for ourselves,” he said.
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The Catholic Thing, Dec, 9 – If one is right, the other is wrong.
Former Catholic doing what she does best: using her elected office in government to destroy all that the Catholic Church believes and teaches. I suspect that Nancy studied at the feet of William Tecumseh Sherman. Good work, Nancy.
Sherman did not destroy all that the Catholic Church believes and teaches. Sadly, although he was baptized and raised by an adoptive family that was strongly Catholic, after some years he did not practice the Faith and disagreed with the Church. But his wife was extremely devout and active and the children were all sent to Catholic schools. One of his sons became a priest, though that caused Sherman some bitterness, bit he never sought to destroy the Church’s beliefs or teachings.
Kindly don’t insult him by comparing Pelosi to him.
Yes. He was instrumental in defeating the Confederacy and ending the Civil War after all. That’s kind of a big deal. His biographies are interesting reading.
What I always find interesting is the contemporary southerner women shrieking, “He’s a beast and a monster!” and yet you see story after story about how they mouthed off to him, and lived to tell the tale. Some monster.
Yes, I agree about his biographies. They are very interesting.
There is a charming story about his meeting 4-year-old Juliette Gordon Low in Savannah at the end of the war; her father was a captain in the Confederate army, and her mother’s brothers were serving in the US Army. Sherman was a friend of one of them and went to see Mrs. Gordon to give her messages from her family. Juliette and her sister had been curious about seeing “Old Sherman” in the march through Savannah the previous day, and their mother told Sherman so, while the little girls each protested that it was the other who had called him that. Sherman laughed, and then talked to and entertained the little girls for hours.
And before the war Sherman was in charge of what later became Louisiana State University. In one battle one of his former staff members was captured, and Sherman introduced him to someone as “This is (whatever the name was); he thinks he’s a Confederate officer but he’s really my professor of ancient languages.”
General Sherman may not have destroyed all things Catholic but he sure left a path of misery and destruction behind him.
I think his son who became a Catholic priest is buried in Grand Coteau, Louisiana next to a close relative of the Confederate Vice President.
We read: “Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic, called the act a ‘historic step forward in Democrats’ fight to defend the dignity and equality of every American.’”
Nice touch, that. This “historic” step in the most recent microseconds of human history! For talking heads, the notion now that some states can impose their rites (vs “rights”?) on other states, and even on the real rights of individual citizens (“equality of every American”) of other states? Constitution, what Constitution?
Wondering here if Her Majesty has witlessly teed up the ball (so to speak) for the inevitable Constitutional court case? Recalling not only Justice Thomas, but also Chief Justice Roberts in his earlier dissent to Obergefell v Hodges (2015): “Do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it.”
We might as well notice, too, whether the issue is no longer fenced-in to the redefinition of “marriage”? (And, such an insult to all members of the human race by insinuating an equivalence to interracial marriage!)
So. . .Is the real issue now about the redefinition of the nation-state, itself? The “state” now mutated into a lapdog in the Pavlovian hands of an unnatural mindset in all of its slippery-slope mutations? Does the redefined state now exist simply to salivate over and ratify a full range of possible redefinitions (“fatwas”?): gay marriage, but also polygamy, and then polyamorous block parties, and eventually even beastiality?
Pelosi’s open-ended redefinition of marriage, butt now especially the “state”: the tail wagging the dog?
It’s a very sad state of affairs where this has gone and of course Biden will sign since he’s a Catholic in name only, like Pelosi. But don’t worry, God is not mocked and what’s coming to America will show that you do not mess with God and His commandments !
I’m sure Biden will not sign since he is a devout Catholic….it would go against everything he has been taught since his youth and am sure he sought the advice and counsel of the Pope.
At the very least, Biden is at this moment consulting with his bishop (Washington or Wilmington????) about what a FAITHFUL Catholic ought to do. I’m certain that his episcopal advisor will show him the moral high road to take. We are all in good hands when we first consult our bishops when faced with weighty moral issues.
My Eposicial adviser is from Germany!
Didn’t his mother threaten/tell off a nun because of something that happened at his school, or do I have that story mixed up?
He always talked about taking Trump out behind the school gymnasium.
Opening a pandora’s box.
Pelosi conflated this bill with the decision in Dobbs, as if the two were related. Oh, wait, they are related. Both cases promote immorality. Once again, Cardinal Josef Ratzinger comes to mind. Later voted Pope Benedict XVI, he stated, “Truth is not determined by a majority vote.” No matter how many people think something is right, it doesn’t make it so.
Maybe someone in her family will utilize, possibly……………………
If the hierarchy had gone all-in on the promotion of NFP, especially in their hospitals systems, then they might not be where they find themselves.
Is NFP conscious, deliberate birth control? Just asking.
It depends on how you define “birth control.” NFP is not contraception, unless you want to consider abstaining from sex contraception.
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Observing a women’s fertility signs and then making a decision about whether to engage in, or not engage in, procreative activity does not offend the Church’s (God’s) prohibition on contraception
NFP is not contraception.
Marriage is the union of a man and a woman – yesterday today tomorrow – forever, and the nonsense which the ‘catholics’ and their pals in the house and senate insist in indulging in will NOT change that.
The ‘respect for marriage act’ – what a mockery.
“Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. And do not fear those who would kill the body for they cannot kill the soul. Instead fear Him who is able to destroy both the soul and body in Hell.” The fact that Americans no longer fear the Lord will lead to the destruction of this nation from within and without in one years time.
Some years ago as Vice President Biden performed a gay”wedding” ceremony – with scarcely any response by the bishops. For decades, politicians have trumpeted their Catholic identity while vigorously promoting abortion and same sex marriage. Few have faced any consequences from the Church. They continue to receive Communion and are virtually immune to any correction from the Church. The Archbishop of Washington is notably reluctant to uphold Church teaching in these areas.
And when Pelosi, Biden, et. al. die,they can expect an elaborate Catholic funeral as Ted Kennedy, Mario Cuomo, etc. received.
I cannot help wondering if our bishops simply prefer peace, unity (and perhaps popularity) to the truth. Or, do they not believe the teaching of the Church themselves?
Looking everyday that the “Catholic Church” may not be the true church it claims to be. A modern day synagogue of satan as Jesus would say.
If the Catholic Bishops would only become politically vocal on the moral issues of the day instead of cowardly shying from the public square this country could be turned around in short order. I blame the Catholic Bishops, not Catholic politicians ignorant of the Faith, for the passage of this same sex marriage bill.
Half the annual budget of the USCCB comes from the Feds. “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
Honestly, if the Church lost her 5013c tax status and lost her ability to get federal funds, that might be one of the best things to happen to her
Does the ‘Respect for Marriage’ law say as to whether or not it is going to ‘discriminate’ against man-boy-lovers, marriage to animals, or marriage to inanimate objects?
I can clearly see the legal problems with the ‘Respect for marriage’ law. Let us take a look at the pregnant 41 year old school teacher having sex with her 15 year old student. Even in jail for doing so, she now would have a right to marry her 15 year old lover, “to put the family back together”. The ‘wolf in sheeps clothing’ Progressive, Liberal, Socialist, Marxist Democrats next step is to help her fight ‘unconstitutional’, ‘age discrimination’, Federal laws which stand in the way of her ‘right’ to marry the one she loves.
After the school teacher wins her battle for her “rights”, it will be 50 year old male man-boy-lovers wanting to marry their 5 year old lovers.
https://youtu.be/ZnKB9NzgD4k
Florida teacher charged with having sex with student, 15, is now pregnant
https://nypost.com/2021/10/11/florida-teacher-pregnant-after-being-arrested-for-having-sex-with-student/
What ever happened to the sanctity of the sacrament of Matrimony?
Agreed. If the Catholic Bishops cannot be vocal on moral issues, what really is their purpose?
All these silly little people will someday be called to account, and they will have much to answer for.
The Church is the moral compass for Catholics—not the Federal government. The Church defines marriage for Catholics—-not the Federal government. Whatever happens in Washington DC never changes the teachings of the Church. Church leaders do not make policy in the Federal government and politicians do not make policy for the Church. Anyone who thinks the Church and the Federal government are equals are creating a golden calf. Catholics only pledge allegiance to God and nobody else. The Federal government should be ignored because it never dictates how Catholics are to live their lives.
People listen to the government because they keep writing out checks.
Government money is certainly a large part of this. That and human respect.
What will matter in the end is the question as to whether or not our church leaders have a spine. Or will they all simply cave in, in a heap as they did when it was demanded they close our churches for covid? ( Note: I am almost 70, have experienced covid twice. Clearly, I am not dead!) My point being, the feds can pass any law they want, fine you however much they want. In the end, they cannot FORCE you to do anything against your will. Unless you fear their penalties more than God. Pick your side. The disgusting and poisonous DEMs, or God. It really is that simple. If we lose our tax status, so what? A smaller church might be a better, more devout one. Close the catholic hospitals and schools if we must and see how easily the govt fills in the gap. If they can. What to do if we are sued in an effort to force the hiring of sexually inappropriate folks to become Catholic school teachers and church employees?? Say no. If indeed they shut us down, what can be done? Well, I think if I write a weekly invitation to my priest to celebrate Mass in my PRIVATE home ( as in the days of the old church in Rome)I will invite my friends too, and nobody else. What can they do about that? Nothing. End of story. There are ways to accomplish anything. All it takes is a spine and a will, and willingness to stand up for what you believe no matter WHAT the talking pin-heads are saying.
Amen, LJ!
I wish our bishops had the spirit, the faith and the love of our Lord Jesus that you do!
I don’t mean to be “digging at” the Holy Father. The Holy Father did say to legalize homosexual “civil union” and he has not retracted it. He hasn’t even said if the video of that, that was released, was made public with or without his permission or if it is a fraud in some manner.
What is to be made of it?
Man does not have power to legalize unnaturalness and abominations and the Pope has neither the power as Pope nor mandate for any such thing.
“Minutes before the vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic, called the act a ‘historic step forward in Democrats’ fight to defend the dignity and equality of every American.'”
Nancy Pelosi isn’t a Catholic. She is a heretic.
“DOMA, which the bill would repeal, is a 1996 law signed by President Bill Clinton that defined marriage federally as the union of a man and a woman, reserved federal benefits to heterosexual couples, and permitted states not to recognize same-sex marriages contracted in other states. DOMA was already effectively nullified by the 2013 and 2015 Supreme Court decisions United States v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states.”
The government (including the courts) has no power or authority to redefine marriage. Marriage is a matter of nature and was defined and instituted by God and is regulated by God and His Church – i.e. the Catholic Church.
To be validly married not only words, but also consummation is necessary. This is a matter of divine and natural law. It should be obvious that consummation is only possible between a physically mature male and female.
As far as I can tell, government is becoming more evil as time goes on. The rot is very deep and much of it appears to be very well hidden (e.g. not publicized) – and it is not confined to the federal government.
The Democrats – and some Republicans – have blood on their hands. They will be held accountable before God.
As Catholics ought to know, those guilty of unrepented mortal sin will go to Hell.
“Nancy Pelosi isn’t a Catholic. She is a heretic.”
She is a baptized Catholic. By all indications, she’s a very bad Catholic who holds to heretical views about life, sexuality, the human person, etc.