…with the James Web Telescope looking for sources of artificial light to identify potential intelligent life, and the news this week of Perseverance searching for microbial life on Mars it feels like we are getting closer to a major discovery. But what - if anything - would it mean for the religions on Earth if life is proven to exist out there?
You think they never changed?
What do you think Christmas is and where it came from?
Christmas was placed around the winter solistice to make conversion of ‘pagans’ easier in an "oh my god! you have a holiday then? so do I! what a coincidence! we should totally bump religions’’ manner.
But in the context of change, with respect to the fundamentals of the faith, Christmas is about as relevant to the religion as seasonal events in MMOs are to end game content. Christianity has many different flavours around the world depending on what local beliefs were absorbed. Just have a look at church calendars from different countries and see what saints are celebrated year round.
Arguing change in abrahamic religions, you probably would have had a bit more success discussing the great schism of 1054 or the protestant reformation, but even those keep the same basic belief system of existence of god, him having a son, existence of a heaven and a hell and such (fun fact - there’s no purgatory in the teachings of the catholic orthodox church - the full name for eastern orthodoxy).
Or, looking at other abrahamic religions you could argue that people that practice judaism have a saying along the lines that 3 rabbis have 4 opinions on a topic - an indicator of constant change in the world’a first monotheistic religion.
Fair points. I originally had the shism in my comment, but decided to keep it simple with a single example.
It might not be enough for you, but I do think the argument that “The entire point of abrahamic religions is to never change.” is so weak, that it can be disproven with a single argument out of many.
I would also not dismiss the importance of Christmas. Might I remind you of the legandary Christmas Truce in World War I? Christmas was so important to these people that it managed to be a bridge between two fighting forces where people on individual points of the front stopped killing each other even for just a bit.
Yeah if anything they have proven to be incredibly adaptable . Absorbing local pagan rituals to stay popular/relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_paganism#Pagan_influences_on_Christianity. I’m sure they would find a mental-gymnastics way to rationalise intelligent life on another planet and how it’s all part of God’s plan.
Yeah, letting people keep their rituals is generally a smart move. The romans did it too, just went over and said most of the time “yeah, your traditions are valid, they are part of our religion too, so keep trucking on”. Takes a lot of explosive pressure away when occupying other cultures, since religion is really really powerful and can be easily used to organize against occupiers.