Aliens may have souls - says Pope's astronomer

Dr Consolmagno is the Pope's astronomer and said he would be happy to baptise an alien.

(From here: http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2010/09/30/%E2%80%98i%E2%80%99d-baptise-an-alien-%E2%80%93-but-only-if-it-asked%E2%80%99-says-pope%E2%80%99s-astronomer/) 

"... 

Speaking at the British Science Festival in Birmingham, Dr Consolmagno also dismissed Creationism and said that intelligent design was "bad theology".

Dr Consolmagno, 57, one of 12 astronomers working for the Vatican, said the Catholic Church had been supporting and funding science for centuries.

He said: "I'd be delighted if we found life elsewhere and delighted if we found intelligent life elsewhere.

"But the odds of us finding it, of it being intelligent and us being able to communicate with it – when you add them up it's probably not a practical question." Asked if he would baptise an alien he replied: "Only if they asked."

He added: "Any entity – no matter how many tentacles it has – has a soul."

Dr Consolmagno is the curator of the Pope's meteorite collection, a trained astronomer and planetary scientist at the Vatican's observatory. 

..."

Why would aliens have souls, when octopi don't? Or have I got souls wrong?

Why does the Pope have his own meteorite collection and curator?

Maybe they're trying a little too hard to make up for the Galileo incident.

I sort of support this line of reasoning that they've taken but it strikes me as pretty unbiblical. The Bible seems to exalt man, and only man as the one entity that the universe was formed for and whom was created in God's image. It might follow that only man would have a soul and be able to get into heaven. Aliens just aren't something that the Bible anticipates or allows the existence of.

Imagine though, if we met up with aliens and they already knew about Jesus independently of anything happening on earth. Would you accept this as solid evidence that Jesus reveals himself to people post-mortem? 

Why would aliens have souls, when octopi don't? Or have I got souls wrong?

Why does the Pope have his own meteorite collection and curator?

RationalAtheist

Just popping in...my one post for the day, funnily enough.

Octopi do in fact have souls; they have irrational souls. Humans, conversely, have rational souls. (You'll have to do some research for yourself to look up the differences; I'm pressed for time today.)

Actually, if I remember it correctly, all beings have at minimum an irrational soul; certain beings possess rational souls instead. So really, what's being said here by the good doctor is nothing that the Church did not already teach (alien beings being beings, after all).

C. S. Lewis also had some excellent comments on the theological implications of alien life, if memory serves. You might want to look those up as well.

[QUOTE="RationalAtheist"]

Why would aliens have souls, when octopi don't? Or have I got souls wrong?

Why does the Pope have his own meteorite collection and curator?

WtFDragon

Just popping in...my one post for the day, funnily enough.

Octopi do in fact have souls; they have irrational souls. Humans, conversely, have rational souls. (You'll have to do some research for yourself to look up the differences; I'm pressed for time today.)

Actually, if I remember it correctly, all beings have at minimum an irrational soul; certain beings possess rational souls instead. So really, what's being said here by the good doctor is nothing that the Church did not already teach (alien beings being beings, after all).

C. S. Lewis also had some excellent comments on the theological implications of alien life, if memory serves. You might want to look those up as well.

Thanks for stopping by and for picking this post over responding to Domatron on your own board. It makes me feel somewhat "special" to say the least!

My research tells me that animals do not have souls, so far. At least not in the sense of an immortal essence of being or such. Perhaps you could update me with your own research when you're not so busy.

Funny thing about CS Lewis - I disliked his smug stereotypical writing style long before I found out he was Christian apologist.

[QUOTE="RationalAtheist"]

My research tells me that animals do not have souls, so far. At least not in the sense of an immortal essence of being or such. Perhaps you could update me with your own research when you're not so busy.

Android339

Don't you also believe that humans don't have souls, either, though?

I believe that souls don't exist - for us, animals or aliens. But that's not important right now.

My research indicates that the Christian church in general think that people have immortal souls, while animals don't. People can be baptised, but animals can not. The only reference I can find for "soul" used to describe an animal in the bible does so in the tralnslated context of it as a "living creature" and not as a spiritual entity. People are certainly set apart from animals in the bible, so I was wondering why they're not set apart from aliens too. 

What is your reason for believing that "all beings have souls" and what are their differing qualities? Is there some slippage of the term "soul" going on here, where it's only mortal? Why would animals have them? Perhaps baptism is key here, so why would an alien be baptise-able, but not a squid?

Want to hear a hilarious joke?

"The Vatican"

:lol:

--

Seriously though... they are really spiralling into severe insanity right now. They don't know what they are trying to worship anymore it seems. At this point, it just seems they are holding onto their theology solely out of an appeal to tradition and gaining more wealth.foxhound_fox

Indeed. They've been doing that for years. Traditions are very important to the catholic faith.