Answering the question about whether human beings are alone in the universe or whether there is intelligent life beyond our planet is a question that has haunted scientists for a long time decades.
Faced with the possibility of discovering that extraterrestrial life exists NASA hired a group of 24 theologians to study what could be the response of humanity to this scenario .
The investigation of theologians arises as a result of an agreement between the Space Agency United States and the Princeton Center for Theological Research (CTI) which received in the year 2014 a grant of 1.1 million dollars.
According to studies published in the year 2017, a group of researchers found that There are links between religiosity and the belief in extraterrestrial life . This would allow inferring that in the supposed scenario of detecting life in space, the news could be accepted with some ease in religious groups.
“People with a strong desire to find meaning in their lives, but a low adherence to a particular religion, are more likely to believe that aliens exist ”, was one of the conclusions of the study.
Will Storrar, director of the CTI, has stated that one of the objectives is that in the short and medium term more studies are published about the implications that an event of this type could have for different religions.
For its part , the priest and doctor of biochemistry, Andrew Davison recalls that there is no foreseeable period of time about when we will be able to answer the answer of whether we are alone in the universe or not .
It suggests that this could be known well, be it this same decade, within a few centuries or perhaps never.
“The detection of extraterrestrial life may occur in a decade or only in future centuries or perhaps never, but if it does, or where it does, it will be helpful to have thought about the implications beforehand ” , Davinson points out in an article published on the Cambridge University website.
A device that could solve this Unknown is the James Webb telescope launched last 25 December. It is expected that this device will allow scientists to study regions of space that until now were not available to researchers , which could lead to finding planets with life.
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