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Catholics/Catholic church and space exploration

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Expert: - 4/13/2004


Question
I have always wondered what the catholic church thinks about finding life on other planets. And if we do ever find life somewhere else will that conflict with the churches teaching?

Answer
Danny.. I remember reading somewhere that the Catholic church endorses the scientific study of UFO phenomena. Not many people are aware of that. If you're interested, I could probably find the reference (it's in my library somewhere..).

The Church also says that scientific truth cannot conflict with religious truth.

This last statement, in my way of thinking, is a bit simplistic. Because science doesn't really present truths, but rather theories which are constantly open to revision. As a matter of fact, there's much debate as to just what science is.

I think the Church is just trying to be "contemporary" and open-minded. But if that's the case, they're doing it on a very elementary intellectual level.

See item three below:

http://www.priestsforlife.org/magisterium/88-04-17verona.htm

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Michael Clark, Ph.D.

Expertise

I'm a progressive Catholic--not a liberal, conservative nor a single-minded critic of Catholicism. I simply believe that adults in the 21C should use the mind God gave them and not just repeat ancient and medieval modes of thinking.

I can probably help with questions that intelligently and respectfully question those aspects of Catholicism that are not infallible. But if you're looking for someone to vigorously defend or perhaps refute Catholicism as a whole, that's not me. So please ask another expert.

Experience

I run an educational website earthpages.org and know what the web has to offer. I might suggest hyperlinks and/or book titles as I have a Ph.D. in Religious Studies and a considerable personal library.

Publications
Print Media:
My table from "Religions and Cults" at earthpages.org is reproduced with permission in L. Lindsey, S. Beach and B. Ravelli, Core Concepts in Sociology, 2nd ed., p. 157

World Wide Web:
My online article "Letter to God" coauthored with Buddhist monk, E. Raymond Rock, appears on several different spirituality-based websites, including http://tinyurl.com/db7a5o

I've interviewed, as a Christian, a self-proclaimed mystic: http://tinyurl.com/cawykr

My articles appeared at the former New View magazine nuvunow.ca and are published at earthpages.org.

Education/Credentials
Ph.D. in Religious Studies
M.A. in Comparative Religion
B.A. Hon. in Psychology/Sociology
For more info, please see my CV and letters of recommendation and my blog at michaelwclark.com.

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