George Rebane
Recently the Ignatius Forum held a session on ‘The Future of Space’ at our National Cathedral attended by theologians, government space officials, private sector space entrepreneurs, and academics. Among the latter was Prof Avi Loeb of Harvard who is also active in SETI and a member of the international SETI group (of which I am a member) administered by the Berkeley SETI Research Center.
While the larger topic was finding ETs, a more focused topic of interest was how we earthlings bring the existence of ETIs into concordance with our notions of God and religion. Prof Loeb is not a person of faith, but made it clear that “science and religion are not necessarily in conflict, as long as one is careful not to ignore the boundary between physics and meta-physics. … In finding advanced extraterrestrial intelligence, religion might simply reflect advanced science with a twist. Traditional religions described God as the creator of the Universe and life within it. They also suggested that humans were made in the image of God. But these notions are not necessarily in contradiction with science. A sufficiently advanced scientific civilization might be able to create synthetic life in its laboratories; in fact, some of our terrestrial laboratories almost reached that threshold. And with a good understanding of how to unify quantum-mechanics and gravity, an advanced scientific civilization could potentially create a baby universe in its laboratories. Therefore, an advanced scientific civilization might be a good approximation to God.” (more here with links to the forum)
Long time readers will recognize this as a position much discussed over the years in these pages, especially as it relates to my position as a copernican viz science. In that, Loeb and many other scientists are kindred spirits. What impressed me is the Harvard astro-physicist’s stance on the perspective humanity should assume when it considers cosmic matters – these being humility, modesty, and calmness. In the greater scheme of things we are not important enough about which to make a great fuss. I have dwelled on the quantitative measures of our ordinary insignificance in my SETI paper (here) among other postings.
In the final analysis of integrating religion, science, and an intelligent creator, I find nothing awkward or contrary in my particular understanding of Christianity as a faith compatible with civilizations across the universe. It is a particularly comforting belief system to embrace as we seek to understand the Upanishad’s ‘Tat tvam asi!’
Postscript – ‘Who am I?’ is a question often heard from people seeking to find a deeper significance to their existence. It is the wrong question, and we already know its answer, since ‘who’ seeks to identify one as a particular member of a known set. ‘Tat tvam asi!’ points to the much deeper question of ‘What am I?’, the question which seeks to know the essence of the set itself.
rebanesruminations.com 
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