August 21st, 2010 | 
Author: That last article may have had you wondering about my choice of the word “secular.” I’ve quoted religion scholar Christoper Partridge on this blog a number of times. Partridge has done a great deal of research showing that “secularization” is really a re-paganizing process (he uses the term “re-enchantment”). That’s the flavor of that article. It also is far from objective. Consider this choice quotation, after she overviews traditional religion, then “new age” worldviews as recent innovation or advancement in religion (!):
Is there any convergence between the evolving ideas of the religious, spiritual and philosophical leaders and what we have received from the helper and watcher extraterrestrials? Salla and Lamiroy have described the “helper” extraterrestrials as those who show respect for humans, do not abduct, and share information through telepathic communication. The “helpers” support a spiritual earth culture and are concerned with the environment and global transformation.
Uh, wouldn’t it be nice to actually get proof that there are ETs (as in beings from another planet) first? And how convenient — the aliens she favors don’t do nasty things to people.
In this next piece (a book review), atheist Michael Shermer gives us what he calls “Shermer’s last law”: “Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God.” The question is, do you think that’s true or can it be undermined? I’m of the latter opinion.
And in the spirit of Shermer’s Last law, I’d like to apply it to the former article’s new-agey and pretty gullible writer: “Any helper ET that spouts theosophy is indistinguishable from a demonic anti-Christ inter-dimensional propagandist.”
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I’ve been reading Nick Redfern’s _Contactees_ and it’s pretty clear they never really left us. Nowadays, the new-agey UFO enthusiast avoid the embarrassment of claiming diplomatic contact with Venusian civilization by asserting humans are channeling interstellar or multidimensional messages of salvation. How savvy of them!
Well Mike…that’s about as clear an “apologetic” for the “Athiest Worshiper” as I’ve heard, and these quotes sums it up well:
“DIETIES FOR ATHIESTS”
“… As I demonstrated in an analysis I
conducted, on the SETI pioneers, most
were once religious, but, became either
atheists, or, agnostics, as adults. Radio
astronomer Frank Drake — creator of
the canonical “Drake Equation”, for
estimating the number of ETEs inhabiting
the galaxy — was brought up as a
Baptist, and later reflected: “A strong
influence on me, and, I think, on a lot
of SETI people, was the extensive
exposure to fundamentalist religion.
In his book on the subject, Drake suggested
that “immortality may be quite
common among extraterrestrials”.
Carl Sagan — who did more than anyone to
conventionalize SETI — grew up Jewish
and became agnostic, later writing of
SETI’s importance: “It touches deeply
into myth, folklore, religion, mythology;
and every human culture in some
way or another has wondered about
that type of question. ”
ETIs are secular Gods. Deities for atheists…
Why should so many people — theists
and atheists, theologians and scientists —
believe in the existence of superior
celestial beings, be they angels or
aliens?
Basalla’s answer is twofold:
FIRST, the psychologist Robert Plank suggests
that humans have an emotional need
to believe in imaginary beings.9
“Despite all their scientific trappings,”
Basalla writes, “the extraterrestrials discussed
by scientists are as imaginary as
the spirits and gods of religion or
myth” (p. 14); and,
SECONDLY, the historian of science, (Steven Dick), thinks that, when the Newtonian mechanical universe displaced the spiritual world of the Middle Ages, it left a vast and lifeless void, which was filled, by modem
Science, with ETIs.
Consider Sagan’s vision of alien intelligences, says Basalla. “Sagan was certain that these
creatures were benevolent. They would
help us solve current problems, like the
spread of nuclear weapons and environmental
pollution, by sharing their advanced knowledge with us” (p. 13).
And, as Basalla says, Sagan didn’t quite go far enough…he didn’t acknowledge what Jacques Vallee admitted…We may be looking at something MORE exciting…they may be EXTRA-DIMENSIONALS! {my paraphrase}…I’ve found that extensive study of those who’ve done their digging, (as you have Mike), will ALWAYS lead to more factual understanding of “phenomenon” that is difficult to wholely grasp from a “laymans” level of study…but, simply put, You’ve gotta want it, to get it, and, you’ll only get what you work & dig for!