People Who Believe in God Less Likely to Believe in Extraterrestrials


Recommended Posts

A new survey shows that atheists and agnostics are 76 percent more likely than Christians to believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life. Overall 37 percent of those surveyed were willing to say they believed in the existence of extraterrestrial life, only 21 percent said they did not believe. However, most people (42 percent) were reticent to commit either way, saying they just aren't sure.

The survey was conducted by Survata, a market research company. The results were shared on a blog posting on Survata's website, and it points out that throughout history scientific discovery has often been at odds with religious doctrine.

In modern times, NASA seems to be getting closer to the discovery of extraterrestrial life with programs such as the Mars rover and Kepler telescope. The likelihood of extraterrestrial life is rising with each new discovery. Some feel that if the discovery of life is just around the corner, this may be an issue for religious dogma.

A new book titled Science, Religion, and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, by Theologian and Professor David Wilkinson, tackles these problems. He recently told the Durham Times that Christian theologians are currently philosophizing about these issues, and the relationship between science and religion is "more subtle and fruitful than just conflict."

Survata decided they could help shed some light on how religious affiliation relates to belief in extraterrestrial life with a survey. They polled 5,886 Americans, asking them: "Do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life?"

Survata also asked the participants their religious affiliation. Of those who chose Atheist/Agnostic, 55 percent said they did believe in the existence of extraterrestrials. Interestingly, of those who chose "other" for religious affiliation, 62 percent said they believe in extraterrestrial life, this was the group with the highest percentage with that answer.

The religious group with the highest percentage that believes in extraterrestrial life was the Muslims at 44 percent. The Jewish and Hindu groups were similar in their percentage of believers, 37 percent and 36 percent respectively. Christians had the lowest percentage for the belief in extraterrestrial life at 32 percent. However, the lowest group was those who did not wish to share their religious affiliation. Only 18 percent of this group believes extraterrestrials exist.

Even though the number of believers varied, the number of people who were not sure was pretty constant at about 30 percent. The variances came with those who said they outright did not believe extraterrestrials exist. This category ranged from 15 percent among atheist/agnostics to over 30 percent for Christians and Jews.

Younger participants answered the question nearly completely opposite those in older groups. Among the 13 to 17 group, 58 percent said they believed in extraterrestrial life, only 11 percent said no, and 31 percent were unsure. However, the 40-plus group had nearly a third as many believers with only 20 percent saying they believed in extraterrestrial life, 30 percent said they did not believe in extraterrestrial life, and a large number (51 percent) said they were unsure.

 

The Huffington Post and YouGov also did a recent poll on belief in extraterrestrials. They asked whether the participants believed that "some people have witnessed UFOs that have an extraterrestrial origin." Their findings were a bit shocking, 48% answered in the affirmative and 35% in the negative. ;)

more

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If there were some sort of life form out there im sure it would be witnessed by now. All this is just a waste of time and money, there is no one out there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If there were some sort of life form out there im sure it would be witnessed by now. All this is just a waste of time and money, there is no one out there.

 

Right, cause it's just a quick jog over to the nearest star. :laugh:  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If there were some sort of life form out there im sure it would be witnessed by now. All this is just a waste of time and money, there is no one out there.

Because we've seen how easy space travel is, right? I saw a cat planning their next moonwalk the other day. My point is that there can be extraterrestrial life out there without them being green aliens in spaceships. For all we know there are civilizations out there at the same technological level as us which is why we haven't got evidence of their existence yet.

I have no reason to believe in a god. Extraterrestrial life, on the other hand, is always a possibility for me.

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its logical. If there is a proof for extraterrestrial life the Bible, the Koran and many more are... wrong.

Religious people are not interested in the truth, they just want to see things through rose colored glasses called bible, koran...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If there were some sort of life form out there im sure it would be witnessed by now. All this is just a waste of time and money, there is no one out there.

 

Right because we have visited every planet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't need a survey to know this is true... It's pretty obvious really...

 

Also, why is this in the conspiracy section?  Should be tacked on to the Religion thread really.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If there were some sort of life form out there im sure it would be witnessed by now. All this is just a waste of time and money, there is no one out there.

Who's to say the life in other places of the universe are "mature" enough to even develop space travel? Meaning, maybe they're just bacteria on some remote planet in some remote galaxy but someday they'll surpass humans on an intelligence level. Or maybe we're the last that the universe has to offer for "intelligent" beings. Too many questions, too few answers, mind-blowlingly awesome once you start thinking deeper and deeper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The idea of intelligent advanced life elsewhere pretty much destroys every religion and their "humans are God's key creation" life, so it's not surprising they would not accept it. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So the group of people who are willing to believe in the thing they can't prove reject the possibly of a thing existing which conceivably could be proved (e.g. a visitation, communication, SETI etc.)? Sounds about right.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If there were some sort of life form out there im sure it would be witnessed by now. All this is just a waste of time and money, there is no one out there.

 

 

I don't think you comprehend just how vast space is. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

no aliens would want to visit earth.. we are a bunch of douche bags. we're violent, judgmental,racist  

 

 

could be worse. what if god was an alien from advance alien race. and put all these different races on this planet to see how we would get along.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

no aliens would want to visit earth.. we are a bunch of douche bags. we're violent, judgmental,racist  

 

 

They'd see what we do to our own species and decide to avoid us like the plague.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If there were some sort of life form out there im sure it would be witnessed by now. All this is just a waste of time and money, there is no one out there.

 

This statement just proves our educational system has failed us...

 

:|

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've always wondered how aliens and religion are mutually exclusive? Wouldn't God have created them too?

 

 

If they've never heard of any god, messiahs or prophets and they are an older species than we are then that might appear a little odd. There are tribes on Earth to whom the concept of a god is completely foreign. They used to be more common until the missionary went brainwashed them into whatever flavour of religion they practised.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

(...) it points out that throughout history scientific discovery has often been at odds with religious doctrine.

Gratuitous ideological speculation. Pretty silly to try to push the science-faith conflict theory based on belief in extraterrestrial life, i.e. purely hypothetical entites.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If they've never heard of any god, messiahs or prophets and they are an older species than we are then that might appear a little odd. There are tribes on Earth to whom the concept of a god is completely foreign. They used to be more common until the missionary went brainwashed them into whatever flavour of religion they practised.

Why would they need redemption? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

there's an old  saying that comes to mind: "people who dosn't believe in god, would believe in anything else."

 

aliens?

it makes me laugh when people claims they are out there, and they exit, even though we dont have any proof.

 

movies made people believe in just about everything, the genuine and wild imagination in movies like:  star wars and star trek has deluded people into believe it's just a matter of time, before will shake hands with aliens,and say live long and prosper, and use a phaser as a weapon.

not to mention space\time travel. :wacko:

 

during life i come across people that convinced all of the above is real, or partially real.

 

once(in 98) i debated a real loony, who worshiped science, which claimed that "in 20 years, will have the ability to choose when we gonna die." :rolleyes:

 

UFO, here's a term i strongly suggest to people who believe in aliens to understand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a practicing Catholic, I'll believe in whichever entity proves their existence to me first! :rofl:

Practicing Catholic, but I believe there has got to be Extraterrestrials considering how big the universe is...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If there were some sort of life form out there im sure it would be witnessed by now.

 ?? lol. Just look how much time and money has been invested in space exploration, then look how far we have gotten, not even out side our own solar system. There could be some other race in another galaxy doing exactly the same thing as us.

 

Its highly unlikely we will ever encounter other life forms (other than bacterias) because of the distance. There is also no reason to believe they would be anymore advanced than us even if they have been around for millions of years, the planet they live on could lack a certain resource or it could have destroyed and they no longer exist.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.