Will Curiosity kill religion?

[nhardee]

NASA is promising something historic:


SAM apparently spotted something interesting in a soil sample Curiosity’s huge robotic arm delivered to the instrument recently.

“This data is gonna be one for the history books,” Curiosity chief scientist John Grotzinger, of Caltech in Pasadena, told NPR. “It’s looking really good.”

Has NASA’s Curiosity rover made a big discovery? | MNN – Mother Nature Network.

So, if proteins and other life-building blocks have been found — rather, what if the dust of life’s building blocks have been found? What if NASA has found something that points to life previously on Mars?

Will that kill religion?

How will you react if something like a fossil is found?

[sankari]

Nov 21, 2012 6:15:19 GMT nhardee said:

So, if proteins and other life-building blocks have been found — rather, what if the dust of life’s building blocks have been found? What if NASA has found something that points to life previously on Mars?

Will that kill religion?

No. Why would it?

How will you react if something like a fossil is found?

'Cool.'

[Mike D]

nhardee,

There are religious people who believe that God has only created life on Earth and nowhere else, but my impression is that this is a minority view, so most people will be able to happily accommodate new discoveries of this nature (if this is indeed what has been discovered). Why would the fact that God made life in more than one place be a problem?

[sandwiches]

NASA's idea of historic might not be that exciting?:

science.time.com/2012/11/20/a-mars-announcement-for-the-history-books/

A Mars Announcement ‘for the History Books’? Not So Fast

JPL spokesman Guy Webster made just this point today in an e-mail to TIME: “As for history books, the whole mission is for the history books,” he wrote. That’s not to say he rules out the possibility of truly big news. “It won’t be earthshaking,” he said in a later phone call, “but it will be interesting.”


And as for the scoop the NPR reporter and HuffPo announced? “John was excited about the quality and range of information coming in from SAM during the day a reporter happened to be sitting in John’s office last week,” Webster wrote. “He has been similarly excited by results at other points during the mission so far.”

If they've found a nice new type of French cheese or a nice red wine, I 'll take an interest. If it's the remnants of a constituent of the conditions necessary for life, OH YAWN.