non-existent;
demonic;
alien forms of the one God?
That question at least is easy to answer. Knowing human beings as we do, we can be confident that some people will espouse each of these interpretations! Christian churches will adopt different positions. We already know that the Jerusalem Catholic Church has ordained a Wodenite whereas, earlier, Peter Berg from Aeneas had belonged to a church which taught that God had made alternative arrangements for the salvation of other rational species.
Non-theists have less trouble assessing alien religions. Believing that any personification of the ultimate reality is anthropomorphic, or Merseiomorphic etc, I regard each of these monotheisms as inadequately representing, and indeed largely misrepresenting, the single reality. God the Hunter is a powerful myth for intelligent winged carnivores and a vast improvement on the blood sacrifices of the polytheistic Old Faith but do any Ythrians really understand it literally? If they are as diverse as human beings, then, yes, some of them do.
9 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And some Catholics have wondered if there are what can only be called non-human Catholic churches. That is, divinely revealed faiths as true as the Catholic Church on Earth. I touched on that idea in my "God and Alien in Anderson's Technic Civilization" article.
I don't think "Merseiphobic" is correct. It looks more like someone who is hostile to Merseians, esp. in unreasonable and excessive ways.
Ad astra! Sean
"I don't think "Merseiphobic" is correct."
Sean:
Did you misread Mersiomorphic, or did Paul correct a typo after you commented?
I corrected it afterwards!
Meresian religion is an illustration of human-style tribalism -- "my tribe good, your tribe stinks".
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Ha! That makes sense. But the Star Believers seen in "Day of Burning," however naive they were (like our UFO believers), shows not all Merseians would become racial supremacists.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: one of the things about human beings (and presumably human-like aliens) is that they can exhibit tribalism in -different forms-.
Wolves are tribal about their packs.
Dogs are tribal about their packs... but we've genetically modified them so that they include us.
Humans can be tribal about their blood-relations (the default setting) but also about, for example, a community of belief. Or several different "tribes" in different settings.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree! I recall how the pug dog my family had when I was a boy was very devoted to me and my father.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: and if you raise a cat from a kitten, it basically treats you as its mother.
Unfortunately, while very cute (survival mechanism) kittens are selfish brats.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Rather like a toddler throwing a tantrum?
Ad astra! Sean
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