Assuming they can speak perfect English but according to sci-fi they generally all do so that won't be an issue.
Dux Limitis
How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
Assuming they can speak perfect English but according to sci-fi they generally all do so that won't be an issue.
Domesticus
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
Religion is belief in the being that wrote the laws of physics.
Comes Limitis
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
it would certainly depend on the religion
Capo
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
Explain? Why would I ever corrupt the mind of a being with no concept of religion? I would board the spacecraft and live among them.
Praefectus
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
Look out for the probes.Originally Posted by Přntifex
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
they'll teach you their religion
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
A bolt round to the face. Xeno scum.
Praeses
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
Humans believing in god as an answer to questions that don't require answering and as a moral compass to deal with situations they already know how to deal with.
A grand self delusion.
I would also ask him to take me to where he lives because I'd sure like to live in a place where there's no religion at all.
I have approximate answers and possible beliefs, and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I’m not absolutely sure of anything, and many things I don’t know anything about. But I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel frightened by not knowing.
- Richard Feynman's words. My atheism.
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
I'd show them an EKG of my brain and point to the parts governing religion and divine experiences, then explain their evolutionary purpose.
At which point he'd go "Oh, that's adorable." and then I'd punch him for being an arrogant bastard.
Domesticus
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
Praeses
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
an idea once made up by some lads to make the world better, later used to keep the vulgus stupid. Probably one of the worst things ever happened to humanity, responsible for a lot more deaths than even the worst dictator in the world and a complete waste of time unless you like to believe fairytales.
Semisalis
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
Religion is a bunch of retared stories and stupidthat was made up to make people feel superior and think that their lives matter.
Civitate
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
"Religion is where people who refuse to accept their place in the Universe attribute their existence to an almighty yet intangible being who cannot be conclusively proven to exist and use this being to make themselves feel they have a higher reason for existence by claiming said being has a close personal relationship of love with each and every one of them and watches over them. They do in tandem with a belief in free will, I might add. Religion as a whole can be summarised as a pre-science attempt to explain the workings of the Universe which never died out due to the insecurity of the human mind in general."
That would be my attempt, no prizes for guessing what my stance on religion is.
Campidoctor
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
I'd put him on the rack until he converted.
quaeri, si sapis
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
Illogical secular phenomenon based on memes and forced conversions and preying on fears and insecurities.
Covers every religion i think, if not completely relevent to any one religion except the Abrahamic ones.
A new mobile phone tower went up in a town in the USA, and the local newspaper asked a number of people what they thought of it. Some said they noticed their cellphone reception was better. Some said they noticed the tower was affecting their health.
A local administrator was asked to comment. He nodded sagely, and said simply: "Wow. And think about how much more pronounced these effects will be once the tower is actually operational."
Comes Limitis
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
why do you assume the aliens would be bereft of their own abstract understandings of the universe?
our only evidence of sentient life includes spiritualism and religion quite completely, I think to assume other life forms would be somehow seperate from the natural order is a little absurd and self serving, but we know how atheists love fantasy and self delusion.
The Red Menace
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
The "sometimes" irrational beliefs in a creator of the universe.
Campidoctor
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
I would say religion is the ultimate manifistation of self conciouness.
I wanna lie, lie to myself, myself and someone else. Cause it’s the lying that hurts, and it’s the hurt that lets me know I’m alive.”
Praepositus
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
Who says that aliens (if they did exist a la sci fi) wouldn't have a religion of their own? But to answer the question, I would tell them the same way I would tell another human.
The Young Philosopher
Re: How would you explain what religion was to an alien who had no concept of such a thing?
There was a thread a while ago (don't remember the poster) that talked about the same thing (but with indigenous people who have no sense of supernatural gods and things like that.
He showed this video:
Member of S.I.N|Patronized by Boeing
"You cannot convince a man who cannot convince himself that he might be wrong"-Finsternis
“The great mass of people will more easily fall victim
to a big lie than to a small one.” -Adolf Hitler Mein Kampf(1925)
"There are two kinds of people who don't care about politics: the ones too dumb to care and the ones too smart to care" - Finsternis
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