Thirteenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

This paper briefly discusses, through the lens of astrobioethics, key religious and spiritual aspects of humanity’s current spacefaring societies. On the face of planet Earth, humans as religious and/or spiritual beings have evolved to become the ruling species. Likewise, religious and/or spiritual movements have risen through the millennia to become a recognized and respectable, when not decisive, element of human societies and civilisations. The Space Age, however, had apparently quite different tags in store for these earthly power-players. In the cosmic web of vastness and alterity untold that constitutes the observable universe, humans and religions seem to fall among the rarest and strangest occurrences. They seem to demonstrate every sign of not belonging, of not fitting in well with the larger cosmos, not in the long-term the very least. At the same time, outer space brings forth new dimensions in religious and/or spiritual expression and growth that are fast becoming part and parcel of the public sphere, especially in the social context of the space powers. Astrobioethics of religions, an emerging discipline of the space sciences family, could provide us, it is argued, with a theoretical framework and interdisciplinary roadmaps that work towards an meaningful understanding and beneficial management of the religious and/or spiritual sphere in mankind’s present, or future, celestial adobes.

Presenters

Demetrios Alexopoulos
Special Associate for Research and Development, School of Theology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Attiki, Greece