How will Fundamentalists respond to Space colonies?

[FaxModem1]

I've been reading the Slacktivist commentary on the Left Behind series. One thing that I've been thinking about is that unless we destroy ourselves in the next couple hundred years, and we don't completely stop development of space technologies, we're going to be colonizing other planets and star systems. So how will they react to humanity no longer being confined to Earth, so the destruction of such wouldn't matter as much as it would during the time of the Romans, or even now.

Just asking how this would effect the perceptions of everyone about this. Heck, would this cause a religious anti-colonization movement?

[SpaceMarine93]

Heck, no, it won't be really bad. Space technologies and sciences aren't exactly the type which would directly undermine the scriptures of any religion, such as radioactive dating, genetics, Evolution, etc. There might be some opposition or outrage by the religious community over certain aspects of Space Colonization, such as for example colonists discovers life on mars, space scientists making accurate measurements of age of solar system and universe in orbit and Moon outposts, but I doubt there would be any major conflicts and 'knee-jerk' reactions.

I mean, what's the worse that could happen? Fundies blowing up wormhole generators like that f**ker from the movie Contact?

[Lord of the Abyss]

I mean, what's the worse that could happen? Fundies blowing up wormhole generators like that f**ker from the movie Contact?

A few random ideas:

Blowing up a space colony, killing all on board.

De-orbiting a space colony so it lands on an inhabited area.

Releasing some bio/nanoweapon everywhere except their own isolated colony, a superdisease designed to kill everyone but themselves on their "New Ark".

Creating some isolated tyrannical space colony that unlike Earthly versions, those who disagree can't even try to run away from it.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

I've been reading the Slacktivist commentary on the Left Behind series. One thing that I've been thinking about is that unless we destroy ourselves in the next couple hundred years, and we don't completely stop development of space technologies, we're going to be colonizing other planets and star systems. So how will they react to humanity no longer being confined to Earth, so the destruction of such wouldn't matter as much as it would during the time of the Romans, or even now.

Just asking how this would effect the perceptions of everyone about this. Heck, would this cause a religious anti-colonization movement?

The Book of Revelations as-is is very Middle East-centric, obviously. But fundamentalism survived the discovery of the new world and the globalisation that followed perfectly well. The scale of the Rapture will grow bigger, Gog and Magog and Babylon will continue to be correlated with contemporary threats (Russia, a new Caliphate, Iraq, and even China have fit into these roles in the past) and the words will be seen as a a metaphor for cosmic destruction rather than global destruction. Faith manages.

[Number Theoretic]

Suppose, that we find a "second Earth" somewhere in space. Wouldn't Fundamentalists identify this as the "lost Paradise" or "New Garden Eden" (and then claim it for themselves, fighting anyone who also wants to settle there)?

And concerning Space habitats: as suggested before, they are in a way perfect for fundamentalists: They can control everything of this environment and therfore enforce their teachings without any limits. And, of course, throw everyone out, who doesn't agree with their ideology. So, they might not have that much of a problem with space colonies.

[Lord Zentei]

Why are all fundamentalists being assumed to be a monolithic bloc in this thread?

In any case, Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba is correct: faith adapts to fit to current conditions. They re-interpret the environment to fit some passage in their scripture, thus keeping it relevant.

As for space colonies: the fundamentalist movement isn't content to restrict itself to isolated outposts or colonies, they want to reform the overall culture. Of course, they will still want to spread their message to said space colonies just as everywhere else. Space colonies might be attractive to small cults who lack political influence.

[Number Theoretic]

Sure, most of them want to transform the whole society, i agree. But they can still establish space colonies as "examples" to the rest of us, because they think, it can be persuading.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

I don't see how isolated religious space colonies would be particularly different, in the bigger picture, from the small ideological communes that dot the world's landscape today. Marxists, Fundamentalists, Anabaptists, anarchists, environmentalists, luddites, etc, have all created small 'self-sufficient' communities all over where the prevailing paradigm is un-opposed and oftentimes escape is difficult (not so true of the Anabaptists, who tend to encourage their young to experience the Outside World to better understand their faith and doctrine), but it doesn't change our overall culture that much.

As far as a new planet being a 'New Eden' for Fundamentalists, sure, that could happen. Then other people will go there too and the Fundamentalists probably won't kill them because Fundamentalists are malicious and evil by default. The colonization of the New World isn't a perfect historical fit here, but remember that the Puritans didn't massacre Irish or German colonists all that often when they arrived in New England. There were tensions between the different cultures and then they integrated successfully.

[General Mung Beans]

I mean, what's the worse that could happen? Fundies blowing up wormhole generators like that f**ker from the movie Contact?

A few random ideas:

Blowing up a space colony, killing all on board.

De-orbiting a space colony so it lands on an inhabited area.

Releasing some bio/nanoweapon everywhere except their own isolated colony, a superdisease designed to kill everyone but themselves on their "New Ark".

Creating some isolated tyrannical space colony that unlike Earthly versions, those who disagree can't even try to run away from it.

This happens only in novels and other media involving strawmen fundies. In the fifty plus years of space travel there has been no serious objection for religious reasons (I don't know, there may be a crazy preacher somewhere in Arkansas or Iran that might think so but so far we haven't heard much from them). I suspect some fundamentalists will as noted take advantage of space colonization much as say the Puritans did of American colonization.

[StarSword]

This happens only in novels and other media involving strawmen fundies. In the fifty plus years of space travel there has been no serious objection for religious reasons (I don't know, there may be a crazy preacher somewhere in Arkansas or Iran that might think so but so far we haven't heard much from them). I suspect some fundamentalists will as noted take advantage of space colonization much as say the Puritans did of American colonization.

You mean like "Let's all go over there so we can live freely and throw out/hang anyone who doesn't think we're living freely enough"? That's what happened in Massachusetts.

[General Mung Beans]

This happens only in novels and other media involving strawmen fundies. In the fifty plus years of space travel there has been no serious objection for religious reasons (I don't know, there may be a crazy preacher somewhere in Arkansas or Iran that might think so but so far we haven't heard much from them). I suspect some fundamentalists will as noted take advantage of space colonization much as say the Puritans did of American colonization.

You mean like "Let's all go over there so we can live freely and throw out/hang anyone who doesn't think we're living freely enough"? That's what happened in Massachusetts.

Something to that effect I suppose, although all this depends on who sponsers space colonization and if international bodies monitor abuses/

[Todeswind]

They probably won't respond much more than they did to cell phones. Chances are fundamentalist christians like the Amish won't use them but they aren't using indoor plumbing either. There will no doubt be some initial heaving and hawing about the whole process, there was after the invention of Television and the Internet after all, but chances are that once the greater christian majority figures out ways to use the colonization of space to their own ends then they will be just as jazzed about the whole process as the rest of us.

Due to the statistically low number of fundamentalist Christians involved in the they'll probably have to wait for the colonization of space to be commercially available to the general public, but once they start "selling" colonies there will no doubt be groups looking to make their own separate communities. I suspect secular organizations will do the same, only that they'll get into space faster getting more prime real estate as they are the more likely ones to be selected for the experimental space programs necessary for the preliminary stages of colonization.

[Darth Hoth]

The Book of Revelations as-is is very Middle East-centric, obviously. But fundamentalism survived the discovery of the new world and the globalisation that followed perfectly well. The scale of the Rapture will grow bigger, Gog and Magog and Babylon will continue to be correlated with contemporary threats (Russia, a new Caliphate, Iraq, and even China have fit into these roles in the past) and the words will be seen as a a metaphor for cosmic destruction rather than global destruction. Faith manages.

While it features mostly as a background detail in most of the apocalypses, the Bible does quite clearly make the point that the stars and planets will be destroyed in the run-up to Armageddon, also. So they really do not need to change all that much; the current "mainstream" dispensationalist scenario already warrants that more or less all the inhabited Earth except Megiddo will have been depopulated before the Second Coming in any case.

[Lord Baal]

As it's been pointed out they will adapt it to their own objectives as soon they get the hold on how. I think some could try to sell this "little bits of heaven" to others once is commercially feasible, others might say/think/point that getting off world is a (vane) attempt to scape the wrath of the creator and what not... but most, I think, once it's important enough on the population department, it will be yet another territory to spread their faiths to them, not taking into account that religious people, not necessarily fundamentalists, could probably already represent religion on space colonies by that time.

I do find quite difficult the idea of totally isolated communities on space at the start, since they will need at least some resources from the outside to survive, so trade and merchants would be needed, at least until sufficiently high tech is at reach to do so, which I guess would be really expensive for what it should be a expensive enough business already.

Please correct me if Im wrong and this is currently possible.

[Silent Storm]

As far as a new planet being a 'New Eden' for Fundamentalists, sure, that could happen. Then other people will go there too and the Fundamentalists probably won't kill them because Fundamentalists are malicious and evil by default. The colonization of the New World isn't a perfect historical fit here, but remember that the Puritans didn't massacre Irish or German colonists all that often when they arrived in New England. There were tensions between the different cultures and then they integrated successfully.

They did, however, go after some of the opposing religious sects, such as the Quakers, to the point of capturing and torturing them. It could be that a Fundamentalist colony could declare war against other Fundamentalists, or Atheists, or anyone else they feel strongly about.

[Korgeta]

In two hundred years from now I see a reality (M)TV show picking six dysfunctional teens (and the ethnic minority alien along with them as well) from colony mars to spend a week living on Amish 9.

In more serious issue, in the history of religon, religion has been one on expansion, from the spread of Islam, the crusades, the spread of missionaries etc. So on a whole they would be forward with the colonization.

[Lord Baal]

Neat show...

On the serious issue I don't think we need fundies to spread the religion. My guess is that religious regular people will transfer their (half assed known, in the case they are pretty regular) belief on their offspring, eventually even creating some more ramifications of current mythologies.

In mayor colonies with important population and if practical (i.e. is a real civil colony, not a scientific enterprise) I'm certain some priests of the main religions will move and hold services for the people.