The Encyclical Evangelium Vitae said “Man seems insignificant when compared with the vastness of the cosmos; yet God made man His masterpiece and crowned him with honour and glory” and “Compared to the immensity of the universe, man is very small, and yet this very contrast reveals his greatness” Christians may agree with this and say that the fact that the universe is so immense shows how magnificent and talented God must have been to create it and the fact that God created man “in the image of himself” proves how important they must be.
If using the Big Bang theory, then the universe is still expanding and will continue to expand. Earth is not the only planet and the Earth is only in one galaxy, there could be many more galaxies beyond us, meaning there could be many more planets and stars, possibly other life, even intelligent life. Some argue that there has been no other life found and so therefore we must be the only intelligent life here, but it could just be we do not have the advanced technology needed, some could say that we are not intelligent enough to discover other life forms.
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution suggests that we have evolved from a less intelligent species. Maybe we are still evolving and will eventually become a perfect race that is ‘at the centre of the universe’. Nicholas Copernicus said that we “must not assume that we hold a privileged position in the cosmos.” Landing on the moon was considered an achievement, yet why, when there is probably so much more unexplored space outside of our galaxy?
On Earth there are MEDCs (more economically developed cities) and LEDCs (less economically developed cities), LEDCs being less technologically advanced as MEDCs. It is possible that on a larger scale the universes and planets are the same, Our universe could be considered a ‘third world’ universe when compared to other planets with life that are more intelligent than us, we are so behind that we have no way of finding, or contacting them.
It has been said that “Even if alien life is limited to microscopic organisms, astrobiologists say the discovery will change human society in profound ways.” If just some amoeba can drastically change human life then maybe we can affect things on a wider scale than we think we can.
