A question for Athiests. Do you believe in extra-terrestrial life?

I think it highly likely that life exists on other planets. Do I think UFOs are extra-terrestrial? Probably not, but I suppose it is within the realm of possibility. People alive today state unequivocally that they have been abducted or otherwise seen what they believe are aliens. It'd make a lot of sense from the context of the ancient religions. But, it is also just as likely that people misconstrued some other phenomena.

It's spelled athEists..

"believe in extra-terrestrial life?"

No I don't 'believe in' extra-terrestrial life...

But I do believe it's highly likely there is life out there.

Surely out of 400 billion galaxies we couldn't be the only ones.

~

It's nothing to do with "belief"

The *facts* are that life arose here from perfectly ordinary chemical processes.

The universe is awash with those chemicals, and with planets.

The *likelihood* of life elsewhere in the universe is pretty much a certainty.

Update.

No.

Small protein strands form naturally.

Small stands join into big strands.

Natural selection weeds out the ones that don't work.

No intelligent designer needed, just chemistry.

(and it's DNA/RNA. by the way, not proteins).

Considering the number of planets they've discovered, over 2000 so far, it is likely life exists elsewhere. Statistically, we could be looking at 40 billion exoplanets, 11 billion of them habitable, in the Milky Way alone. However, intelligent life is another story. Over the history of Earth, we have discovered 8.7 million different species of animal and planet life. Out of all of those, five developed tools and used fire. One of those species exists today. Those aren't very good odds if we want to find somebody else who listens to the radio and watches television.

I don't "believe" anything.

But I know that the mathematical probability of life existing elsewhere in the cosmos is without a doubt, far greater than the probability that it doesn't. I know this due to things like the Drake equation and Equivalence Principle.

I believe it's unlikely that with billions of planets in each of billions of galaxies that life developed in only one place.

I do NOT believe that little green men in flying saucers visit earth and kidnap people for anal probes.

Self-replicating protein strips are completely explainable through chemistry. No magic is required.

I believe in the possibility.

I also believe in the possibility of some All-Wise and All-Powerful "Superbeing" which cares whether or not I believe in Him/Her/It/Them.

But, if such a Being exists, then, by definition, He/She/It/They would KNOW exactly what evidence would convince me to believe, and would have the POWER to have it happen or appear.

When I see convincing evidence of life on other parts of the universe, I will believe.

When I see convincing evidence of the existence of some superbeing which CARES whether or not I believe, I will believe.

Please note:

The statement

"The Universe DOES exist, and THEREFORE Jesus of Nazareth MUST be the Risen Messiah"

does NOT flow the way a logical statement should.

I think it is overwhelmingly likely. We already know that it's plausible for life to emerge, and don't know of anything that would prevent it from emerging everywhere else in the universe. It's presumptuous and pretentious to think we're alone.

I believe that life is not unique to Earth, yes. And that it has arisen elsewhere in the universe.

What does this have to do with whether or not I believe in deities? Biological life forms are not deities.

Belief without evidence is not part of my vocabulary.

How would I know? Microbes exist looking for a planet so it's probable that we're not alone.