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Not a debate about whether these religions are true or not, but let's assume that the core of it is...
—Is there anything in the Bible that can be applied to living on another planets? I am a bit conflicting in my views of how reliable the bible is in respect to astronomy. Some say it contains amazing truths being proven only today. But on the face of it, it seems to think the universe revolves around the earth.
—Would it contradict the Bible, if humanity were to colonize other planets?
—What if the rapture happens and some righteous Christians are on Mars at the time....
—How do Moslems pray facing Mecca and figure out when Ramadan is, while on Mars?
Or any other questions to do with the conflict of Mars colonization and religion.....
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I do not myself have any religion, but my feeling is that the colonization of Mars and other planets is no more in contradiction of the monotheistic tradition than was colonizing the New World. That is to say, it is completely outside the scope of areas that the monotheistic traditions have addressed.
That doesn't mean that the morals of the monotheistic tradition can't be applied to it. I am Jewish by blood, and while I don't know as much about the religion as I could, I do know that God said to Isaac that his offspring would be as dust upon the Earth, and also that they would be as numerous as the stars. While these do not literally suggest the colonization of other planets, certainly it is a part of the Jewish tradition that the Jewish people should spread widely and be prosperous.
In his Mars Trilogy, Kim Stanley Robinson has the Muslims of Mars praying towards Earth. Certainly this is where Mecca is, so who could blame them?
Just as religion has changed with time as society has advanced, I bet that moving to Mars will change it as well. I'd expect Mars to be a much more secular and less religious place than many places on Earth, first of all. Those who are religious are likely to look at religion in a much more metaphorical way, and because Mars is likely to be a melting pot in the way that America is fabled to have been*, so religion is likely to become more focused on all people rather than simply its adherents. I think this is a take that very much finds grounding in any of the monotheistic religions.
*This was largely a myth to begin with; Historically it's typically taken 2-3 generations for people to be fully assimilated into American culture. This is much better than elsewhere in the world, where ethnic and racial differences often fester for hundreds of years, but with high influxes of immigrants have come our share of ethnically and racially homogenous areas in an ethnically heterogeneous country. In a Martian colony that may have 1000 people from 5 or 6 different groups this is much less possible.
-Josh
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In darkness, in silence,
we contemplate those far away pin-pricks of light and what could-be.
such fear.
the stark nakedness of eternity,
humility;
so small,
our prayer lost in a million billion stars stretching forever.
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Highly religious Americans more skeptical of human enhancements such as brain implants, gene editing
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