NASA Hasn’t Hired Any Theologians to Study Human Reactions to Alien Life Discovery
The Claim
NASA recently hired two dozen theologians to research how people might respond to the discovery of extraterrestrial life, teasing that the actions could be foreshadowing chaos in the year to come.
News posted on
Emerging story
According to social media users and news websites, NASA recently hired two dozen theologians to research how people might respond to the discovery of extraterrestrial life, teasing that the actions could be foreshadowing chaos in the year to come.
Misbar’s Analysis
An investigation by Misbar found that the widely circulated claim that NASA had appointed a religious committee is false.
However, no official statement regarding this claim was found on the NASA website or in any of the reliable global media outlets.
NASA has not hired any theologians to research how humans might react to the discovery of alien life. In 2015, NASA provided funding to the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey, for a program to investigate the potential societal impact of discovering life beyond Earth.
According to a NASA spokesperson, the funding provided by NASA for this program ended in 2017, noting that the agency did not participate in the selection of researchers in the program. NASA emphasized that the individuals who receive funding from NASA are not employees, consultants, or spokespeople for the agency, negating the claim's validity.
