Belief in outer space life

José Gabriel Funes

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José Gabriel Funes
Born	January 31, 1963  ARG Córdoba
Residence	VAT
Fields	astrophysics
Institutions	Vatican Observatory

Fr. José Gabriel Funes, S.J. (born January 31, 1963 in Córdoba), an Argentine Jesuit priest and astronomer, is the current director of the Vatican Observatory.

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[edit] Biography

He has a master's degree in Astronomy from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in Argentina and a doctorate from the University of Padua in Italy. He has also a bachelor's degree in philosophy from University del Salvador in Argentina and a bachelor's degree in theology from Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. A member of the Society of Jesus, he was ordained a priest in 1995. He joined the Vatican Observatory as a researcher in 2000, and was named its director on August 19, 2006 replacing Fr. George Coyne.

[edit] Selected Papers

Author	Title	Journal	Year
LAPASSET E. and FUNES J.G.	The peculiar behaviour of the photometric variability of V508 Ophiuchi.	Astrophys. Space Sci., 113, 83-87	1985
CORSINI E.M., PIZZELLA A., FUNES J.G., VEGA BELTRAN J.C. and BERTOLA F.	The circumnuclear ring of ionized gas in NGC 3593.	Astron. Astrophys., 337, 80-84	1998
VEGA BELTRAN J.C., ZEILINGER W.W., AMICO P., SCHULTHEIS M., CORSINI E.M., FUNES J.G., BECKMAN J. and BERTOLA F.	Mixed early and late-type properties in the bar of NGC 6221: Evidence for evolution along the Hubble sequence?	Astron. Astrophys., Suppl. Ser., 131, 105-114	1998
BERTOLA F., CAPPELLARI M., FUNES J.G., CORSINI E.M., PIZZELLA A. and VEGA BELTRAN J.C.	Circumnuclear Keplerian disks in galaxies.	Astrophys. J., 509, L93-L96	1998
CORSINI E.M., PIZZELLA A., SARZI M., CINZANO P., VEGA BELTRAN J.C., FUNES J.G., BERTOLA F., PERSIC M. and SALUCCI P.	Dark matter in early-type spiral galaxies: the case of NGC 2179 and of NGC 2775.	Astron. Astrophys., 342, 671-686	1999
BERTOLA F., CORSINI E.M., VEGA BELTRAN J.C., PIZZELLA A., SARZI M., CAPPELLARI M. and FUNES J.G.	The bulge-disk orthogonal decoupling in galaxies: NGC 4698.	Astrophys. J., 519, L127-L130	1999
SARZI M., CORSINI E.M., PIZZELLA A., VEGA BELTRAN J.C., CAPPELLARI M., FUNES J.G. and BERTOLA F.	NGC 4672: A new case of an early-type disk galaxy with an orthogonally decoupled core.	Astron. Astrophys., 360, 439-446	2000
FUNES J.G. and CORSINI E.M.	Galaxy disks and disk galaxies. (Conference highlights).	Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac., 112, 1510-1511	2000
VEGA BELTRAN J.C., PIZZELLA A., CORSINI E.M., FUNES J.G., ZEILINGER W.W., BECKMAN J.E. and BERTOLA F.	Kinematic properties of gas and stars in 20 disc galaxies.	Astron. Astrophys., 374, 394-411	2001
VENNIK J., FUNES J.G., RAFANELLI P. and RICHTER G.M.	Structure of the Seyfert 2 galaxy Mkn 955.	Astron. Gesellschaft Abstract Ser., 18, 210-210	2001
SARZI M., BERTOLA F., CAPPELLARI M., CORSINI E.M., FUNES J.G., PIZZELLA A. and VEGA BELTRAN J.C.	The orthogonal bulge-disc decoupling in NGC 4698.	Astrophys. Space Sci., 276, 467-473	2001
VEGA BELTRAN J.C., ZEILINGER W.W., PIZZELLA A., CORSINI E.M., BERTOLA F., FUNES J.G. and BECKMAN J.E.	Kinematics of gas and stars in 20 disc galaxies.	Astrophys. Space Sci., 276, 1201-1210	2001
PIGNATELLI E., VEGA BELTRAN J.C., BECKMAN J.E., CORSINI E.M., PIZZELLA A., SCARLATA C., BERTOLA F., FUNES J.G. and ZEILINGER W.W.	Modeling gas and stellar kinematics in disc galaxies NGC 772, NGC 3898 and NGC 7782.	Astrophys. Space Sci. Suppl., 277, 493-494	2001
PIGNATELLI E., CORSINI E.M., VEGA BELTRAN J.C., SCARLATA C., PIZZELLA A., FUNES J.G., ZEILINGER W.W., BECKMAN J.E. and BERTOLA F.	Modelling gaseous and stellar kinematics in the disc galaxies NGC 772, 3898 and 7782.	Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 323, 188-210	2001
PIZZELLA A., BERTOLA F., SARZI M., CORSINI E.M., VEGA BELTRAN J.C., CAPPELLARI M. and FUNES J.G.	NGC 4672: a new case of an early-type disk galaxy with an orthogonally decoupled core.	Mem. Soc. Astron. Ital., 72, 797-800	2001
FUNES J.G.	Kinematics of the ionized gas in the inner regions of disk galaxies. (Dissertation summary).	Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac., 113, 257-257	2001
FUNES J.G., CORSINI E.M., CAPPELLARI M., PIZZELLA A., VEGA BELTRAN J.C., SCARLATA C. and BERTOLA F.	Position-velocity diagrams of ionized gas in the inner regions of disk galaxies.	Astron. Astrophys., 388, 50-67	2002
FUNES J.G., REJKUBA M., MINNITI D., AKIYAMA S. and KENNICUTT R.C.	Star formation in the disk of NGC 5128.	American Astron. Soc. meeting, 201, #20.23	2002
COCCATO L., CORSINI E.M., PIZZELLA A., MORELLI L., FUNES J.G. and BERTOLA F.	Minor-axis velocity gradients in disk galaxies'.	Astron. Astrophys., 416, 507-514	2004
LEE J.C., KENNICUTT R.C., FUNES J.G., SAKAI S., TREMONTI C.A. and VAN ZEE L.	11HUGS: The 11 Mpc H-{alpha} and ultraviolet galaxy survey.	American Astron. Soc. meeting, 205, #60.04	2004
KENNICUTT R.C., LEE J.C., AKIYAMA S., FUNES J.G. and SAKAI S.	An H-{alpha} imaging survey of galaxies in the local 11 Mpc volume.	American Astron. Soc. meeting, 205, #60.05	2004
KRALL C. and FUNES J.G.	H-alpha and UBR imaging of elliptical galaxies with dust lanes.	American Astron. Soc. meeting, 205, #92.04	2004
MINNITI D., REJKUBA M., FUNES J.G. and AKIYAMA S.	Optical counterparts of X-ray point sources observed by Chandra in NGC 5128: 20 new globular cluster X-ray sources.	Astrophys. J., 600, 716-728	2004
MINNITI D., REJKUBA M., FUNES J.G. and KENNICUTT R.C.Jr	The most exciting massive binary cluster in NGC 5128: clues to the formation of globular clusters.	Astrophys. J., 612, 215-221	2004
VILLEGAS D., MINNITI D. and FUNES J.G.	HST photometry of the binary globular cluster Sersic 13N-S in NGC 5128.	Astron. Astrophys., 442, 437-442	2005
GUTIERREZ C.M., ALONSO M.S., FUNES J.G. and RIBEIRO M.B.	Star formation in satellite galaxies.	Astron. J., 132, 596-607	2006
LEE J.C., KENNICUTT R.C., FUNES J.G., SAKAI S. and AKIYAMA S.	The star formation demographics of galaxies in the Local Volume.	Astrophys. J., 671, L113-L116	2007

[edit] Extraterrestrials

In an interview in May 2008^{[1] [2]} he stated that the possible existence of intelligent extraterrestrials did not contradict church teaching^[3][4] and ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom.^[5] He has speculated that such alien life forms could even be “free from Original Sin … [remaining] in full friendship with their creator.”^[6] Funes' statements have clearly similar points to what the Vatican's Corrado Balducci also previously has expressed.

[edit] References

1. ^ "L'extraterrestre è mio fratello" L'Osservatore romano, 14 May 2008 Full text of the original interview (in Italian) conserved on the Vatican's Website
2. ^ Full text of L'Osservatore Romano interview translated into English.
3. ^ L'Osservatore Romano: The extraterrestrial is my brother, Vatican astronomer says believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God.
4. ^ "Vatican says aliens could exist". BBC. 13 May 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
5. ^ "It's OK To Believe in Aliens". Associated Press. 13 May 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
6. ^ mental_floss Blog » “Aliens Are Our Brothers,” says Vatican.

[edit] See also

• List of Jesuit scientists

[edit] External links

• Curriculum Vitae

Respecting an establishment of religion

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

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"First Amendment" redirects here. For other uses, see First Amendment (disambiguation).

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The Bill of Rights in the National Archives.

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law "respecting an establishment of religion", impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.
Originally, the First Amendment only applied to the Congress. However, starting with Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652 (1925), the Supreme Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applies the First Amendment to each state, including any local government.

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[edit] Text

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

[edit] Background

Main article: Anti-Federalism

Opposition to the ratification of the Constitution was partly based on the Constitution's lack of adequate guarantees for civil liberties. To provide such guarantees, the First Amendment (along with the rest of the Bill of Rights) was submitted to the states for ratification on September 25, 1789 and adopted on December 15, 1791.

[edit] Establishment of religion

Main article: Establishment Clause of the First Amendment

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the establishment of a national religion by the Congress or the preference of one religion over another, non-religion over religion, or religion over non-religion. Originally, the First Amendment only applied to the federal government. Subsequently, McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203 (1948) incorporated certain select provisions. However, it was not until the middle to late twentieth century that the Supreme Court began to interpret the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses in such a manner as to restrict the promotion of religion by state governments. In the Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet, 512 U.S. 687 (1994), Justice David Souter, writing for the majority, concluded that "government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to irreligion."^[1]

[edit] Free exercise of religion

Main article: Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment

In Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963), the Warren Court applied the strict scrutiny standard of review to this clause, holding that a state must demonstrate a compelling interest in restricting religious activities. In Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990), the Supreme Court retreated from this standard, permitting governmental actions that were neutral regarding religion. The Congress attempted to restore this standard by passing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but in City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997), the Supreme Court held that such an attempt was unconstitutional regarding state and local government actions (though permissible regarding federal actions).

[edit] Freedom of speech

Main article: Freedom of speech in the United States

[edit] Speech critical of the government

The Supreme Court never ruled on the constitutionality of any federal law regarding the Free Speech Clause until the 20th century. The Supreme Court never ruled on the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, whose speech provisions expired in 1801.^[2] The leading critics of the law, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, argued for the Acts' unconstitutionality based on the First Amendment, among other Constitutional provisions (e.g. Tenth Amendment).^[3] In retrospect, dicta from New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964) acknowledges that, "[a]lthough the Sedition Act was never tested in this Court, the attack upon its validity has carried the day in the court of history."^[4]
The Espionage Act of 1917 imposed a maximum sentence of twenty years for anyone who caused or attempted to cause "insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty in the military or naval forces of the United States." Over two thousand were convicted under the Act. One filmmaker was sentenced to ten years imprisonment because his portrayal of British soldiers in a movie about the American Revolution impugned the good faith of an American ally, the United Kingdom.^[5] The Sedition Act of 1918 went even further, criminalizing "disloyal," "scurrilous" or "abusive" language against the government.