Re: the Religious issue, I think the Vatican said recently that if life was found on Mars then God made it too. So they've changed their tune to stay up to date (which is probably wise).
They've little other choice, haven't they? The more technology and science advances the less credible a religious institute becomes. And eventually they even think they're entitled to take credits for all the science, so you can never win from them in a science-vs-religion debate.
Out of interest - how do we know this probe is on Mars?
If you would be in charge of finances in the USA, and you decided that NASA gets a certain (big) budget from the government, wouldn't you make sure that everything NASA does is being checked on? At the moment we're quite capable to let a machine travel the solar system.
They've little other choice, haven't they? The more technology and science advances the less credible a religious institute becomes. And eventually they even think they're entitled to take credits for all the science, so you can never win from them in a science-vs-religion debate.
Out of interest - how do we know this probe is on Mars?
If you would be in charge of finances in the USA, and you decided that NASA gets a certain (big) budget from the government, wouldn't you make sure that everything NASA does is being checked on? At the moment we're quite capable to let a machine travel the solar system.