Let’s say that today, at noon, all of the news outlets and every nation’s elected leader make this claim: “We have confirmed that intelligent life exists beyond our galaxy. We have received a communication that is undeniably from intelligent beings, and that fact can only lead us to conclude extraterrestrial life, or space aliens, do exist.”
Would you go to work or school tomorrow? In what way would your life change, if the only truth you now know is that there are others beings on a planet which we will never be able to visit, and, at least for the near future, with whom we will probably not be able to communicate with in a meaningful and consistent way? Would this change your life at all?
Alternatively, let’s ask this question: Does your religion have room for aliens? It appears, through a cursory glance of the many religious scriptures and sacred texts in our possession, that god, or some kind of higher prophetic mind, never warned us that life exists beyond earth. Would cultic communities that worship the stars, and/or those that expect an alien terrestrial intervention, compel you to reconsider your beliefs, your ways, and your faith? Knowing what you know today, how would you approach, and anticipate, the life you will lead tomorrow, and the faith that will undergird your values and your personal convictions? Said more directly, are 5 billion people living on earth misled by their scriptures and their religion given the absence of non-earthly beings in those texts?
Thankfully, some religious traditions prepare us for this moment. When the “stars fought from heaven” (Jdg 5:20) and “whatever beings there are in the heavens and the earth do prostrate themselves to Allah” (Qur’an 13:15), we begin to see evidence of a narrative that includes the possibility of “thousands of inhabited worlds of varying sorts” (Anguttara Nikaya; Buddha’s Discourses). Scripture will, and has, prepared us for future contact with alien life.
We, as a human fraternity, are retrospective meaning makers. We look back to determine how we should look forward. The re-interpretation of religious texts has a long, steady and sanctioned history across the most commonly observed faith traditions found – or offered – on earth. Of course these living texts came into our world at a certain time and place, but the wisdom and moral promotions need to be able to live in this world, in the time in which we are living, in order to offer meaning and proscription when we don’t know how to respond to a new challenge or an as-of-yet social or societal dilemma. Aliens would move us to reconsider whether or not to go to work or school the day after they announced themselves, but, somewhere within sacred scriptures would be the answer to our most vexing questions: In what way are we related? Did god, prophets and religious leaders account for the day when terrestrials and extra-terrestrials would find each other? What about an equivalence of moral status – do they deserve it? Should we include those celestial aliens in our prayers?
It is worth remembering the way in which we now understand the Age of Exploration – a centuries-long movement of people, animals, boats, food, goods, and weapons, heading from today’s Europe to yesterday’s New World – and how such an implausible and seismic moment is seen through the lens of history. In the aggregate, once earthly alien life was discovered, or when alien life arrived on the shores of the New World, how did humankind fare? Did we learn from each other? Were Indigenous “Americans” part of the narrative of a Euro-Christian world? Were sailors arriving on ocean shores consistent with the tapestry of stories told about creation and the dawn of humankind?
So, let’s say alien life beyond our galaxy is confirmed. We know that we are no longer alone in the universe. Should we make space in the realm of religion for extraterrestrial beings? Should we have a theology of alien life?
Jan Flaska is a teacher, coach, and the dean of spiritual and ethical life at Deerfield Academy. With the help of the Deerfield Academy Student Spiritual Council, Jan promotes the mission of Deerfield to encourage each student to develop an inquisitive and creative mind, sound body, and strong moral character, whether here or in a galaxy far, far, away.