c. 1997 Religion News Service

(Andrew M. Greeley is a Roman Catholic priest, best-selling novelist and a sociologist at the University of Chicago National Opinion Research Center. Check out his home page at http://www.agreeley.com or contact him via e-mail at 76710.3306(AT)compuserve.com.)

UNDATED _ I don’t see any reason for not believing in flying saucers. We believe in a lot of other odd things, many of which make the folks in Roswell, N.M., look like everyday back-page news.

For instance, this vast universe of ours, stretching out maybe 15 billion light years, just happens to operate on principles that fit mathematical formulas. Someone must be kidding! How could the cosmos be designed according to elaborate math principles that we humans can understand? Well, that a few of us can understand.

I’d sooner believe in flying saucers than that coincidence.

Moreover, scientists tell us, it’s altogether possible that our cosmos may be just one of many billions of cosmos floating around somewhere or other. Come on, gimme a break! Little E.T.s are much more plausible than that! And, they add, at least 90 percent of the universe is comprised of”dark matter”_ we know it’s there but no one can see it. Isn’t it easier to believe there are Martians among us?

Scientists also say a ton of galaxies like ours are sliding off in a direction other than the usual motion of galaxies, being pulled by something called the Great Attractor, which no one is quite sure what it is. (No point in worrying about the Great Attractor, though, we’re still a long way from it.)

Then there’s the chaos theory, which means, among other things, that when the Eastern Pacific Ocean heats up, it upsets weather all over the world. So when a butterfly flaps its wings in the Congo, it causes a snow storm here. You gotta be kidding!

But that’s not all.

There’s also an inflation theory _ no, not the economic kind. In space lingo, inflation means that when the universe was about 10 to 27 seconds old, it blew up from a tiny speck to something the size of a basketball. If inflation hadn’t happened, the big bang would have been a big bust. How do they know? Were they there?

And I haven’t even gotten to black holes, quarks, worm holes, and suns that eat each other up.

And we’re supposed to believe all this stuff!

Science tells us that if given a chance, it can explain everything. But each time it comes up with a new discovery about our cosmos, the cosmos becomes curiouser and curiouser.

Science keeps peeling off the layers, like an onion, only to find more layers. Or more cosmos. Or more mystery.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not making fun of scientists or cosmology, the edges of which I just barely understand. Quite the contrary. I think scientists are quite extraordinary and have discovered some truly amazing things.

My point, rather, is that their findings _ which are just tentative models subject to revision and, perhaps, rejection _ are far more astonishing and incomprehensible than believing in little green men with fancy guns and space ships.

The appeal of flying saucers is that they represent wonder and surprise. Fair enough; we humans take our surprise where we can find them.

But I doubt we are alone in the universe. And whether or not you believe we are alone, one thing is for sure: Our cosmos is alive with surprises. In all probability, our brightest minds have only begun to scratch the galactic surface.

The best _ and the most unlikely _ may be yet to come.

MJP END GREELEY