Religious groups are more prepared for aliens than you think

(RNS) — Roughly a third of the way into Steven Spielberg’s new blockbuster film “Disclosure Day,” which focuses on the theoretical release of evidence documenting the existence of alien life, a conversation between the two main characters takes a sudden turn toward the spiritual.

One of the characters, who is Catholic, begins fretting over what the release of such information would mean for religious people, worrying many will “stop believing in God.” People who believe in “superior beings,” she says, will balk at news of “actual” superior beings — namely, technologically advanced aliens.

“People can’t handle both,” she concludes.

Her implicit question is left hanging, like a flying saucer hovering over the horizon, for most of the film: If intelligent life were to be discovered beyond Earth, would it shatter religious traditions?

But for all the profound implications of intelligent extraterrestrial life, experts say the possibility is far less bracing for many religious practitioners across the globe. In fact, scholars argue many major faith groups have not only been thinking about the prospect of aliens for some time, some have even outlined extensive theological answers to the question of extraterrestrial life — or even fully embraced the idea.

“That question is packed with drama, but it doesn’t correspond to the lived realities of people,” said Diana Pasulka, a religious studies professor at University of North Carolina Wilmington and author of the book “American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology.”

Diana Pasulka on a podcast in 2025. (Video screen grab)

Pasulka, who has also published a book focused on Catholic theology and history, noted that despite the framing of Spielberg’s film, Catholics in particular have long been interested in extraterrestrial life. The idea was already showing up in the 15th century, when a German Catholic cardinal insisted on the prospect of life on other stars. What’s more, she noted that multiple heads of the Vatican observatory have openly discussed the prospect of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, with one saying he would baptize an alien “if she asks.”

When it comes to Catholics, she argued, aliens are simply “not a problem for them.”

Paul Gutjahr, a professor at Indiana University Bloomington and author of the forthcoming book “Faith in Space: American Religious Belief in Extraterrestrial Life,” said the situation is similar for other religious traditions. He noted that in the early 1700s, prominent Puritan clergyman Cotton Mather — a major figure in Colonial-era Massachusetts — was already opining about life on other worlds: Mather, Gutjahr explained, believed that God was “so capacious, so big” that life elsewhere was seemingly inevitable.

“It’s a sign of his greatness, his omnipotence, his ubiquity,” Gutjahr said. “There has to be life on all these stars.”

There was also a surge of discourse about aliens in the 20th century, particularly during the space race. In the 1960s, at least one rabbi wrote and extensive academic article on the topic, pointing to Jewish texts some argue have long pointed to the existence of other worlds.

Pasulka said religion also often comes up when she interviews people who claim to have seen Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs, also known as or UAPs.

“I’ve met Orthodox Jewish people who had those experiences, and they’re fascinated by the public conversation, but it doesn’t shake their faith,” she said.

(Image by Albert Antony/Unsplash/Creative Commons)

Pasulka added that many religious people interpret the prospect of aliens through their own religious beliefs. She said that includes Muslims she has met who say they have encountered UFOs, some of whom have described their experiences by referencing jinn — supernatural beings in Islam and some other religious traditions.

Others have claimed that UFOs may be evidence of demons or “preternatural” beings such as angels, Pasulka said. It’s a belief that has garnered attention in recent months, with Vice President JD Vance referencing the idea in a March interview. But it has also proven controversial: on June 3, Catholic authorities announced the removal of an exorcist from his post in the Archdiocese of Washington, with church leaders justifying the move by citing the monsignor’s claim that UFOs are demons. Cardinal Robert McElroy, who oversees the archdiocese, said such statements “gravely undermine” church teachings.

“That belief has been around since the early twentieth century,” Pasulka said, referring to the association of UFOs with demons.

But while the spectrum of views about religion and aliens is wide, belief in their existence is fairly common among religious Americans. A 2021 Pew Research poll found that while religious people in the U.S. are less likely than others to believe intelligent aliens exist on other planets, most Protestants and Catholics still said their best guess is that intelligent life is out there. Among the groups polled, the only outlier was white evangelicals, with only around 40% assuming intelligent life exists.

And even then, there are prominent exceptions. In Congress, among the more vocal believers in aliens and UFOs is Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, who is an evangelical Christian. Speaking to Religion News Service in December 2024, he said he saw evidence of UFOs in a passage from the biblical book of Ezekiel that describes a “wheel within a wheel.”

Military pilots have encountered unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). (Image courtesy DOD/U.S. Navy)

“He saw the wheel, and the wheel at that time was the most technologically advanced mechanized item that they had,” Burchett said, referring to the prophet Ezekiel. “He described basically what I would say (is) a traditional flying saucer.”

Debate over aliens can be especially intense within Christianity, as one of the big questions surrounding the prospect of intelligent life on other planets is what that revelation means for Jesus Christ. Christians typically see Jesus as having died for the forgiveness of human sins, which raises a question: If aliens are real, did Jesus die for their sins too? Or do aliens have their own alien version of Jesus who dies for their sins?

By at least the 1880s, some Christian groups already had their answers. Gutjahr noted that Ellen G. White, the co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist tradition, wrote extensively about alien life at the time, including the question of what it means for salvation.

“One of her takes was the Earth is the only fallen planet,” said Gutjahr, referring to the Christian concept of humanity being sinful. “There is life elsewhere, but none of it fell — only Earth, so Earth was the only planet Jesus needed to die on to redeem humanity.”

According to White, Gutjar said, the result is that life elsewhere in the universe observes Earth as a sort of “giant amphitheater” to witness “God’s saving action.”

Paul Gutjahr. (Photo courtesy of Indiana University)

He added: “We become like a visual aid to the entire universe that you know about God’s mercy.”

For his part, when Burchett was asked whether extraterrestrials would have their own alien versions of Jesus who died for their sins, he didn’t hesitate.

“The Bible’s pretty clear about there being one (Jesus),” he said. “Jesus died for them just like everybody else.”

As for Spielberg’s film, it ultimately showcases a more multifaceted vision for what the existence of aliens would mean for religion than its early lines would suggest. Gutjahr found that unsurprising: He recalled that when he first started his book on religion and aliens, he expected documented moments of religious discourse regarding the prospect of aliens to be few and far between.

But as he began researching, he said, he was suddenly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of examples.

“It turns out that the whole freaking world has thought about life on other planets,” Gutjahr said, laughing.