Are aliens real? What would extraterrestrial intelligence mean for our faith?
Occasionally we hear news reports about strange sightings in the sky and possible aliens, and many blockbuster movies are entertaining stories about alien life.
But scientific evidence for intelligent life elsewhere is so far inconclusive. Conspiracy theories aside, the general consensus is that extraterrestrials have not visited our planet. Astronomers have listened for decades for radio signals from aliens, but they have not heard anything yet. We do know that there are earth-like planets around other stars, but we can’t detect if aliens are living on them.
If intelligent aliens exist and we overcome the challenges of communication with them, how, as Christians, should we understand them? Sadly, most science fiction leaves out God entirely. But theologians from many Christian denominations have thought deeply about this.
The discovery of aliens would not invalidate the Bible. While the Bible doesn’t say anything about intelligent life on other planets, it also doesn’t say anything about many Earth-based species. Scripture is intentionally focused on the work of God in one small geographic region of our planet. Yet the claims of Scripture are cosmic in scope. John 1 and Colossians 1 speak of God as Creator of all things, comprehensively, and that includes all stars and galaxies. If alien life exists, God created it.
The existence of aliens cannot change our place before God. In Christian theology, the significance of humanity is centered on God’s actions toward us. On this planet, God chose to become incarnate as a human being and to sacrifice himself to save us. Whether there are aliens or not, we are precious in God’s eyes.
Just like life on Earth, aliens might be friendly, indifferent, or violent toward humans. But we can treat them with respect and care as fellow creatures. We can stay curious about life beyond Earth and celebrate all life that God chooses to create.
You can read a longer version of this article at BioLogos.org.
About the Authors
Deborah B. Haarsma is President of BioLogos (biologos.org). She and her husband, Loren, are scientists who together wrote the book Origins (Faith Alive, 2011). They are members of the Christian Reformed Church.
Loren Haarsma is a lifelong member of the CRC. He lives in Grand Rapids, Mich., and is currently a professor of physics and astronomy at Calvin University. He is the author of When Did Sin Begin? Human Evolution and the Doctrine of Original Sin (Baker, 2021) and Origins: Christian Perspectives on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design (Faith Alive, 2008, 2013).
