Are Aliens and UFOs Real?

Last month, the BBC reported “Trump directs US government to prepare release of files on aliens and UFOs.” This followed a remark by President Obama (it’s customary in the US to continue to refer to former presidents by that title) when he said “aliens are real” in a podcast. He later clarified that he was not referencing classified information, simply offering a more-likely-than-not personal opinion based on the vastness of the universe.  

I have no more information available to me than Obama (in fact, I’m sure it’s considerably less), but the question for this blog is slightly different from the headline: What are the implications for Christian faith if aliens are, indeed, real? And a subsidiary question: What does the Bible have to say that can help us with that?

I was reminded of a book published in my youth (1968) that caused a considerable stir amongst Christians at the time: Chariots of the Gods? by Erich von Däniken. The author offered evidence to suggest that in ancient times extraterrestrials visited the Earth and influenced civilisations, leaving their technological fingerprint in astonishing architecture such as the pyramids, and indeed, being referenced in biblical texts. Von Däniken was surfing a wave of popular interest in UFOs, sci-fi, and the “Space Race” (the first manned Moon landing was in 1969) and perhaps also a growing scepticism about the truth claims of organised religion.

Von Däniken’s core theory was that ancient gods were actually extraterrestrial aliens. Bible passages that he interpreted accordingly included Ezekiel 1—the prophet’s vision of “an immense cloud with flashing lightning, surrounded by brilliant light” (rocket engines?); four living creatures with a broadly human appearance yet having four faces and four wings (alien astronauts? Creatures that “sped back and forth like flashes of lightning”—rocket backpacks?); and  imagery that sounds very much like spacecraft machinery.

Similarly, we see in 2 Kings 2:11, the account of “a chariot of fire and horses of fire” appearing and taking Elijah “up to heaven in a whirlwind,” which sounds like some sort of landing craft, or tractor beam—“Beam me up, Scotty” (the original series of Star Trek ran from 1966–69).

And finally, Genesis 6:1–4, which speaks of the mysterious “sons of God” and “Nephilim” (alien visitors?) who intermarried with human women and had children by them, and which can be read as genetic experimentation.

Von Däniken claimed that his work was investigative and evidence-based, but numerous scholars have criticised his work as “pseudoarchaeology.”

Be that as it may, von Däniken has been extremely influential in UFO and alien-life subculture (and associated conspiracy theories) ever since. Take, for example, the story of a spacecraft crash-landing in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. The Roswell Daily Record initially reported a “flying saucer” recovered by the military, though authorities soon claimed it was merely a weather balloon. Interest revived from the late 1970s when a retired Air Force officer involved in the recovery asserted that it had indeed been a spacecraft and that alien occupants had also been retrieved; the weather balloon story was a cover-up.

What then are Christians to make of all this? I suggest there’s limited value in taking an affirmative view on the basis of the Ezekiel and Elijah passages; still less on the Genesis 6 passage. First, we have to keep in mind the phantasmagorical nature of the apocalyptic prophetic genre in Scripture; bizarre imagery is par for the course. Second, we should distinguish between a sidebar view that says alien life may be possible (or even, probable) and a view that says it explains away ancient beliefs in gods—in other words, “God was an astronaut” (the sub-title of von Däniken’s book, framed as a question). Third, we should think it through theologically, to which we will now turn.

Before answering the alien question directly, we need to examine how we decide such questions at all.

I have said many times that there are some “hidden influences” (below the radar, or below the waterline, depending on which metaphor you prefer) that significantly affect contemporary evangelical thinking. Most evangelicals, leaders included, are unaware of their origins and take for granted that they are standard features of a properly evangelical faith. One is Calvinism, another is fundamentalism, and another (deriving from fundamentalism) is biblicism.

Biblicism is not the same as being “biblical” or “Bible-based.” It is a way of reading Scripture that treats everything as literal and, more importantly for our question, assumes “the Bible only”—that the answer to every question in life (not merely matters of faith) is somewhere in its pages, we just have to locate it. Appeals to Scripture’s “sole sufficiency” are often alluding to this.

Thus, if science and Scripture appear to disagree, the science is disputed or dismissed. The modern scientific consensus on homosexuality as a naturally occurring feature of human sexual orientation is one example.

Other examples include “biblical counselling” (a Bible-verses-based alternative to academically-credentialled training in psychology), “biblical management,” “biblical leadership,” and “biblical marriage”—all of which co-opt selected texts to construct a narrative labelled “biblical” or “spiritual.” The proliferation of books and YouTube videos advancing such claims is self-evident.

This is not to deny that the Bible and the values it prizes are relevant to such subjects. But the idea that “the Bible alone” should function as our primary if not sole sourcebook is backwoodsman in the extreme. Not least because what we’re generally seeing happening is a creative co-opting of verses and passages to support “teachings” that the original authors and audiences would scarcely recognise. Sadly, overreaching Statements of Faith that assert the “supreme authority” of the Bible for everything to do with faith and practice don’t help in this, in what they’re read as implying.  

Fundamentalist biblicism reflects a further hidden influence: an inherent anti-intellectualism marked by a disdain for, if not hostility towards, academic learning, viewed as unnecessary or even unhelpful to simple Christian faith. Paired with the conviction that the Bible contains answers to everything, the result is, at best, an embarrassing overreach and, at worst, deeply problematic.

What does this lengthy explanation have to do with our starting question? My point is that answering it ought not to start with the search for for a Bible verse. It’s a category error to expect that of the Bible. Ultimately, scientific learning will give us the answers. Subject, of course, to the extent of any cover-ups between now and then!           

Since there’s no self-evident Bible verse that we can append to “the Bible says…” as an authoritative answer, the question falls within the realm of entirely optional beliefs: Christians are at liberty to believe what they wish. So on what grounds might Christians come to a view one way or the other?

Let’s start with the features we might think relevant.

We know that the Bible is silent, which suggests that God chose to be silent on the matter in biblical revelation. However, both the biblical authors and the divine Author were focused in Scripture on matters pertaining to this world and to humanity; there is no reason to see that limited scope as precluding alien life.

Some would say the imago Dei (human beings being made in God’s image) is relevant. But image-bearing is not inherently synonymous with exclusivity, save with respect to this creation (i.e., unlike the animals). God is a creative God who formed the entire cosmos (not just our planet). It is entirely within his remit to create whatever he likes, wherever he likes (without prior consultation with us). That the Bible focuses on God’s redemptive plan vis-à-vis humanity and the Earth is entirely to be expected.

Does this therefore mean that we and our world are the theological centre (if not the exclusive focus) of God’s universal plans and purposes (rather as pre-modern Christians thought planet Earth was the cosmological centre)? The idea that it’s “all about us” sounds like a presumptuous assumption.

I think we can rule out John 10:16 as having any relevance (“I have other sheep that are not of this sheepfold”). Firstly, because Jesus is almost certainly talking about the Gentiles. Secondly, it is a one-off verse with nothing comparable to support an aliens-on-other-planets reading. We should never place too much weight on isolated texts such as this (especially obscure ones).

Perhaps the bigger question in all this is the nature of any such life, and most especially, whether it is intelligent life. By which I mean, morally responsible beings. Would God have created them with free will? Why would that free will not therefore have led to a similar outcome as it did for humanity? Would a redeeming divine saviour be necessary there also? (Is sin universally present in any community of intelligent, morally-responsible life forms?) Is it theologically feasible for Christ’s incarnation to occur more than once in history? Or is Christ’s one incarnation in our world sufficient for the redemption of the entire cosmos? And would God’s relationship with those other worlds be directly comparable to or distinct from our own? So many theological and anthropological questions flow from our headline question. 

These are the kinds of questions we will need to take a view on to come to an answer. Perhaps it would be a fun conversation for a church home group one evening.

The upshot should be that alien life, if it should be discovered, would not threaten Christian faith (or its truthfulness). It could even enrich it.

Humanity would, however, need to be a good deal better at relations with alien life in other worlds than it too often achieves in its relations with human life in this one.