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Although we have not yet detected Extraterrestrial Intelligence (ETI), there’s a very strong probability that ETI does exist in the universe and that it may some day contact us. What would that mean for Earth-based faiths and spiritualities? Would the existence of ETI destroy their viability, leading to their demise? Or, would the discovery of ETI serve to deepen and enhance these Earth-based faiths and spiritualities?

In this episode, we examine this question as a mental exercise, or thought experiment. Although I am convinced that confirmation of ETI existence would deepen and enhance all the world’s religions and spiritualities, I focus primarily on Christianity, which is my faith community. My hope is that how I approach this thought experiment within Christianity would serve as an analogue that others could use to think about their own religion or spirituality. 

For a variety of reasons, most astrobiologists and astronomers believe the ETI that contacts us would possess superior intellectual capabilities and come from a significantly more advanced society than humans on Earth. This raises an important question, if humans bear the image of the Divine, as Christians hold, would their greater intelligence mean that ETI possessed a greater Divine image? Would that mean God loves ETI more than humans because they have superior intelligence?

I conclude that God would love humans just as much as ETI, when we factor in what possessing the Divine image meant to the original Hebrews. However, I also believe that the existence of superior ETI would have a profound impact in how Christians perceived humans ’relationship to non-human life on planet Earth. In other words, it calls for a radical re-thinking of Christian environmental ethics. 

A second question explored in this thought experiment is whether ETI would need salvation or enlightenment. From a Christian perspective, would Jesus need to be crucified multiple times on all the different planets that are home to ETI? I do not believe that would be necessary because the Divine would tailer a plan of salvation appropriate to the lived experience of ETI on its planets. I conclude that, for Christians, this should have profound implications for how we think about other Earth-based religions and spiritualities.

Admittedly, this thought experiment rests on a hypothetical that ETI actually does exist in the universe. Yet, I believe this thought experiment has great value because it helps us examine our religious faith and spirituality from a completely different perspective. Reflecting from this different perspective is beneficial, if it helps us deepen and enhance our religious understandings and spiritualities. While I have worked within my spiritual home as a Christian, I believe that people following other religious traditions and spiritualities would have similar, meaningful results. 

For Further Reading: Steven J. Dick, editor, Many Worlds: The New Universe, Extraterrestrial Life and the Theological Implications, Templeton Foundation Press, 2000