The Discovery of Aliens and Religion

I finished Children of God feeling much happier than I did after The Sparrow (although the book seemed to wrap things up a little too happily-ever-after for my taste) and the book also left me with even more questions about what an encounter with another sentient species would mean for humanity. I would like to move on to a topic other than comparative moralities--I'm feeling that this one has been a bit overworked lately. With a title like Children of God, my thoughts did frequently turn to the (supposed) big guy in the sky. In considering the meeting of the religious and the (literally) otherworldly, there are so many questions. Let's start with the basics: what would the discovery of aliens mean for the religions throughout the world? On this topic, it may interest you to know that the Vatican actually has its own observatory and has considered the implications of the discovery of aliens for Christianity. One of the staff members, Guy Consolmagno (who is, incidentally, a Jesuit) wrote a book entitled, Intelligent Life In The Universe? Catholic Belief And The Search For Extra-Terrestrial Life. A blog focusing on the interesting author of this book explains that it is his job to examine such questions as: "...if aliens were discovered, then why would the Bible--supposedly the word of God--contain no information about his non-Earthly creations? If they turn out to be green blobs or sentient gaseous spirals, what's all that talk in the Bible of humankind being created in God's image? What if the aliens wanted to convert us to their God? And do ETs go to heaven?" This blog also brings up other questions that I had not thought of, but Catholics had, such as: is it possible that the alien species had their own version of Adam and Eve and Jesus Christ?

I can see how religious scholars such as Consolmagno might be consumed by such questions; they truly are fascinating. Returning now to fiction, in Children of God we see that the Jana'ata and the Runa do not have their own monotheistic religion. But that does not take anything away from the question of what their existence means for our own religious and spiritual beliefs. The search for meaning engulfs the Jesuits in the book (even the ex-Jesuits like Emilio) and is the true reason for their trip--they need to understand. Emilio needs to know if there is a reason for his suffering, a reason that is implied to be of a higher power. It would take someone with extremely strong spirituality to take the discovery of aliens as a sign from God. I say this because, as the questions presented above show, the discovery of another sentient species would probably raise more doubts than convictions about God's providence. I mean, think about it...the existence of aliens would mean that we're not special, we're not God's only children. As it mentions above, what does that mean for the belief that we were created in God's image? And what if the aliens have their own unshakable beliefs? How do we know that our God is the real God? I find it hard to believe that finding an alien species would immediately lead people to see them as God's other children. It is inherent in human nature to want to feel special, like the human race is one in a million, and who knows how religion would hold up to a discovery that challenges this view.