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 …
