There is no doubt that Christianity still has a tight grip on the world. this would probably explode though if we suddenly were contacted by extraterrestrials. Therefore Christian theologians have started to embrace the idea of alien lifeforms. The Vatican chief astronomer , Gabriel Funes, was recently interviewed in the newsletter of the Vatican Obervatory (translated here). The interview pointed out a interesting theory of both extraterrestrials and the idea of creation.
Funes is no conservative and accept the Big Bang theory, and Darwin’s theory of evolution. Scientists believe there are about 100 billion galaxies in the universe, each with 100 billion stars in it. With this hu
ge amount of space it is pretty naive to think that only one planet have developed life. Funes still believes the universe is created by God, and maybe that other sentient beings know of him. Christianity have been waiting for Jesus to reappear for nearly 2000 years now, according to Funes theories this could already have happened on the alien worlds. Therefore there is no reason to try to convert them. If they should appear and not have a religion, the Church will automatically assume they already got redemption and live under Gods grace.
These ideas may seem controversal to the Christian teachings, but it is important for the church to be open minded to this. Personally I would love to see religions explode when we finally meet aliens for the first time, but in the meantime we can all have some fun watching them struggle.
And maybe this will lead to a confrontation with space Jesus.
