on Existentialism: Aliens v Cowboys...er, I Mean Religion

Based on this old article I happened to read last night: If we made contact with aliens, how would religions react?

If the current state of reality is getting you down — and how could it not be, haven’t you been paying attention? — why not escape for a few minutes into a terrific piece of fantasy writing about what it would mean for religion if we found out aliens existed. How awesome would our world be if that was an actual problem? What if the nothingness up there met the nothingness down here? Oh God, we’re so fucked.

Salvation itself might be exclusively an Earth concept. Theology doesn’t require us to believe that sin affects all intelligent life, everywhere in the Universe. Maybe humans are uniquely bad. Or, to use religious language, maybe Earth is the only place unfortunate enough to have an Adam and Eve. Who is to say our star-siblings are morally compromised and in need of spiritual redemption? Maybe they have attained a more perfect spiritual existence than we have at this point in our development.

Yeah, maybe. Or maybe aliens and religion are both bullshit. Still, it’s something to think about to not think about the other things, which are real and which are actually going to happen. In fact, I’m going to go read this piece again. Save us, star-siblings!