17: Why Catholics should think about "aliens"

Faith Full Catholic Podcast

Just to mention aliens turns some people off, but to a Christian, to a Catholic, thinking about extraterrestrial life can hold tremendous value. If you replace the word “alien” with “the other” then we start down a familiar path. Does “the other” exist in the universe? Would “the other” mean us peace or harm? Should I will the good of “the other?” Faith Full is a Catholic podcast hosted by Tony Ganzer. This episode features Paul Thigpen. The book is published by TAN Books: https://tanbooks.com/products/books/tan-books/pre-order/extraterrestrial-intelligence-and-the-catholic-faith/

Some of the greatest Catholic thinkers wrestled with this question of “the other.” Whether you’re thinking about so-called aliens, people who live in the center of the earth, or maybe creatures at the end of the world, how we approach our theoretical brothers and sisters of the universe might tell us a lot about what our faith really means to us. Introduction

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Many Catholic thinkers have explored this question of alien life, from an apologetics standpoint, to the Vatican observatory. And science fiction likes to return to this tension of space and religions every so often. In one classic episode of the original Star Trek series the crew finds a planet with Roman-era government, and a growing following of sun worshipers, thought to be primitive. But the sun SUN, was actually son SON. And we’re left with this question of whether Christ would die again on some distant cross for the same path of salvation for another species. Star Trek’s creator Gene Roddenberry also had a show called Earth Final Conflict, about a race of aliens who came to help out the humans. But in one episode a character blends images of Moses, Jesus Christ, and a few other historical figures and the image looks just like the alien. Have they been here before? Maybe our souls have a unique connection to other beings. God’s grace is certainly abundant enough to spread beyond the stars, isn’t it? In December 2022 Pentagon officials said there was no evidence to affirm the existence of space aliens, but the search continues. So our thinking about our faith and potential alien life continues with Paul Thigpen, author of Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith from TAN Books.