# What are the Christian views on extraterrestrials **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 22, 2026, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285 "2026-09-22T19:15:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/21 "2026-09-23T01:38:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I think I’ve read that aliens play a role in the theology of the Latter-Day Saints, but I’ll let others more familiar with that church speak to that. It’s apparently based on this passage in Doctrine and Covenants: > For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father - > > That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God. And this passage from the Book of Moses: > And it came to pass, as the voice was still speaking, Moses cast his eyes and beheld the earth, yea, even all of it; and there was not a particle of it which he did not behold, discerning it by the Spirit of God. > > And he beheld also the inhabitants thereof, and there was not a soul which he beheld not; and he discerned them by the Spirit of God; and their numbers were great, even numberless as the sand upon the sea shore. > > And he beheld many lands; and each land was called earth, and there were inhabitants on the face thereof. > > And it came to pass that Moses called upon God, saying: Tell me, I pray thee, why these things are so, and by what thou madest them? > > And behold, the glory of the Lord was upon Moses, so that Moses stood in the presence of God, and talked with him face to face. And the Lord God said unto Moses: For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom and it remaineth in me. > > And by the word of my power, have I created them, which is mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth. > > And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten. > > And the first man of all men have I called Adam, which is many. > > But only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, give I unto you. For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them. And this passage in Abraham: > And I, Abraham, had the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord my God had given unto me, in Ur of the Chaldees; > > And I saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones which were near unto it; > > And the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest. That said, some branches of the church hold that only the Bible and the Book of Mormon are scripture and that the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, while important, are not scripture. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/22 "2026-09-23T02:04:08Z")
Maybe he was just referring to…sheep? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/23 "2026-09-23T05:06:11Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > Well anyway, he had this fervent belief that spaceships would someday arrive (piloted by who I don’t know) and all Born Again Christians would be transported up and whisked away to some kind of paradise where Jesus was waiting to give them their reward. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WYW_lPlekiQ/hqdefault.jpg "What does God need with a starship") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYW_lPlekiQ) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/24 "2026-09-23T10:07:20Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Is there a general consensus among Christians on the subject of intelligent races on other planets? In a word: no. Answers to any of the OPs other questions (from anyone, religious or not) would be speculation. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/25 "2026-09-23T11:55:24Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > > [@XOldiesJock](#): > > > > Well anyway, he had this fervent belief that spaceships would someday arrive (piloted by who I don’t know) and all Born Again Christians would be transported up and whisked away to some kind of paradise where Jesus was waiting to give them their reward. OK, now I want to see Q flying around in space Princess Leia style 🤪 . ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/26 "2026-09-23T12:16:25Z")
Yeah, the Catholic perspective is largely going to be informed by science and a sort of intellectual openness, while if you were to ask an ass like Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist in Dallas, he’s liable to tell you that Jesus came to redeem humans on Earth, and therefore any aliens are in league with Satan, or otherwise not tuned in to God. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/27 "2026-09-23T14:25:02Z")
Not only do views vary, but there’s also a lot of hedging IME. So the very same person might point to the apparent silence of the night sky as evidence that the earth is special / one of a kind. And even make a rhetorical point that atheists speculate about aliens because deep down they are searching for God. …But then _also_ say that if we were to find aliens it would make total sense and be what the bible predicted. On one of the atheist debate shows, one of the callers was arguing for the position that there may be AGIs, and for each world on which there are, a version of Jesus atones for their sins on that world. A pretty out there position, IMHO, but it was interesting hearing someone try to advocate for it, particularly since it was a relatively well spoken and polite interlocutor. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/28 "2026-09-23T15:05:31Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > On one of the atheist debate shows, one of the callers was arguing for the position that there may be AGIs, and for each world on which there are, a version of Jesus atones for their sins on that world. A pretty out there position, IMHO, but it was interesting hearing someone try to advocate for it, particularly since it was a relatively well spoken and polite interlocutor. If by AGI you mean a species like humans, then that doesn’t sound all that wild to me. As a deist, who doesn’t believe in the divinity of our own purported savior, then yes, it sounds a little odd, but not way out there. Why does it not sound way out there? Because as someone that grew up Catholic, that sounds like what most well educated Catholics would believe. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/29 "2026-09-23T16:04:36Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > If by AGI you mean a species like humans, then that doesn’t sound all that wild to me Well that constraint answers the question. Because all AGI means is an advanced general intelligence. That could mean any kind of social behaviour, or lack of, completely different instincts and values. What “sin” means, and what atonement for it does, is likely to be wildly different from world to world. So, it might make sense to the Glorbians that Glorsus gave his life to atone for the sin of the first Glorb to not return sugar to the hive. But it seems pretty silly from a gods eye view why this story is necessary to be repeated in some (quite varied) form everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/30 "2026-09-23T17:03:16Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Because all AGI means is an advanced general intelligence. That could mean any kind of social behaviour, or lack of, completely different instincts and values. > > What “sin” means, and what atonement for it does, is likely to be wildly different from world to world. > > So, it might make sense to the Glorbians that Glorsus gave his life to atone for the sin of the first Glorb to not return sugar to the hive. But it seems pretty silly from a gods eye view why this story is necessary to be repeated in some (quite varied) form everywhere. Yeah, that would certainly make a difference. I was thinking in terms of the sort of aliens we see in a show like Star Trek. My guess is most Catholics wouldn’t have a problem with something like Klingon Jesus, Ferengi Jesus, Cardassian Jesus, etc\*. \*. Ok, maybe they would have a problem with Bajoran Jesus 😜 . ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/31 "2026-09-23T17:52:04Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > I never heard this particular story from anyone else, despite running into several B-A types over the years. He may have just been his own kind of nut and came up with it all by himself. I don’t know if this had anything to do with it, but he was HUGE “Star Wars” fan. There’s a portion of the UFO fringe that overlaps with the Christian fringe and ends up with weird concepts like this, although usually its, “UFOs aren’t space ships, they’re angels and/or demons that people are misidentifying as space ships!” “UFOs are space ships piloted by angels!” is a new take to me. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/32 "2026-09-23T18:23:37Z")
Since Kirk & Co ran into Gods before, this film did not make sense. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/33 "2026-09-24T01:15:03Z")
That insane travesty of a purported Star Trek film, and that’s what you latch onto? 🤷‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/34 "2026-09-24T01:19:41Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Not only do views vary, but there’s also a lot of hedging IME. And a heck of a lot of people who just never gave the matter any particular thought at all. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/35 "2026-09-24T01:41:52Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Since Kirk & Co ran into Gods before, this film did not make sense. Not quite. IIRC, almost all the gods or god like creatures Kirk encountered did not requested to use a space ship. “Gods” like Apollo moved with more advanced space or dimensional transports. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/36 "2026-09-24T05:40:15Z")
Answering from Mormon teachings from when I was growing up. (I will use LDS to mean the LDS church headquartered in Utah and Mormon to mean the general Mormon movement.) > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Is there a general consensus among Christians on the subject of intelligent races on other planets? Can’t answer that, but the Mormon view is unique to Mormons. > [@](#): > > Do they feel that extraterrestrials are impossible because the Bible doesn’t mention them? Nope. There is a belief that there are an infinite number of worlds with humans. The LDS church actively discourages people from speculating too much about this and other doctrines. > [@](#): > > Do they feel that God created other intelligent races on other planets in the same way he created humans on Earth? Yes. There is also the belief that God was once a man on another world, and had a God himself. Although it’s not clear what this actually meant, let’s call that god the “grandfather god”. (This is not Mormon doctrine, I’m just putting a name to help things be clear.) > [@](#): > > If extraterrestrials exist, do they have the same relationship with God that humans have? Yes. And perhaps not all of them because other humans on previous worlds (with the grandfather god) may have become gods themselves and have worlds with humans. (This is why the LDS Church shuts down speculation. It can get messy really quickly.) > [@](#): > > Do other intelligent races have their equivalents of Adam and Eve? This isn’t explicitly taught in Mormonism, but there would have to be, because the Savior’s atonement saved the people in other worlds as well. > [@](#): > > Are there extraterrestrials who didn’t fall the way humans did? Are some extraterrestrials still living in their equivalent of Eden? Not taught and any such speculation is discouraged. > [@](#): > > If extraterrestrials fell, did Jesus appear to them to save them? Was it the same Jesus as appeared on Earth or does each planet get its own separate savior? According to orthodox Mormonism, then Christ’s sacrifice redeemed them as well. He went to the other worlds after he was resurrected, but nothing is explicitly taught. Nothing is taught about what happens in worlds from grandfather god. > [@](#): > > Will humans and extraterrestrials meet in Heaven? Not taught, but my assumption was that they would not. The whole “other worlds” was treated as something in doctrine but not to be guessed at. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That said, some branches of the church hold that only the Bible and the Book of Mormon are scripture and that the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, while important, are not scripture. Only some minor branches, ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/37 "2026-09-24T06:28:42Z")
As others have pointed out, there are multiple views within Christianity on almost everything. But a lot of those views are somewhat marginal; there’s what we might call a broad consensus among mainstream Christian denominations on a range of issues. Relevant to the OP, I think this consensus would include: - There’s no doctrinal position that there are, or that there are not, intelligent races elswhere in the universe. You can think what you like about this question; it doesn’t impair your identity as a Christian. - The Incarnation is a unique event; God does not become incarnate separately at different times and different places. However you probably could postulate a unique incarnation that is manifested at different places in the universe and/or at different times. It’s speculative, obviously. - The sacrifice of Christ is for the redemption of the whole of creation. Therefore, if there are intelligent races elsewhere in need of recemption they don’t require a separate sacrifice to be redeemed. Somewhat analgous questions arose a bit over 500 years ago, when Christians discovered a hitherto unsuspected New World, filled with people who were wholly unaware of the claims of Christianity. Could they, and the many generations of their ancestors who had died before ever hearing of Christ, be saved? The Europeans who discovered and colonised the New World were overwhelmingly Catholics, and the position they arrived at was (1) it was important and necessary to evangelise the New World, but (2)\_God certainly can save people who die without ever being evangelised; individual faith in Christ is the only assured route to salvation that we know of, but God cannot be limited by what we know. And that’s still the Catholic view. Subsequently, along came the Protestant reformation, and a greater diversity of theological views among Christians, and then subsequently again along came what you might call the insistence on a simplistically literal reading of scripture, and then along came American Evangilism and the stress on accepting Jesus as your _ **personal** _ saviour, and a generally very individualistic approach. So probably there now would be a non-trivial chunk of Christians who would argue that pre-Columbian Americans must be considered not saved, because they could have heard and responded to the Gospel. You can see how this could map on to the discovery of intelligent alien life. The consensus would probably be that, if they are sufficiently like us to make salvation a meaninful concept, they could be saved. Nobody would argue that that would require a separate incarnation or a second sacrifice of Christ. But opinon would be split on whether they could only be saved if successfully evangelised, and brought to personal faith in Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/38 "2026-09-26T17:30:04Z")
> [@UDS1](#): > > You can see how this could map on to the discovery of intelligent alien life. The consensus would probably be that, if they are sufficiently like us to make salvation a meaninful concept, they could be saved. Nobody would argue that that would require a separate incarnation or a second sacrifice of Christ. Plenty of people have suggested that a ‘separate incarnation or a second sacrifice of Christ’ would be necessary, or desirable. The universe might be full of Jesus-analogs, administering to crab-people, spider-people, octopoids, bee-hives, and so on, as Olaf Stapledon suggested (I quoted his ideas a short while ago, in this post **[A question about Christian religions that believe a Rapture is coming - #33 by eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-christian-religions-that-believe-a-rapture-is-coming/1033261/33)** ) * * * Indeed this may even be true in the real universe; the fact that some, many or most intelligent aliens have some sort of Jesus-analog in their past does not imply or require that salvation is a real phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/39 "2026-09-26T19:18:25Z")
Churches can be echo chambers. People who might ask such questions tend to not stick around so, the question never comes up. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285/40 "2026-09-26T19:49:04Z")
Referring again to C. S. Lewis, in the Narnia books, there was only one Jesus, but He incarnated as a human for us, and as a lion for the Narnians, and was killed in both forms. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-christian-views-on-extraterrestrials/1033285.md?page=3)