# What do the abrahamic religions say about aliens? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556 "2017-02-23T15:02:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Poo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Poo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Poo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/1 "2017-02-23T15:02:19Z")
Is anything mentioned ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/2 "2017-02-23T15:16:32Z")
What, you mean in the Torah, Bible, or Quran? Nothing. (There are some segments that some people try to squeeze an alien interpretation into, though, such as [Ezekiel’s “wheels.”](https://www.google.com/search?q=ezekiel+wheels+aliens) ---
**Author:** ![DudeManBro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@DudeManBro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudeManBro)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/3 "2017-02-23T17:45:57Z")
Depends on how one interprets angels and such… ---
**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:** [February 23, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/4 "2017-02-23T17:59:04Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > What, you mean in the Torah, Bible, or Quran? Nothing. Yeah, the General Questions answer is pretty much limited to this—assuming you mean the extraterrestrial-type aliens, as opposed to the foreigner/immigrant type. But the topic has come up in other forums, such as these Great Debates threads: [How would world religions deal with discovery of sapient alien life?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=677021) [Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Implications for Christians (especially for Jesus as the son of God)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=773190) ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/5 "2017-02-23T18:12:52Z")
The people who wrote the Bible had no concept of another earthlike world from which hypothetical aliens could come. I’m not even sure of the extent to which they realized the earth was round, although some ancient people did know. It’s a bit like asking what opinion King Henry VIII would have had on the relative merits of direct current and alternating current, and whether or not he would have favored rural electrification. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/6 "2017-02-23T18:24:02Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > It’s a bit like asking what opinion King Henry VIII would have had on the relative merits of direct current and alternating current, and whether or not he would have favored rural electrification. But what did he think about enclosure? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/7 "2017-02-23T19:14:16Z")
Ezekiel 1:15 is pretty weird. Some think it refers to a early UFO sighting. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/8 "2017-02-23T19:23:38Z")
Catholocism at least seems to be pretty chill with the idea as [His Holiness Pope Francis](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-says-he-would-baptise-aliens-9360632.html) says he would baptise aliens, if they asked to be. In Islam [this line](https://quran.com/42/29) in the Quran has been interpreted as referring to Allah’s creations on Earth and ‘the heavens’, so the idea of aliens would not be difficult to reconcile; _“And of his signs is the creation of the heavens and earth and what He has dispersed throughout them of creatures. And He, for gathering them when He wills, is competent.”_ ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/9 "2017-02-23T19:27:54Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > _“And of his signs is the creation of the heavens and earth and what He has dispersed throughout them of creatures. And He, for gathering them when He wills, is competent.”_ At that time “creatures of the heavens” would be birds, I should think. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/10 "2017-02-23T19:48:07Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > At that time “creatures of the heavens” would be birds, I should think. Probably, but it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to interpret it as talking about life which didn’t originate on Earth. In [65:12](https://quran.com/65/12) it says; _“It is Allah who has created seven heavens and of the earth, the like of them. [His] command descends among them so you may know that Allah is over all things competent and that Allah has encompassed all things in knowledge.”_ Which suggests that Earth isn’t unique. Meant to mention Judiasm, where in [Judges 5:23](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%205:23) there’s a reference to inhabitants of ‘Meroz’, which the [Talmud](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meroz#Meroz_in_the_Talmud) identifies as a star. The influential Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson has been [quoted] ([http://www.chabad.org/library/article\_cdo/aid/112878/jewish/45a112878#footnote45a112878](http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112878/jewish/45a112878#footnote45a112878)) as saying _“One who declares that there is no life besides on earth is limiting the Creator’s abilities.”_ ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/11 "2017-02-23T21:38:42Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/12 "2017-02-23T22:34:26Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > At that time “creatures of the heavens” would be birds, I should think. The Quran has supernatural beings also. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/13 "2017-02-23T23:17:07Z")
> [@The\_Big\_Poo](#): > > Is anything mentioned If you consider Mormonism to be an Abrahamic religion, then [it has quite a bit to say about aliens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_cosmology). In Mormon cosmology, the Earth is only one of many inhabited planets. According to the Book of Abraham, God is said to live on or near a planet (or maybe star) named [Kolob](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolob). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/14 "2017-02-24T08:25:41Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > In Islam [this line](https://quran.com/42/29) in the Quran has been interpreted as referring to Allah’s creations on Earth and ‘the heavens’, so the idea of aliens would not be difficult to reconcile; > > _“And of his signs is the creation of the heavens and earth and what He has dispersed throughout them of creatures. And He, for gathering them when He wills, is competent.”_ > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > At that time “creatures of the heavens” would be birds, I should think. How much does Arabic distinguish between “heaven” and “sky”, and specifically, does that word happen to have both meanings? In several Romance languages there are words which mean exclusively one or the other, but the most common one happens to share both meanings (plus others, for example the roof of the mouth or the ceiling of a room). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/15 "2017-02-24T08:37:12Z")
I’ve heard people interpret John 10:16 (where Jesus says " I have other sheep which are not of this fold") as referring to aliens, but the verse is probably referring to transcending social divisions such as Jew/Gentile. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/16 "2017-02-24T19:09:00Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Ezekiel 1:15 is pretty weird. Some think it refers to a early UFO sighting. I was thinking drugs. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/17 "2017-02-24T19:10:30Z")
> [@GoodOmens](#): > > I was thinking drugs. Or extreme fasting. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/18 "2017-02-24T19:15:22Z")
Too much locusts and honey last night. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/19 "2017-02-24T19:47:41Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Or extreme fasting. Migraine auras can look like wheels. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/20 "2017-02-24T19:56:36Z")
I saw stars in a rectangle when I fell off an exercise bar. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556.md?page=2)