# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**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 24, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/21 "2017-02-24T20:00:45Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Too much locusts and honey last night. Well, it is better than [430 days of poop-smoked bread](http://biblehub.com/nlt/ezekiel/4.htm). ---
**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, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/22 "2017-02-24T20:21:04Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Well, it is better than [430 days of poop-smoked bread](http://biblehub.com/nlt/ezekiel/4.htm). I dunno, are the locusts still wriggling? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/23 "2017-02-25T00:17:34Z")
Angels are non-human extra-terrestrial life, and the Abrahamic religions deal with them as part of God’s plan, like humans. The Space Trilogy of CS Lewis deals with the religious dimension of life on other planets. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/24 "2017-02-25T00:38:58Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Ezekiel 1:15 is pretty weird. Some think it refers to a early UFO sighting. You think that is weird? Try interpreting Revelation, which can be made to refer to anything you want. ---
**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 25, 2017, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/25 "2017-02-25T00:59:56Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > You think that is weird? Try interpreting Revelation, which can be made to refer to anything you want. Okay, now that _was_ eating bad eels on the isle of Malta. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/26 "2017-02-25T04:24:42Z")
I was told as a child that since humans were created in God’s image, aliens were \*not, \*and therefore aliens were either demons or the creations of Satan. So not all Christian sects are of the same opinion on the matter. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/27 "2017-02-25T06:26:17Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > 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). It’s the same word, basically. Although its singular and plural forms are used in the Qur’an with different nuances. السماء al-samā’ means the sky: pretty much what we mean by sky in English. You look up, there’s the sky. It can mean either the upper air where birds fly or the astronomical sky where the sun, moon, planets, and stars are seen. There’s also the plural form السماوات al-samāwāt, which all the translators translate as “the heavens,” which I take to mean not just the visible sky but the entire cosmos above the earth, however one conceives that. Sometimes this plural form occurs in the phrase السماوات السبع al-samāwāt al-sab‘ ‘the seven heavens’. What’s interesting about this word is that it uses the “sound” (i.e. unbroken) plural of Arabic grammar, made with a suffix, in this case the feminine plural -āt (corresponding to Hebrew ־ות -oth). The funny thing is that the sound plural is normally used only for rational (i.e. human) beings; inanimate things get the “broken” plural, made by alteration of a word’s inner vowel structure. The sound plural is called that because it leaves the base word structure intact and just adds a suffix. Giving “the heavens” a sound plural seems to imply they have sentient intelligence. A similar anomaly is in the word ‘ālamīn, which is ‘world’ (‘ālam, from Hebrew ‘olam) with the sound masculine plural suffix -īn. This special plural form is used to mean something like all the worlds all over the whole cosmos, the sound plural again implying not only sentience but rational thought too. This grammatical anomaly can and has provoked speculation that the Qur’an hints at intelligent life on other planets. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Okay, now that _was_ eating bad eels on the isle of Malta. Patmos was the island, and I vote for ergoty rye bread. ---
**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 25, 2017, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/28 "2017-02-25T13:35:06Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Patmos was the island, and I vote for ergoty rye bread. I concede to your wider knowledge of the subject. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/29 "2017-02-25T23:48:04Z")
The book Do They Keep Kosher On Mars? is a collection of columns by Sol The Answer Man. The answer splits as you would expect. Orthodox Jews say no- humanity is unique and G-d gave the Torah to humanity alone. Other rabbis (notably Norman Lamm) say that the discovery of ET’s would just be another wonder in His creation. I can’t recall who wrote the sf short story On Venus, Have We Got A Rabbi. It addresses how Jews living in a universe with ET’s who visit often settle just who is and is not a Jew. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/30 "2017-02-26T01:00:33Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > 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. [A Case of Conscience](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Case_of_Conscience) is a novel (i.e. not official Church doctrine) on that. I don’t know if it would work out this way, of course. The [former head of the Vatican Observatory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Gabriel_Funes) is open to the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556/31 "2017-02-26T02:16:08Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I was told as a child that since humans were created in God’s image, aliens were \*not, \*and therefore aliens were either demons or the creations of Satan. So not all Christian sects are of the same opinion on the matter. Well, considering Satan, and all his companions are Angels, fallen from grace, they are technically the same as Angels, being demon or not is a choice they made, not a physical what they are thing. I dont think the OP is really a fair question per say. Reason why is because God did not sit down with Abraham or Moses etc and give a complete dissertation on the entire history geography and culture of the universe. There is never any in depth study into the life and existence of Angels or other described beings of heaven. What is talked about is Man, and Earth and Man’s existence here and how Man is supposed to act etc. That is what it is for, and that is the subject it sticks to. I don’t think any scripture ever says “And Lo the Lord your God sayeth, Look upon the emptiness of the universe, i have made it devoid of all life but you” It does have a line like this from Deborah in Judges _ **“The stars fought from heaven, From their courses they fought against Sisera.”** _ one might say that anything that can fight from the stars would be considered Alien? If God has created it, who may deny it? From a scientific stand point, Angels are aliens, God is an alien, Any sentient being of heaven is an alien, because it does not come from earth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-abrahamic-religions-say-about-aliens/780556.md?page=1)