If Aliens Exist, Would It Overturn Our Faith?

閱讀中文版：如果外星生物存在，會否推翻我們的信仰？

Q: In recent years, news about UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) keeps surfacing, and even a former U.S. president has openly discussed extraterrestrials. If aliens really exist, would it overturn our faith? How should Christians view this kind of unverified claim?

In recent years UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) — a new term officially adopted by the U.S. Department of Defense, replacing the old term UFO — has become a hot topic. This term itself already reflects a fact: the phenomena remain undefined, and their origin remains undetermined. But rumors on the street, often without any verification at all, jump straight to conclusions like “alien civilization has been proven” or even “the government is covering it up.” How should we as believers respond?

This article hopes to first clearly sort out an appropriate attitude toward this kind of rumor, then address whether the hypothesis “if aliens really exist” would shake the foundation of our faith.

I. What Scripture Teaches Us About Attitude: Step by Step, With Caution

Proverbs 14:15 puts it this way:

The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. (ESV)

This verse gives us a fitting starting point. Facing unverified rumors, the prudent person neither swallows everything whole nor dismisses everything outright, but proceeds cautiously — verifying before concluding.

The writer is reminded of some similarities with Dan Brown’s claim in The Da Vinci Code that “Jesus had a married life and children” — on the surface, both assume an unverified claim to be true, then work out its theological implications. But on closer examination, the two are actually quite different in nature. The Da Vinci Code’s claim requires that the four Gospels’ record of Jesus’ singleness, crucifixion, and resurrection is mistaken or was tampered with — this is overturning an existing record. Whether or not aliens exist doesn’t require that any verse in Scripture is wrong — it only concerns a domain Scripture never addressed.

Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 15 makes exactly this point about how different “hypotheses” can be from each other:

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. (1 Cor 15:14, ESV)

Paul deliberately rests the entire faith on a single, verifiable, already-occurred historical event — this is the foundation of faith; if it could be disproven, Christianity would collapse. Whether or not aliens exist entirely lacks this kind of “foundation-shaking” nature. Being clear about this distinction lets us handle this question calmly, without excessive worry, and without rushing to conclusions either.

II. Current State: Handling Unverified Rumors with Caution

Of the “government cover-up” stories currently circulating, very little actually holds up to verification.

In 1995, British producer Ray Santilli released footage claiming to have been filmed by a military cameraman documenting an “alien autopsy” after the 1947 Roswell incident, which aired in 32 countries and once stirred global sensation. The writer remembers, as a child, that Hong Kong television also broadcast this footage multiple times, once becoming the talk of the town, and the writer chased it eagerly too — even now, looking back, it remains an interesting childhood memory. But this footage was ultimately proven to be a thorough fabrication: the scene was constructed in a London apartment unit, the “alien corpse” was made from prosthetic material by sculptor John Humphreys, with the supposed brain actually being sheep’s brain, and the internal organs bought from a butcher shop. One of the film’s makers, Spyros Melaris, only publicly admitted this in 2017, calling the whole thing “just a joke for me” — a statement that entirely underestimated the public’s reaction to the footage.

Beyond individual cases of authenticity, the very framework of “the government secretly making contact with aliens” doesn’t hold up to logical scrutiny either. The writer can’t help but wonder: if aliens are real, why would they only choose to reveal themselves to government elites, especially the U.S. government? Is it really like the movie Men in Black portrays, where all governments secretly know but maintain some strange unspoken pact to guard this secret together? But how was that pact ever reached? China? Russia? During the Cold War, the U.S. and USSR used every means to spy on each other’s most sensitive secrets — nuclear weapon designs, space technology, intelligence networks — all were attempted to be infiltrated or leaked. U.S.–Russia relations have remained tense for decades, U.S.–China relations have also had their ups and downs, with divisions existing on so many fronts — why would this be the one issue on which every country could achieve total cooperation and unified secrecy? No side has ever used “exposing the other’s secret alien contact” as a political weapon. Even assuming every country’s program was entirely independent and unaware of the others, this “multilateral coordination” of silence itself remains hard to explain.

A string of public remarks by political figures in the first half of 2026 is also worth examining closely in sequence. On February 14, former U.S. President Obama, in a quick Q&A segment on a podcast, was asked “are aliens real,” and offhandedly replied “yes, but I haven’t seen them” — the answer instantly went viral online. Five days later, the sitting president, Trump, responded while aboard a plane, criticizing Obama for “leaking classified information,” while simultaneously announcing he would instruct the Department of Defense to declassify related files. Obama clarified on social media the same week: “I saw no evidence of any alien life form contacting us during my presidency.” The declassified photos subsequently released by the Pentagon were widely judged as vague and insufficient to draw any conclusion. Around the same time, Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi thriller Disclosure Day — telling the story of a government agency hiding decades of alien contact evidence — happened to be released in theaters during the same period, with media even directly pointing out that this whole string of events “sounds like it might just be free promotion for Spielberg’s new movie.” The stirring caused by a casual exchange between political figures overlapping so heavily with a commercial film’s promotional cycle — this kind of coincidence is itself worth questioning.

For now, the evidence is not sufficient to support any firm conclusion. Proverbs 14:15’s principle of caution is exactly the fitting response: no need to swallow everything whole, but no need for excessive worry either.

III. Hypothesis: What If Something Scripture Doesn’t Record Turns Out to Be Real?

So suppose one day the existence of aliens really is confirmed with certainty — how would this affect our faith?

First, it must be made clear: things that Scripture doesn’t record are countless. The writer addressed a similar question in another article, “Is the Bible Incompatible with Modern Science?” — Genesis doesn’t mention dinosaurs, but fossil evidence clearly shows dinosaurs indeed once existed on earth. Scripture not recording something doesn’t mean that thing doesn’t exist — the reason is simple: Scripture’s purpose was never to serve as an encyclopedia of biology, astronomy, geography, and other sciences — it was written to help us understand God and how to follow him.¹ DNA, dark matter, likewise — Scripture doesn’t mention either, yet no believer questions their existence because of this, or lets this shake the foundation of their faith. Scripture’s original audience was not modern people; it addresses the spiritual needs that have remained constant for humanity from ancient times to today — temptation, sin, death, relationship with God — not to answer every scientific or existential question.

If aliens exist, they should properly fall under this same principle of “Scripture’s silence” — on the premise that this remains a hypothetical situation, not something currently verified.

Some might worry: if rational alien life exists, would this undermine humanity’s unique status of being “made in God’s image”? This worry, however, is actually built on top of another unverified assumption — interpreting the reason for being “made in God’s image” as “rationality.” Harvard astrochemist Karin Oberg understood it this way in one interview: she believes that imago Dei points to rational capacity, so even if rational alien life exists, humanity’s unique status would remain unthreatened. This framing is well-intentioned, but “rationality” as the core content of imago Dei is a later philosophical inference — the text itself never states this so explicitly. Scripture clearly tells us only that God made man in his own image (Gen 1:27) — it never declares this about angels or other creatures. As for “why is it humans, and not angels” — the text gives no explanation, and we needn’t insert a reason the text never gave.

In other words, if rational alien life exists, what would truly be threatened is only the later assumption “rationality equals imago Dei,” not Scripture’s own declaration. Scripture never says “every rational creature is made in God’s image” — it only says “man is made in God’s image” — this is a statement about identity, not a definition or criterion that can be applied to other species.

IV. A Weaker, More Speculative Question: The Salvation of Aliens

Compared to “whether aliens exist,” another even more speculative extension question is: assuming aliens exist, would they need salvation? Does Christ’s atonement cover them?

Hebrews describes the object of the incarnation this way:

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things… For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. (Heb 2:14, 16, ESV)

This passage clearly ties the incarnation to “the offspring of Abraham,” to this specific human physical identity, “flesh and blood.” Scripture’s account of the atonement has, from beginning to end, treated humanity as the sole object addressed — this isn’t an oversight by the biblical authors, but reflects exactly where the focus of Scripture’s writing lies: the answer given is “how humanity is reconciled with God,” not “how every rational life form in the universe is reconciled with God.”

If aliens exist, they too would indeed be creatures made by God; but whether their created status requires and involves salvation belongs to what God has not revealed to us:

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deut 29:29, ESV)

This has no bearing on our faith, nor does it require us to supply an answer on God’s behalf.

Conclusion

The “caution, step by step” spoken of in Proverbs 14:15 doesn’t mean holding everything in permanent doubt — it reminds us not to spend precious theological reflection on a hypothesis that hasn’t yet been solidly verified. Whether aliens exist remains, for now, an open question; even if proof is obtained in the future, it would not shake the foundation of faith — just as dinosaurs, DNA, and dark matter have never shaken it. What truly calls for caution is rather the approach of treating unverified rumors as established fact to build theology upon.

Further Reading

The articles below each address the relationship between aliens and faith from different angles. They are collected here for readers’ reference and comparison only, and do not represent the writer’s endorsement or agreement with the views within — the position taken in this article is the writer’s own consideration.

• Fr. Wong Kam-man, “UFOs Don’t Contradict Faith: No Hard Evidence for Aliens, Discussion Remains Sci-Fi Speculation,” Christian Times — a Catholic priest surveys the UAP phenomenon, emphasizing that Scripture’s silence does not equal denial.
• “Disclosure Day: Attempting to Resolve the Conflict Between Alien Civilization and Christian Faith,” Christian Times — discusses the tension between alien civilization and the doctrine of redemption, referencing the Spielberg film and closing with Deuteronomy 29:29.
• Karin Oberg, “Would Aliens Destroy Christianity?”, Catholic Answers Focus — the Harvard astrochemist proposes understanding imago Dei through “rationality,” while acknowledging this remains philosophical inference rather than explicit scriptural teaching; also acknowledges the incarnation remains theologically “murky territory” here.
• “But What If Aliens Exist?”, Stand to Reason — surveys and compares several views on the scope of redemption, concluding that if humanity is the only rational created being in the universe, the question resolves itself.
• “Alien Life and Christianity: What C.S. Lewis Can Teach Us,” Christian Standard — drawing on C.S. Lewis’s essay “Religion and Rocketry” (1958), arguing for approaching this question with imagination and humility rather than fear.
• “How would it impact the Christian faith if it was discovered that aliens exist?”, GotQuestions.org — categorizes UFO phenomena directly as demonic activity, and argues Scripture already provides grounds to deny extraterrestrial life; the writer does not agree with this line of argument, and readers may compare and judge for themselves.

1. See the related discussion in another article, “Is the Bible Incompatible with Modern Science?” ↩