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freesoulhope
Guest
Can I believe in aliens, alien abduction, and be a Catholic believing Christian? What do you think?
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Ahimsa
Guest
Sure. (But then again, I’m not Catholic. However, I have read the CCC many times over.)
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freesoulhope
Guest
An intresting reply. Do you believe in Gray Aliens?
If not, why not.
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Ahimsa
Guest
I think it’s possible that such aliens exist. I don’t go around thinking about them much, though.
If they want to make themselves known to me, they know where I live.
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DeFide
Guest
You are as free to believe in the existence of “aliens” as you are free to believe in the existence of undocumented species of animals on earth.
The likelihood of “aliens” being out there is another topic.
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freesoulhope
Guest
Being free to believe something is one thing. But does “Catholic theology” allow me to believe, with out contradicting one self…
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Della
Guest
It seems to me what you are really asking is: “Can Catholics believe in reality, even if that reality seems to contradict Catholic teaching.”
To which I would reply, “In what way would the reality of sentient alien life contradict Catholic teaching?”
On a side note, it is much more likely that those who believe they have been abducted suffer from a disorder in which they cannot distinguish between their waking life and their dream life. It’s a form of night terrors, which have been experienced by many people in various cultures down through centuries. Before people began to be fascinated by the possibility of extraterrestrial aliens, people believed they were having contact with all sorts of odd persons from elves to demons. So, I wouldn’t place much faith in alien abductions, which no one has ever been able to prove actually happen to them.
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Sir_Knight
Guest
Does “Catholic theology” allow you to believe in the existence of undocumented species of animals on earth, with out contradicting one self?
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catsrus
Guest
You can believe in aliens all you want but I agree with **Della **on the abduction part of it.
I’ve often thought that it may be extemely arrogant of us humans to believe we are all “it” here on Earth.
If God has other things going on elsewhere, so be it.
I’ve often thought that it may be extemely arrogant of us humans to believe we are all “it” here on Earth.
If God has other things going on elsewhere, so be it.
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Durendin
Guest
Although it’s not the greatest theological work ever committed to film, 
I went to see Constantine because I was a huge fan of the comic book. Anyway, in it the central character is confronted by the Arch-Angel Gabriel who’s a bit miffed with mankind and the attitude we have towards the gift of redemption we have been given.
“Of all the beings in the universe, no other creature can make such a boast!”
Got me thinking how well scripted that line was in relation to aliens? No wonder they don’t like us much!
I went to see Constantine because I was a huge fan of the comic book. Anyway, in it the central character is confronted by the Arch-Angel Gabriel who’s a bit miffed with mankind and the attitude we have towards the gift of redemption we have been given.“Of all the beings in the universe, no other creature can make such a boast!”
Got me thinking how well scripted that line was in relation to aliens? No wonder they don’t like us much!
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Des
Guest
Another question is, if actual Aliens with a conscience on par with ours along with an equal or higher intelligence did exist, would the Church be against a human marrying one?
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Rolltide
Guest
You might have to get a ruling from whatever diocese the alien’s planet resides in!
Actually, now THERE’S food for thought… suppose one day aliens actually do arrive on Earth. What happens if the first thing they say isn’t “Take me to your leader”, but rather, “We bring greeting from Pope Blar VIII, representative of Christ and the Holy Catholic Church on our planet. Oh… and you might wanna take a look at our scriptures too…” (I smell a book!!
) First, you’d have to debate if they were genuine and not trying to take over or cause chaos on Earth. (And how in the world would you even go about doing that?!) Then you’d have the conspiracy theories of every other denomination on Earth, not wanting to believe that it’s true. Then the Vatican would have to figure out how to interpret it. Do we now have to name alien cardinals? Or name cardinals to THEIR conclave? It could make your head spin…!
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Sir_Knight
Guest
Sort of like if we established a colony on Mars. And people were being born there and here on earth. What would be a person’s age? Their earth time or their Mars time.
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Lion_of_Narnia
Guest
Alien abduction stories have faded quite a bit because a spreading recognition of:
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- Peoplewere confusing the very real phenomena of "waking dreams (nighmares) with actual sensory experiences–and that these experiences arelargely culturaly determined in content
- The big promoters of"alien abductions"had vested interests–including financial or ego gratification, or both
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wjp984
Guest
Mars is not too much smaller than earth where it would make a large difference. Perhaps a few seconds difference in a lifetime. Oh, now I thought too much into your statement. You mean the actual Mars year and Earth years in regards to the amount of time it taks to orbit the sun. Ya, that would be weird. I overthought the statement and thought you meant how time goes faster on Mars than it does on Earth since there is less gravity.
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wjp984
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If there are aliens with eternal soulds, they would not necessarily have made the smae mistakes as us. Therefore, they might not have sinned and turned against God and therefore not in need of Jesus or Catholicism with popes and stuff. There would be no original sin.You might have to get a ruling from whatever diocese the alien’s planet resides in!
Actually, now THERE’S food for thought… suppose one day aliens actually do arrive on Earth. What happens if the first thing they say isn’t “Take me to your leader”, but rather, “We bring greeting from Pope Blar VIII, representative of Christ and the Holy Catholic Church on our planet. Oh… and you might wanna take a look at our scriptures too…” (I smell a book!!
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thistle
Guest
Whether there is life elsewhere in the universe I don’t know but I don’t think it would contradict any Church teachings.
However, if by aliens you mean gray creatures with big black eyes coming to earth regularly to abduct people that is plain rubbish and folks who believe that are probably one can short of a six pack!
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Contarini
Guest
And how do you know they weren’t?
Augustine leaves open the possibility that beings such as elves, satyrs, etc., may exist. I think [sentient] extraterrestrials would fall under much the same category.
Edwin
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Contarini
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I’ve given some thought to this, because I’ve had the plot of a novel based on this question rolling around in my head for years. I’m pretty sure that the Catholic Church’s position would be that marriage with an alien would be legitimate only if the two species could naturally produce offspring together. Since this is highly unlikely, the Church would probably be against intermarriage. But in the *Star Trek *universe, for instance, the Church would have no reason to oppose intermarriage between humans and Vulcans or Klingons or whatever. In the novel (of which only a few paragraphs have ever been written!), I postulate one species (actually a cloned, genetically engineered species, which raises a whole other can of worms–but my supposition is that if such a species existed and showed evidence of sentience, the Church would recognize its legitimacy even if its origins were questionable) with whom intermarriage is possible (the catch is that this species is very unattractive to humans–actually I imagine them to be the “Greys” of alien abduction lore), and another species of shapeshifters, which thus has the ability to take on forms very attractive to humans, but which cannot naturally interbreed with humans. The Vatican thus falls foul of human bigots on the one hand for supporting intermarriage with the more despised race, and gets a reputation for bigotry on the other by condemning most of the intermarriages (with the attractive shapeshifters) that are actually happening.
That’s the basic premise, anyway. But I can imagine premises for novels much more easily than I can write them.
Edwin
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