Why Catholics should think about "aliens"

Just to mention aliens turns some people off, but to a Christian,
to a Catholic, thinking about extraterrestrial life can hold
tremendous value. If you replace the word “alien” with “the
other” then we start down a familiar path. Does “the other” exist
in the universe? Would “the other” mean us peace or harm? Should
I will the good of “the other?” Faith Full is a Catholic podcast
hosted by Tony Ganzer. This episode features Paul Thigpen. The
book is published by TAN Books:
https://tanbooks.com/products/books/tan-books/pre-order/extraterrestrial-intelligence-and-the-catholic-faith/


Some of the greatest Catholic thinkers wrestled with this
question of “the other.” Whether you’re thinking about so-called
aliens, people who live in the center of the earth, or maybe
creatures at the end of the world, how we approach our
theoretical brothers and sisters of the universe might tell us a
lot about what our faith really means to us.  Introduction


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Many Catholic thinkers have explored this question of alien life,
from an apologetics standpoint, to the Vatican observatory. And
science fiction likes to return to this tension of space and
religions every so often. In one classic episode of the original
Star Trek series the crew finds a planet with Roman-era
government, and a growing following of sun worshipers, thought to
be primitive. But the sun SUN, was actually son SON. And we’re
left with this question of whether Christ would die again on some
distant cross for the same path of salvation for another species.
Star Trek’s creator Gene Roddenberry also had a show called Earth
Final Conflict, about a race of aliens who came to help out the
humans. But in one episode a character blends images of Moses,
Jesus Christ, and a few other historical figures and the image
looks just like the alien. Have they been here before? Maybe our
souls have a unique connection to other beings. God’s grace is
certainly abundant enough to spread beyond the stars, isn’t it?
In December 2022 Pentagon officials said there was no evidence to
affirm the existence of space aliens, but the search continues.
So our thinking about our faith and potential alien life
continues with Paul Thigpen, author of Extraterrestrial
Intelligence and the Catholic Faith from TAN Books.