Book Reviewed: Religions and Extraterrestrial Life: How Will We Deal With It? by David A. Weintraub

Book Reviewed: Religions and Extraterrestrial Life: How Will We Deal With It? by David A. Weintraub

ET and the religion (four stars)

This is an interesting work of Vanderbilt University Professor David Weintraub in which he discusses aliens and religion. Many aspects of our interaction with aliens have been discussed in literature, on cable TV and other media. In this book, the author looks at another topic that has been overlooked, that is, how does earth based religions would deal with the discovery of aliens on a distant planet? What are the positions of scriptures with regards to life elsewhere? How do we introduce our religions to them? Do they have interest in spirituality, if yes; do they have their own religion?

Astronomers have always said that there are billions of planets in the universe and astronomer Frank Drake proposed a formula to calculate the number of planets with potentially advanced life forms, and his formula suggests that there are about 10,000 planets in Milky Way galaxy alone! About 1800 planets have been discovered so far and more being detected, with the launching of NASA’s Kepler mission and European Space Agency (ESA)’s GAIA mission. With future missions like Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to be launched in 2017, and James Webb Space Telescope (planned launching in 2018), the probability of finding aliens is significant and near. In fact some astrobiologists claim that aliens had contact with ancient humans in the past; but this is largely speculative.

Christians believe if aliens have committed sin, then they have to accept Jesus as the savior. Evangelical Christians believe that we are God’s favorite children and would not easily accommodate the notion that aliens are also god’s favorite creatures. According to Genesis 1:14-19; God withheld the creation of the Sun, Moon and stars until the fourth day. Earth is always depicted as the center stage in God's Creation.

Hinduism and Buddhism are the most accommodating faiths since both religions believe in reincarnation. In principal, one could be reincarnated anywhere in the universe. The ancient Hindu scripture, RgVeda is especially supportive of the idea that aliens exist as illustrated in RgVeda 10.72.1 and 10.129.6. Judaism also provides scriptural support for aliens. In the Book of Judges (5:23), Deborah the prophetess sings about the victory of Barak over Sisera. In her song, she says, “Cursed be Meroz! Cursed, cursed be its inhabitants, says the angel of God!” The Talmud gives two explanations, one of them being that Meroz is a star or planet.

Some of the discussion presented in this book is somewhat imaginative since aliens may have different biology. Many astrobiologists suggest that their biological makeup could be radically different and if they ever find us, their needs are totally different. They could even be advanced computer machines that may have overtaken the living beings that created them. Looking for spirituality in these “life” forms is probably a long shot. Many experts have cautioned, notably cosmologist Stephen Hawing that aliens would not be good for mankind. If aliens invade this planet, most likely they will be looking for a permanent home in the universe since their own planet was destroyed. Such beings would not be eager to share resources of earth with human beings who will be seen as competitors or worse enemies. Professor Weintraub provides a glimpse of how established religions see aliens, and this is perhaps fascinating for readers interested in religion and aliens forms.