What Impact will UFOs/Non-Human Intelligence Have on Religions?

Public discussion of UFOs and UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena), even talk of NHI (Non-human intelligence), has reached something of a fever pitch this summer. A recent Congressional hearing in the United States featured several U.S. military and intelligence voices (including one government whistleblower) who lent their credibility to an otherwise incredible topic: not only the real presence of UFOs and NHI on planet earth, but the presence of a cover-up within some sectors of the U.S. government of materials and information which could validate this sobering truth.

What implications would confirmation of this reality have for the world’s religions? Some scholars of religion, theologians, philosophers, sociologists, and anthropologists have long been interested in this question. And a range of possibilities have presented themselves: (1) religious people will entirely abandon their religious traditions; (2) religious people will incorporate this information into their traditions; (3) religious people will start new religious movements (NRMs) on the basis of this information. Doubtless there will be no single, simple answer, here; though some data has already been collected that may act as a useful starting point for a general expectation.

But at this stage its still more than fair to ask: is this even a topic worthy of our time? Is there any reason to believe the reports of military and intelligence witnesses?

Last week I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Sean Finnegan of the Restitutio podcast on both the current discussion on UFOs/UAP and NHI and on the expected impact of their confirmation on religions. Part one of this interview focuses on both the general subject of UFOs/UAP, as well as a range of interpretive options, and ultimately on what the data indicates regarding the likelihood of option (1) above, that religious people will simply leave their religions in droves. Part two of this interview considers implications for Christian theology in particular, and the various avenues by which Christians could engage in option (2), the theological incorporation/reconciliation of the data.

Note: For an invaluable, comprehensive study of the global engagement of religions with ideas about NHI/Extra-terrestrials, a collection of essays focused largely on the above options (2) and (3), see Dr. Ben Zeller’s edited volume from Brill, Handbook of UFO Religions (2021) (link here).

Link to Restitutio Episode 508 “Are UFOs Real? with Kegan Chandler”:

508 Are UFOs Real? (Kegan Chandler)

Some of the questions covered in this interview include:

1. What are UAP and NHI? Where did these terms come from and why are people using them now?
2. What are the possible explanations of UAP?
3. What reasons are there to think that prosaic explanations are insufficient?
4. What impact would widespread acknowledgement of the presence of UAP and NHI have on religions?

And here’s a link to one of the pertinent materials I refer to in this episode, the “Peters ETI Religious Crisis Survey” (https://counterbalance.org/etsurv/PetersETISurveyRep.pdf).

Link to Restitutio Episode 509 “Theological Options for Understanding Non-Human Intelligence”:

509 Theological Options for Understanding Non-Human Intelligence (Kegan Chandler) – Restitutio

Some of the questions covered in this episode:

1. What is the relevance of this topic with the ongoing discussion about “faith” versus “science”?
2. Is this a difficult topic for Christians in particular to investigate?
3. Are Christian theological discussions about the existence of NHIs something new, or something that’s been motivated only by recent events in the news?
4. What are some interpretive options for UAPs/NHI from a Christian theological perspective?
5. Why do you think this is an important topic for human beings in general and for Christians in particular to take seriously?