Some Christians that I've known and discussed with the topic of UFOs are unsympathetic and even hostile to the whole matter. They seem to assume that human beings are the "locus" of creation and hence, not other beings could exist outside the Earth, what is just dogmatic and unwarranted. (By the way they use the same arguments of atheists and materialistic pseudoskeptics against ufology).
However, in this interesting podcast, Christian philosopher William Lane Craig has commented sympathetically about the possibility of the existence of advanced extraterrestial intelligences, and how it is perfectly compatible with Christianity.
Moreover, I've found very useful Craig's insight that the existence of alien beings is more likely given theism than given naturalistic atheism (so, I think, we have a new but undeveloped argument for God's existence based on alien beings... this argument cannot be developed yet because the existence of aliens is too controversial as to be part of a persuasive argument for God's existence).
But clearly, in a naturalistic worldview, the existence of intelligent beings is just a cosmic accident (and an extremely improbable one). But in theism, the existence of intelligence and spirit is basic and essential to the fabric of reality (since God is supposed to be an intelligent spiritual being) and hence it wouldn't be a great surprise that intelligent (spiritual) beings can be found in other parts of the universe.
However, in this interesting podcast, Christian philosopher William Lane Craig has commented sympathetically about the possibility of the existence of advanced extraterrestial intelligences, and how it is perfectly compatible with Christianity.
Moreover, I've found very useful Craig's insight that the existence of alien beings is more likely given theism than given naturalistic atheism (so, I think, we have a new but undeveloped argument for God's existence based on alien beings... this argument cannot be developed yet because the existence of aliens is too controversial as to be part of a persuasive argument for God's existence).
But clearly, in a naturalistic worldview, the existence of intelligent beings is just a cosmic accident (and an extremely improbable one). But in theism, the existence of intelligence and spirit is basic and essential to the fabric of reality (since God is supposed to be an intelligent spiritual being) and hence it wouldn't be a great surprise that intelligent (spiritual) beings can be found in other parts of the universe.
Moreover, the conditions necessary for the emergence of intelligent life (including intelligent alien life, if it exists) in the universe are, itself, evidence for theism:
Even though hard-core atheists and pseudoskeptics are enemies of ufology too, they have appealed to the existence of putative alien beings in order to avoid the evidence for theism. A crushing example of this is Michael Shermer's Last Law, which I've discussed here.
Also, it has been reported that atheist Richard Dawkins is sympathetic to the "alien hypothesis" as a substitute for God in order to explain the origin of life, saying that he "was more receptive to the theory that life on earth had indeed been created by a governing intelligence – but one which had resided on another planet.
The best book on Ufology that I've read is Leslie Keen's book UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record
Absolutely a must read!
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