In 1638, the Anglican clergyman John Wilkins (later Bishop of Chester) published a little book called The Discovery of a World in the Moone.
Wilkins stated that the existence of extraterrestrials would not contradict Christianity. The absence in Scripture of any mention of other worlds or extraterrestrials did not preclude the possibility of their existence because " 'tis besides the scope of the Holy Ghost either in the new Testament or in the old, to reveale any thing unto us concerning the secrets of Philosophy," and further, an inhabited "Moone" was an expression of God's creative power, unduly restricted by believers, for too long, only to the Earth. Wilkins was a polymath, and became a founder of the Royal Society, always seeking convergences between the religion and science (philosophy) of his day.
Being a "religion expert" doesn't authorize me to say whether or not there is intelligent, ethical life elsewhere in the universe.
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