One of the greatest mysteries of life is whether we are alone in the cosmos. The laws of probability suggest we aren’t, but despite centuries of searching, we have never seen any clear evidence of life beyond our planet. Still, the world’s religious leaders are already formulating how they would respond to extraterrestrial life—and some have more interesting approaches than others.
These discussions took center stage at a Capitol Hill gathering called the Disclosure Forum that took place earlier this year on a sunny day in June. A gaggle of lawmakers, retired military personnel, academics and businesspeople crowded into the Russell Senate Office Building’s Kennedy Caucus Room with me. As I listened, they spitballed ideas on how to handle what they believe are the increasingly likely chances of first contact with alien life.
Several speakers at the event stressed that a revelation that Earth has been visited by intelligent extraterrestrials would raise immediate questions about planetary defense. Others theorized hopefully that there could be enormous economic opportunities.
There would also be enormous societal impacts: Carlos Eire, a historian and religious studies professor at Yale University, told event attendees that finding out humanity isn’t alone in the universe could shake us to our very souls—religious leaders would need to contain the fallout, he said.
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