Back to aliens

The New York Times ran an article a week or so ago about how, in the conservative Christians in the US (and MAGA nutters, and the likes of Tucker Carlson) have been running with the "aliens are demons" angle.  Or, "some are angels, but some are demons."   There are some interesting points made:

Christians in the United States are significantly less likely than the general public to say intelligent life exists on other planets, according to a 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center. Among atheists and agnostics, 85 percent say their best guess is that intelligent life exists outside Earth. Among white evangelicals, only 40 percent say the same.

“The U.F.O. topic in particular is a big challenge to any religious worldview,” said Jeffrey Kripal, a professor of religion at Rice University, where he has compiled an archive on paranormal subjects, including accounts from U.F.O. “experiencers.” 

I didn't know that.

Further down:

The possibility that extraterrestrial beings might be better understood as demonic entities is not a new theory among some conservative Christians. But it has lately burst from the fringes of speculative religious cosmology into more prominent view, including from elected officials at the highest levels of government.

“I don’t think they’re aliens, I think they’re demons,” Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, said on a conservative podcast this spring.

The Catholic church has no formal teaching on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, though it has intrigued some Catholic theologians. A Vatican scientist made headlines in 2010 when he suggested aliens might have souls, and said he would baptize an alien “if they asked.” 

Quite a few people in comments to the article refer to CS Lewis and his space trilogy, and also (I think) a poem he wrote about Christ appearing to other intelligences in their form on their planets.   He's pretty big in conservative circles, but ignored in this respect.  (Well, he's not so big in the rich world of American evangelical churches, I think - probably because he lived too humble a life.  If he had made millions off his books and bought a mansion in which to entertain visiting US pastors, they probably would have higher regard for him.)

Anyway, it occurs to me that perhaps I shouldn't be too cynical, in that while I have always leaned towards the "nuts and bolts" explanation of UFO as alien flying craft, I do find some of the paranormal-ish crossover theories of the likes of Jacques Vallee and John A Keel to be a bit intriguing too.   But if MAGA types start believing something, it's a good rule of thumb to assume it's wrong!