Dear all

I have often been curious how major religions of this world deal with
the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in our universe. To take
Christians as an example:  Would some christian faiths accept that
somehow these aliens were aware of Jesus Christ and therefore these
foreign worlds would also have Methodists,Catholics, Anglicans etc.. 
Or perhaps the history of Foreign planets have their own version of
the Prophet Mohammed.

So to be more specific what is the official view of each of these religions
to the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in our Universe:

- Catholism
- Judaism
- Sunnis
- Shiites
- Mormons
- Hindus
- Buddhists
- Sikhs
- Methodists
- Jehovah's Witness
- Church of England
- Seven Day Adventists
- Presbyterians
 
Regards
Mongolia

PS Any clergy of whatever religion are more than welcome to comment.

C.S. Lewis dealt with this issue in an interesting way in his "space
trilogy." I particularly like "Perelandra," in which the unfallen
inhabitants of Venus encounter temptation.

Here's an interesting article from a Catholic point of view:

http://www.theuniversityconcourse.com/II,5,11-20-1996/Schmiesing.htm

Another article, with a rebuttal of the one linked above:

http://www.theuniversityconcourse.com/II,6,12-6-1996/Holmes.htm

As simple as I can....Almighty God [ Jehovah/ Exodus 6;3] created the
whole universe. Every star ,planet, galaxy, and system, most of which
we can't even see. Jesus Christ is His ONLY son. HE sent Jesus to
earth for us. As the ONLY creator, then, God would be responsible for
any ALIENS that exist. And if they exist, are they subject to what God
terms 'sin'. If so, God would then have to do something about it, just
like He has done for us. Granted that He would use the same solution
for ALL his 'races/peoples/creations, would he have to sacrifice his
ONLY son,,,multiple times??? Or does he have a separate son for each
group???. But Jesus is an ONLY SON.
So, using logic, iot is clear that we on earth ARE THE ONLY THINKING
RACE in the universe right now. Hard as it is to believe, given the
sheer size of the universe. But God has promised a long existence for
the earth . And also an end to death [ Revelation 21;4] So maybe when
these things happen, He may let us out into the universe to explore.
We WOULD have to live forever to even attempt it. But He will not let
us out until we learn to look after the earth He has given us. So we
are the beginning, the bottom rung of the ladder.

The above comment translates as
"IF Jesus is God's only son, THEN we on earth are the only thinking
race in the universe."

I was taught that if a statement is true then its 'contrapositive' is also true


"IF we on earth are NOT the only thinking race in the universe, THEN
Jesus is NOT God's only son."

So while we may have no way to prove that God/Jesus DOES exist,
finding intelligent life elsewhere in the universe will constitute
proof that God/Jesus DOES NOT exist.  Agreed?

@researcher5000:

Let me see if I got you right; If I say "Things that are lighter than
air fly", by that same sentence I would be also saying "things that
are not lighter than air don't fly"?
But how? We have all seen things so much heavier than air that do fly?
"Sure", you would say, "but they have engines, or muscles and wings!"
A-ha! Precisely!
Your statement  " a statement is true then its 'contrapositive' is
also true" is correct ONLY if that statement encompasses EVERYTHING
that matters and is worth considering when discussing it, everything
"that comes into the equation".
If that was  case, you would have been right, yes.
But can anyone say something like that for the subject we are talking about?
Hardly!

So what does that leave us with?
Well,that sure does leave us with enough room to show modesty by
accepting facts that can't be verified untill such time comes. Unill
than, the smartest thing one can do is to thake Creator's word for it.
Finally, it is Jehovah, God who CAN NOT lie! (Hebrews 6:18)

If it were true to say
"If a thing is lighter than air then if flies"
it would be equally true to say
"If a thing does not fly then it is not lighter than air."

I'm not sure it's fair to assume that all things lighter than air fly - - 
maybe a better formulation would be
"If a thing is less dense than water it will float"
so
"If a thing does not float it is not less dense than water"

OK?

The title of this question is reminds me of a song, and I'm sorry, I
just can't help myself...


God didn't make the Little Green Sunnis
and it don't rain in the Gulf of Tunis
in the summertime...

OK, no probs.
Let's not go astray from the subject. 
The thing is I could agree with you, but only if my faith in Jesus as
Jehovah's only begotten Son was founded on these couple of premises.
Which is not the case.

Back on the subject, - actually, the Bible DOES speak of alien forms
of inteligent life in the Universe, other than men.It describes them
simply as spiritual beings and names them Angels, Seraphs and Kerubs.
We know - in general terms - their tasks, and that's much about it.
Anything above that would be pretty much pointless: we as 3D beings
can not perceive something we haven't experienced with our senses.
Take this little example: try to draw a hooooorrible monster, like no
other! Very soon you'll end up adding things you already know - jaws
of an alligator, claws of an eagle, tail of a snake... etc..
I remember Carl Sagan in one of his episodes of Cosmos doing his best
to do just that: to imagine what an alien could look like. Haha! He
didn't get much further from that example. One of his ideas I remember
were aliens as huge baloons of hydrogen feeding on nytrogen or
something very much like that... :-)

Reality is far more stranger than that: the Bible describes them as
spirits! They do exist and are present but can not be sensed.
Individual beings from invisible realm of outer space.
Hard to beleive?
Hmmm....considering everything around us, that wouldn't be the
strangest of all things around us, would it?

The Universe is indeed huuuge. We all genuinely feel it would be an
idiotic vaste of space and energy if it were just empty space and
rocks. That's usually why we try to populate it with little greens,
when in fact, there's no reason for that. As Pugwash had said, eternal
life that is reserved for the meek and obedient ones is indeed
loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong!

I don't know if I quality as clergy for the Mormon/LDS church, but the
LDS church believes that there are other inhabited worlds.  This is
from an inspired translation of the Bible.

?And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for
mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only
Begotten.
?
But only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, give I
unto you. For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by
the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and
innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me,
for they are mine and I know them.?

Of course this is not the best place to start if you want to learn
about the beliefs of the LDS church.

JOATMAN 71. I hope you check back on responses to your comment. You
claim a quote [ scripture?] from an inspired translation. For it to
have ' weight' what is the chapter and verse. without these, it is
only your opinion. But it sounds a bit similar to ; (Psalm 147:4) He
is counting the number of the stars; All of them he calls by [their]
names.
Jehovah, the creator of ALL the stars, does know them. And has even
named them. But his word, the Bible says nothing about any planets
around those stars being inhabited. I'll check back later on the
scripture.

pugwashjw 65
The scripture is from Moses Chapter 1 verse 33 and 35.  The book of
Moses refered to here is an extract from the translation of the Bible
as revealed to Joseph Smith the Prophet, June 1830?February 1831.

The question was ?What do various religions believe??   It is possible
that I am slightly off in the representation of what the LDS church
believes, but I think this scripture comes close.

About ten years ago a meteor, supposedly from Mars, was found that
supposedly had evidence that suggested microbial life existed on Mars
in the past.  Although this view is now largely discounted, it did
create a brief media frenzy.  Time Magazine had one article about it
that, in one paragraph mentioned, without much elaboration, some of
the relevant theological questions.

Check page two of this link.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985003,00.html

Interesting questions do arise among Christians. For example: If life
exists on other worlds, is it intelligent life? Mars' fugitive
microbial traces are a long, long way from the ensoulment that
distinguishes humankind. If creatures on other planets have souls, are
they fallen in the Christian sense? Or are they an unfallen, sinless
race? If fallen, does the earthly incarnation and sacrifice of Christ
redeem all extraterrestrials as well? Or will--must--Christ redeem
each planet's souls separately by taking an incarnation in their form?
C.S. Lewis worried about these questions years ago, and quoted poet
Alice Meynell's Christ in the Universe: "...in the
eternities/Doubtless we shall compare together, hear/A million alien
Gospels, in what guise/He trod the Pleiades, the Lyre, the Bear."