Within the past few weeks, the United States government has released certain previously-classified documents. Within some of those documents, there have been large numbers of files on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena/Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAPs), leading some to claim that aliens or extraterrestrials must exist.
The idea of people believing in extraterrestrial (or alien) life is something that is at least 2000 years old.
Though they often believed in an Earth-centered universe, several ancient Greek thinkers espoused theories that other planets must be inhabitated by life forms, just as Earth is. In the second century, Lucian of Samosata wrote a book called A True Story (or True History), about interplanetary war.
Moving more toward modernity, the idea of alien existence has moved to being something that instills hopeful optimism or fearful anxiety for many.
Over the last 130 years, works of fiction like the sci-fi pioneer book War of the Worlds, the Star Wars franchise, and a large realm of comics, books, movies, and television shows have tackled the subject of life on other planets, and the extra terrestrials in those works range from friendly phone-users like in ET to Earth-conquering madmen like in Independence Day.
Fueling recent conversations, President Donald Trump's Department of War/Department of Defense has begun declassifying a large number of files related to Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena/Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAPs).
Reports from the White House, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Department of Energy (DOE), the DOW's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and additional components of U.S. intelligence agencies were all represented in the files.
The files didn't actually reveal a whole lot. There were numerous references to aircraft, lights, sounds, unidentified radio frequencies, and similar occurrences in the war.gov/ufo/ data dump, but the government offered no explanations. Because of the mystery involved and the interest many societies have in potential alien life, the files received over one billion hits online over the first three weeks following release.
Some have come to unverified conclusions that extra terrestrials exist and could even be among us today. Others have decided that the American government's file release shows that theories surrounding aliens hold no merit.
But what should Christians think about the idea of extraterrestrial life? Does the existence or non-existence of aliens have any significant effect on the biblical worldview? This piece will examine some facts and observations about the alleged existence of alien life, will record the thoughts of some prominent conservative and liberal politicians in the US on the subject, and, most important, will analyze what the Bible has to say about what could relate to this conversation.
Facts and observations about the alleged existence of alien life
- The Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) Initiative includes data of incidents ranging from the 1940s to 2026. The files include data from multiple countries and every continent. They also include some data from Earth's orbit and from the moon.
- Some of the documents in the release have been identified as legitimate photos, videos, or audio recordings. Others have been proven as fake or altered. Still others are inconclusive; in fact, just from one Air Force initiative known as "Project Blue Book," there are at least 701 reports in which a verified video, photo, or audio recording has no explanation, earning the recognizable label of "unidentified."
- Also within the files are numerous testimonials from alleged eye-witnesses and secondhand accounts. Some have been outed as hoaxes. Others present more compelling and/or unexplainable evidence.
- Though there is nothing in the government's files that provide conclusive evidence as to what years' worth of reports of UFOs/UAPs actually are (aliens or otherwise), some of the government-assigned titles—in addition to UFO and UAP—have included "flying saucer," "foreign object," "alien body," "astronautics," "airplane," "balloon," "boat," and "unidentified submersible objects/USOs."
- Certain locations have had more reports, leading to their own files. This includes places in the United States like Roswell, New Mexico; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Lincoln County/Area 51, Nevada; Phoenix, Arizona; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Los Angeles, California.
- You can see all the US government's recently released files here.
- In 2023, a former Air Force intelligence officer (Maj. David Grusch) testified that the US government was concealing a "multi-decade" program that saw the United States capture multiple UFOs. The Pentagon denied Grusch's claims.
- As it pertains to the world of religion, certain belief systems require the existence of extraterrestrial life. Mormonism and Scientology are two such prominent examples.
What the Left says about the alleged existence of alien life
There is no consensus among liberal politicians in America regarding the potential for extraterrestrial life or the subject of UFOs/UAPs.
- Former President Barack Obama said that he believes aliens are real but clarified later that his time in the Oval Office didn't reveal any secrets. He also said that Area 51 in Nevada has nothing to do with UFOs or extraterrestrials.
- Former presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has repeatedly called for transparency in handling questions about UFOs/UAPs. However, Clinton's public position on the existence of aliens has been neutral. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has seemed more interested in the possibility of extraterrestrial life, saying that he tried and failed to uncover all the government's secrets on the subject while he was in office.
- John Podesta, an an advisor and staffer for the Clinton and Obama presidencies and Hillary Clinton's campaign, was a loud proponent of declassifying all government documents on UAPs.
- Though no longer living, the most famous Democrat associated with the conversation about UFOs is former President Jimmy Carter. Before his election, Carter said, "I saw an unidentified flying object" and repeatedly indicated that he believed there could be life away from Earth. The supposed sighting came while he was campaigning to become the Governor of Georgia. Carter said that he believed God could be sovereign over mankind and alienkind. Later in his life, Carter changed his story a bit, claiming that he never believed that the UFO he saw came from space. Some reports from the last decade cite a NASA and Air Force co-study on winds, one that required rockets to drop barium into the sky, as the culprit.
- Before the recent Trump file releases, Carter was the president whose administration demonstrated the most transparency on these issues.
What the Right says about the alleged existence of alien life
Like the opposite side of the political aisle, there is no consensus among American conservatives regarding the potential for extraterrestrial life or the subject of UFOs/UAPs.
- Despite his recent insistence on transparency, President Donald Trump has repeatedly displayed skeptism ("I'm not a believer") about extraterrestrial life. However, he has never made an outright claim that aliens don't exist or that UFO sightings have been false, instead saying, "anything can happen." Trump has admitted that he has been asked about a flying object that moved faster than F-22 fighters, one of the fastest jets on Earth.
- Former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called the recent government releases a major point of unprecedented transparency.
- Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett has publicly professed his belief in extraterrestrials, saying, "We are not alone" in the universe.
- Like his predecessor Carter, former President Ronald Reagan claimed to have had a personal experience with a UFO, saying that, while he was Governor of California, he saw something while on a plane. His pilot echoed the same story. Reagan later repeatedly used the idea of a future Earth-vs.-aliens war as being the only hypothetical situation that would bring mankind together. He specifically said that even the United States and Russia—it was during the Cold War—would become allies if that situation were to arise.
- Former President Gerald Ford, when he was a House of Representative member in his home state of Michigan, led a Congressional investigation into possible sightings in the Great Lakes State.
- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who held several federal jobs under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush, and Bill Clinton (including National Security Advisor) reportedly did not believe in aliens and was frustrated by politicians' interest in the subject.
What the Bible says
The Bible does not necessarily have much to say directly about the topic of UFOs or aliens. However, God's Word contains plenty that believers can glean as they seek to adhere to a biblical worldview on the subject.
The entirety of this discussion must begin and end with God's sovereignty.
Though there is no direct and complete answer in Scripture about whether or not extraterrestrial life exists, it is paramount to any discussion to remember that God is sovereign over all things.
For those potentially unfamiliar with the term, "sovereignty" is a word used to describe the Lord's complete control, authority, rule, and power over all things. It encompasses many things, including his role in determining the events of this world and in His right as the only King above it all.
Simply put, sovereignty is a word used to acknowledge that God is Lord over all creation.
This is not just something that Christians believe; it can be found directly in Scripture.
In 1 Timothy 6:15, Paul refers to God as "the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords..."
In Acts 17:24, Luke writes, "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of Heaven and Earth, does not live in temples made by man..."
Ephesians 1:11 says that God "works all things according to the counsel of His will."
David says in Psalm 24:1-2, "The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers."
Even within the unexplainable, God is sovereign. Deuteronomy 29:29 explains, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God."
Any conversation about things that mankind does not know or cannot full understand (like aliens) must recognize that the full answer is known and controlled by God.
God's sovereignty is not limited by this Earth.
Though some religions (like Mormonism) claim that the God of the Bible is bound to rule only over this world, the truth is that the Lord is sovereign over this entire universe. Nothing is outside of His control.
God Himself even says as much. In the book Isaiah, He speaks through the prophet to tell His people that He rules over the stars and planets, as well. In Isaiah 40:26, the Lord God said, "To whom then will you compare Me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of His might and because He is strong in power, not one is missing."
When one considers the creation narrative in Genesis 1 and 2, it is easy to see God's authority over the entire universe. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth," and the word "heavens" in Hebrew is sometimes translated to be "sky," "expanse," or "expanse of sky." Everything in the universe was made by God, not just this world.
John 1:3 echoes that idea: "All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made."
Taking it a step further, Paul writes in Colossians 1:16, "For by Him all things were created, in Heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him." Everything the Lord made is for His glory and is subject to Him.
If there is life beyond this planet, it was put there by God and glorifies Him in some way.
If any life exists beyond this planet, it will not be made in the image of God.
There is one important distinction between any potential life away from this planet and the life on it: the only creation that is made in the image of God is mankind.
Genesis 1:27 explains that "God created man in His own image." He gives people dominion over the rest of His creation, as well, which is why plants, animals, and inanimate objects are subject to humans, just as humans are subject to the Lord.
The same would be true of any potential alien life.
This does not mean that hypothetical extraterrestrials (or any other created thing) are void of potential value or importance. Instead, it simply means that they would not be the same as human beings.
God's redemptive work through Christ, the work that reconciles sinful man back to the Creator, is for those made in His image only.
If aliens are real, and if they have plans of attacking this planet, it will not bring any condemnation or wrath upon Christians.
Though it feels a little silly to type this out, because pop culture is infatuated with the idea, many who believe that extraterrestrial life exists also believe that it is a severe threat to Earth and the people who inhabit it.
Whether or not that is true (and we have no evidence to support the idea that it is), there is no reason for believers to harbor any eternal fears.
The Lord has promised His people that He will protect their eternal souls for never-ending fellowship with Him and worship of Him in Heaven. No otherworldly threat could stop that. Plus, if any type of disaster—from this world or not—takes the life of a Christian, it is not God's wrath that is the cause. Romans 8:1 tells us, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.", and Romans 5:9 says, "Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God." Believers will never experience the condemnation that comes with God's wrath; that is reserved only for who do not have a relationship with him.
Extraterrestrials do exist, at least in some regard.
If "extraterrestrial" is defined as "a being from another world"—and it is, per the Merriam-Webster Dictionary—then they do exist, at least from a certain perspective.
Outside of the Godhead (who, through the incarnation of God the Son, lived on Earth), the celestial beings could be considered extraterrestrial. Angels, demons, and Satan are, by definition, alien to this world.
There are also some bible-based theories that argue that angels and demons are related to the alien conversation.
Some Christians contend that extraterrestrials must exist because angels and demons exist. According to that view, the encounters in which people say they have seen UFOs or aliens are actually malevolant deceptions from demons or, on the more positive side, some potential angelic presence. Because Satan is called "the prince of the power of the air" in Ephesians 2:2 and as one who "disguises himself as an angel of light" in 2 Corinthians 11:14, proponents of this view argue that the devil can send his demonic minions into the world in such a way that is often "identified" by what we call UFOs or aliens. They also say, because God sent angels to Earth in several instances in Scripture, He could still be doing it today, leading to the same misidentifications.
Other Christians argue that the Nephilim from Genesis 6, typically viewed as some form of fallen angel because of a common translation from Hebrew meaning "fallen ones," could be extraterrestrials.
Final verdict
There is nothing within Scripture that proves the existence of extraterrestrial life, at least not in the way most of us think of it. There is also nothing in Scripture that disproves the existence of extraterrestrial life, at least not in the way most of us think of it.
Because of that, there must be room for grace within this discussion, and positions should be presented with humility.
However, there can be no compromise for Christians in remembering God's complete sovereignty. Whether "aliens" are real or not, the Lord is on His throne as the sole authority over the entire universe. He has uniquely blessed His prized creation on Earth with being made in His image and made for fellowship with Him, something only possible because of the work of the Son.
Beings that are not of this Earth certainly exist, as Scripture attests to the realities of angels and demons. Whether or not they factor into the discussion on UFOs and extraterrestrial life is unclear.
