By Bill Taylor
It’s the most provocative question ever about space: Are we alone in the universe?
Are there other thriving civilizations like ours out there?
A video released last December by the Pentagon clearly shows an unidentified flying object (UFO) and includes audio of two pilots trying to figure it out.
When the U.S. Department of Defense released the video, they said that they’ve conducted studies on UFO’s and the possibility of alien life.
The vastness of our galaxy and universe suggests that there’s something else out there. The question really, if ever proven, is would we be ready for that kind of reality?
Astronomer Bryan Tobias has been studying the stars for 45 years and is closing in on a doctorate in astronomy. He thinks that the government is withholding at least some information about alien life.
He questions the video, but not the existence of alien civilizations.
“I have to be skeptical about [the video],” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s something cool, maybe even top secret. It’s just not enough to validate that yes, those are aliens.”
Tobias feels that the government has more truth that we Americans aren’t ready to hear.
“It’s for our own good of the wellbeing of the human race on this planet,” he said. “Could you just imagine the religious, the cultural, all of the other things, the theological influence that would have? The hysteria, the mayhem that could potentially cause?”
So how would different religions and faith be affected by the confirmation of another civilization out there? Did God create all of it? Did Jesus die for their sins too?
“What in our faith says that we’re the only people here?” asked Father Pat O’Brien of St. Pius Catholic Church.
Father O’Brien says that the Bible doesn’t have an answer to that question.
“[The Bible] would be the wrong place to look,” Father O’Brien said. “It would be like going to a cookbook to find out how to get to Houston. How do we know? And is it really that important for us to know that? We know that God loves us. If there’s another creation, any other beings, He loves them. Our God loves them.”
Father O’Brien feels if there are other civilizations out there, our faith would be fine. But could we handle ourselves?
“I don’t think it would be a challenge to our faith,” Father O’Brien said. “I think it would be a challenge to see how we see ourselves and our egos and how we think we are it.”
