Dear Stu,
I am a person of christian faith and I am fascinated by aliens. I don’t see any problem or conflict between faith and science but I do wonder about cases we haven’t encountered yet. Specifically, what happens if/when we discover aliens out there in the universe. Is it right to baptize them?
Dear Stu is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Jane B.
Dear Jane,
I love the first sentence of your question because I read it as though there were a necessary corollary between faith and aliens. Dear Stu, as a Christian, I am fascinated by aliens. I am genuinely delighted by that idea.
I admire how far we have come in our posture toward alien life. The question “Should we baptize aliens?” is miles away from the fear and outright hostility we had toward them at the turn of the new millennium, if the movies were any indication (Independence Day, Mars Attacks, Contact, Alien Resurrection, Men in Black). It is good for us to get away from this idea that the existence of aliens is automatically a threat.
Not unlike with humans, the sense of goodwill intended in baptizing aliens may be there whether the act is desired out of concern for alien salvation, or simply because we’d love to have them join our mystical family. Both of these dimensions are represented in the Catholic doctrine of baptism (the dual effect of salvation and belonging), though the emphases have varied over time.
Before any Christian tradition initiates a campaign of alien baptism, the work of motivation-checking should be carried out. In this effort we could learn a lot from missionary activity in human history.
The sweeping generalization that all missions initiated from major European nations and empires in 17th-19th Centuries were destructive instruments of colonial expansion might be gaining in popularity, but it is false in its unqualified form.
Yet, there are in fact dark elements of missionary activity that perhaps aren’t as well known or appreciated among present day missionaries venturing off to protected islands to preach the Gospel to uncontacted tribes (who have provided every indication that they do not wish to be contacted).
European, and later North American, missionaries brought disease with the Gospel to peoples who did not have immunity to recover or survive. In Canada and the United States, residential schools run in tandem by governments and the Catholic Church in particular were centers of cultural genocide for Indigenous people, and centers of mass abuse and death—with little to no regard as to the individual identities of those lost.
For so many, missionary activity is synonymous with erasure and oppression, often in the name of “civilizing” unreached populations.
If this is what human missionaries have done to other human beings, what would missions to non-human species look like, I wonder and fear? Alien movies ponder whether aliens “come in peace.” Do we come in peace? What does baptism mean for us that we eagerly want to offer it to them?
These questions have to be asked, reflected upon, and discerned. Because if the end result is literal or ideological colonization, we will simply be perpetuating evils of the past, however holy the intention.
It may seem a bit silly to ponder that deeply about the ethics of alien missions, but even if the exercise were only theoretical, I believe virtue to include how we think and behave even when the impact is uncertain. I was not kidding when I said I am glad we have veered away from the conspiratorial alien-as-threat motif of a bygone era. This disposition is not just good news for aliens, if they are out there, but it reminds us of the human capacity to handle difference more peaceably than we often do.
Theologically, should we/can we baptize aliens? +Pope Francis and Vatican astronomical expert are quite open to the idea.
In 2014 Pope Francis spoke to the issue of alien baptism from the standpoint of inclusion, reminding us that even in the tradition of church porters or door-minders, the idea is to have someone to open the doors, not to make sure they stay closed. Francis’ posture exhorts us to maintain a sense of humility in the face of people and entities unknown. Whether known to us or not, aliens, if they exist, are known and intentionally made by God. Honouring their desire for baptism could be a valid way of celebrating that truth.
Also in 2014, Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno spoke on alien baptism from his expertise both as a learned Catholic and a planetary scientist for the Vatican Observatory (yes, there is a Vatican Observatory). Br. Guy emphasizes that the Sacrament would have to be requested on the part of the alien. This itself an important distinction from some of the missionary activity of the past, and a better reflection of the Church’s teaching that the Sacraments be entered into freely, without pressure or coercion.
“God's free initiative demands man's free response, for God has created man in his image by conferring on him, along with freedom, the power to know him and love him. the soul only enters freely into the communion of love.” - Catechism of the Catholic Church 2002
Having pulled from the lessons of history and incorporating some authoritative sources, I am left with a couple of my own philosophical-theological musings.
In my day I received some criticism for blessing a little girl’s turtle stuffy. When the Transitus of St. Francis of Assisi is celebrated each year on October 3rd (a tradition dating to the 13th Century among the Fransiscan family) it is customary in many Christian communities to celebrate a blessing of the animals on church grounds. In my mind I was asked to bless a turtle, and so I did. Whether the turtle was made in a factory or not was besides the point—both are, in some way, real, and can play critical roles in how humans relate to the created world with love and respect.
It is sad to think, but yes, some folks would be very strict and say, “Don’t you dare bless that stuffy as though it were an animal!” How often are we offended on God’s behalf without any inkling that God is actually offended, eh?
But just think, this is only a blessing, a small “s” sacramental. As I imagine the blowback for baptizing an alien I must workshop a response. I could start with mutually agreed upon principles of Catholic anthropology.
For example:(1) While all the world is in need of redemption/re-creation, human beings uniquely begin their lives with a trait that alienates them (you see what I did there?) from God’s family. This trait is known as “original sin.”
(2) Baptism is the rite by which humans are cleansed of the stain they were born with, simultaneously incorporating them into the Mystical Body of Christ. This reality is celebrated and reinforced through all facets of God’s grace, but especially in the reception of the Eucharist.
(3) The reception of the Eucharist is proper only to human beings, who have the capacity to “become what they receive” (Augustine et al) in both spirit and body, and who alone have undergone this journey from participating and culpability in exile, to participation and rejoicing in the adoptive family of God.
With baptism and indeed all the Sacraments being ordered toward human sanctification—made necessary by our fallen nature—we summarily arrive back to this basic understanding that baptism is not only for humans, but it only makes sense for humans who need God’s redemption and salvation in ways other entities do not.
Toby the Turtle is innocent. I will shout this from the rooftops.
So, are aliens human? Are they animals? Do they possess body and soul? Do they begin life with a sense of alienship that requires cleansing and holy incorporation?
I am going to take my attitude from the general posture of Pope Francis, Brother Guy Consolmagno, and Jesus before them (even though he is not a Jesuit—or is he?). In the face of the unknown, in the spirit of Christian charity, and of wonder and awe, I will say we can and must be prepared to baptize aliens if they request it—until science, dialogue, and the virtue of prudence dictate otherwise.
On the whole, I always want my default position to be: “Yes, give that person/place/thing” something of the grace and love of God. Because to be a steward of the mysteries of God is not so much about guarding a door as it is about keeping it open, and inviting everyone in. It is about a prodigious pouring out of a lifegiving grace I have no more claim to than the one with whom I share it.
Yours in wondering whether Bigfoot might also be an alien, as the History channel would have us believe,
Stu
Dear Stu is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Thanks for reading Dear Stu! Share this post with your friends.
