Aliens!

“When I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place – What is man that you are mindful of him, and a son of man that you care for him?” – Psalm 8:4-5

Extraterrestrials have been a staple of our pop culture, urban legend, and serious scientific inquiry just about since the early 20th century and the advent of Wellsian fantasy. There is something about these little green men from another world that capture our imagination and conscience. Aliens in fiction can be a way to view the human race from a radically different angle, or be a conduit for a specific aspect of human behavior. Moreover, they can act as members of a completely foreign world through elaborate science-fiction that acts to a similar end as fantasy. Some of our most iconic fictional characters are beings from other planets. Think of E.T., the Iron Giant, or Superman and what they teach us about life on earth. Extraterrestrials in literature and film always astound us and make us rethink crucial aspects of our nature.

However, the existence of intelligent life beyond earth is a legitimate topic of discussion that’s worth looking into in the years ahead as we continue to peer into the stars for answers about our universe. Plus, it’s simply one of those topics that is fun to speculate about. I’ve always enjoyed the idea of humans interacting with beings like us in some ways but radically different in others – That’s part of the reason science fiction and comic books fascinate me. That beings said, it’s always a bit annoying when I hear certain Christians, and even some Catholics say things like “Nah, there’s no aliens. Because, you know, the Bible.” A simplification, I know, but it does describe a Protestant creationist worldview common in the United States that has leaked into the Catholic Church without a whole lot of concern. It is concerning, though, mainly because it adds fuel to the fire of new atheism, which is always claiming that Christians are anti-science and not curious about anything. Arguments against God become a lot easier to make when you can say, “There is no God, because… dinosaurs.” (I’ve mentioned briefly here before the Simon Pegg and Nick Frost movie Paul which operates basically on the same premise with an alien and a caricatured fundamentalist antagonist.)

The problem with creationism is that it actually sets limits on God’s creation, rather than affirming that the truths of science cannot contradict the truths of revelation and letting scientists genuinely inquire about the created world. That’s why the Church is not opposed to belief in the evolution of the natural world through natural selection and even of the evolution of the human body – though it maintains that the first humans were granted rational souls. Just so, there is no reason, from a Catholic perspective, to outright deny the existence of other organic, intelligent beings with rational souls out in the vastness of the universe. If one was to express doubt at their existence, it would have to be on scientific rather than theological grounds. To express doubt of extraterrestrial life because of the “Goldilocks Zone” and what not is understandable, but to reject the possibility because it doesn’t fit into a narrow theological worldview is a grand presumption.

On the other hand, a genuinely Catholic view of revelation does not encourage its believers to treat the Bible like a science text-book and give in to the false premises of fundamentalism. In the words of very famous Renaissance Catholic named Galileo: “The Scriptures tell us how to go to Heaven, not how the Heavens go.” No doubt Galileo had more of a Catholic mind than his persecutors.

Okay, rant over.

With all that said, it bears pointing out that certain beliefs surrounding aliens are indeed contrary to the Faith in that they can be used as a cop-out for materialism. I’ll call this set of beliefs “alienolatry” – mostly because I like to make up words.  Alienolatry is the whole system that seeks to explain away everything religious or mythological in human history a being done by aliens. Pyramids? Aliens. Gods and goddesses of myth? Aliens. Biblical prophecy? Aliens. Jesus Christ? Definitely an alien! ( I mean, that goes without saying) The problem with this line of thinking that it ends up becoming just as silly as creationism. Instead of cutting out the realities of the natural world, it strips out the soul of human life and replaces it with an idolatry of beings that might be “more evolved” than we. As Catholics, we do not worship God as “a being” but as “being itself”. That means that if aliens did come to earth tomorrow, they would be neither deserving of worship nor even the veneration given to the saints.

The real error of alienolatry lies in connecting the existence of other corporeal beings with religious mania that wipes out the truths of revelation. Now, it’s true that if extraterrestrial beings do exist, they could possess technology, mental faculties, or abilities that make them far superior to we humans. However, they’d still be, like us “a little less than an angel” (Ps. 8:6) with rational souls and fleshy bodies. I don’t know enough about abduction stories and conspiracy theories to make a venture about alien activity already involved in human history. However, if we do come face to face some day with extraterrestrial life whom we can understand and wish to understand us, it will be a great day for both worlds. There may be blood and curses as there always are when cultures meet, but there might come a day when we can sit down and talk about the things that matter – Goodness, Truth and Beauty. You know, the universal things – all in a very big universe.

Both Human and Divine

Secret identities are a common theme among superheroes. It basically involves the hero donning both a mask and the guise of a “normal person” to help cover their tracks and protect the ones they care about. Much drama unfolds from this dual lifestyle, as the heroes struggle to balance their “normal lives” with beating up bloodthirsty criminals or saving the planet from alien invasion. After all, it’s easy to forget your mom’s birthday when you’ve spent the afternoon facing down Galactus and sometimes saving people from a burning building takes precedence over your kid’s soccer game. Keeping a secret identity also invites controversy, as your villains and government organizations are very interested in the man (or woman) behind the mask for their own interests. This is essentially the theme of Marvel’s Civil War storyline, where superheroes are being forced to unmask by the government. One of the most dramatic scene in that arc is where Spiderman – who has one of the most famous secret identities – reveals himself as Peter Parker on live television.

That being said, the most famous example of this theme peculiar to superhero comics is none other than Superman – the original superhero. We’ve all heard the gags about Clark Kent being a stupid disguise. After all, he’s just Kal El in glasses. Why doesn’t anyone recognize him? 

In the Superman: Birthright storyline, Superman trains intensely as an actor to create Clark Kent as a character who no one would expect to be Superman. Christopher Reeves does a great job of portraying this dual character in the original Superman flicks (campy as they are). An even more poignant representation of Superman’s skills as an actor would be from Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman. The artist of the comic Frank Quietly brilliantly shows how when Superman “becomes” Clark Kent he changes everything. His posture, his speech, his mannerisms, and of course his bumbling and oafish demeanor all make it such a convincing disguise that when Clark really does reveal himself as Superman to Lois Lane she simply doesn’t believe him. (For more on Superman’s disguise and why it works, I’d suggest the Comic Misconceptions YouTube video on said topic.)

All well and good, but why do I bring this up? It’s not merely to discuss Superman apologetics (I’ll save that for a later post). This notion of a secret identity and a dual nature in our heroes deeply appeals to us. We like the veil of secrecy that allows for the hero in disguise – the idea that these powerful and godlike beings dwell among us as everyday people that you could bump into on the street. It’s not unlike the picture of Christ we have in the Gospels. One of the most pressing doctrines that the Early Church had to iron out was the balancing of Christ’s humanity and divinity. The whole Arian controversy revolved around this, until St. Athanasius proclaimed his creed and solidified the tradition that Jesus Christ is both true God and true man.

This doctrine makes the Gospels seem almost like a story with a secret identity. After all, here we have mild-mannered Jesus of hickville Nazareth, the son of Joseph and Mary and you’re telling me that he’s really Yahweh the Eternal God of the Universe? Get real. There is even scenes where Jesus, after performing grand and life-saving miracles, urges the people not to say anything. He operates for so long in this sort of covert fashion, for fear of the authorities and attracting too much attention to himself. Now we know this dual persona doesn’t keep up for long once his public ministry gets into full swing – his mission is to be accepted by the people as the Son of God. That being said, he hardly ever comes right out and says that he is indeed divine. He is nearly always subtle in asserting his divinity, though still infuriating to his adversaries.

The analogy, of course, can only be stretched so far. I’m not claiming that Christ’s divinity makes him something like a powerful alien from outer space. That would be Arianism. However, I do think that Christ fulfills something of this dual nature present in many of our heroes from mythology both old and new – from demigods like Hercules to resident aliens like Kal El. He’s not just another hybrid from Olympus or Krypton, but that doesn’t mean that our myths don’t touch on the drama, grandeur, and mystery that is the Incarnation of the Son of God.