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Do You Believe in UFOs? A Theologian’s Answer.

Do You Believe in UFOs? A Theologian’s Answer.

Last updated on: August 25, 2026 at 5:08 pm by Ted Peters

Do You Believe in UFOs? A Theologian’s Answer. 2026-08-25T17:08:44-07:00 Ted Peters

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ETI in Science and Theology

ETI in Science and Theology is the belief that aliens with advanced technology descending from the heavens will bring salvation to Earth.

Do you believe in UFOs?

I am frequently asked, “Ted, do you believe in UFOs?” I routinely answer, “No. I believe in God. I study UFOs.” The existence or non-existence of UFO/UAP is a scientific question, not a theological question. This applies as well to the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) as an explanation for UFO/UAP.

At least one Patheos blogger, Andrew Chesnut, did not get the memo. He writes,

“More than half of American adults and more than seventy-five percent of young Americans believe in intelligent extraterrestrial life. This level of belief rivals that of belief in God.”

Chesnut illustrates how we have a media problem. Why would there be any connection between belief in UFOs and belief in God? Where does that come from?

Too frequently, we ask an oblique question about belief in UFOs. An oblique question is a question that misguides the conversation and sends inquiry on a detour. The phenomenon of UFO/UAP is a matter for study, not belief. The ETH to explain UFO/UAP is a matter for study, not belief.

Distinguishing belief questions from scientific questions will have theological value.

Theologian Roger E. Olson asks, “Are we alone?”

Patheos columnist Roger Olson, veteran systematic theologian at Baylor University, is unpersuaded that alien intelligences are visiting Earth aboard flying saucers.

My problem is twofold. First, I’m a natural-born skeptic. Second, I have never seen a convincing picture or film of “aliens” or their “spaceships.” I’ve watched the latest bunch of ones released by the US government. I’m still not convinced….I simply do not see any reason to believe that “space aliens,” ETs, are visiting us.

Why is Professor Olson unpersuaded? Because the existence of ETI is unbiblical? No. That’s not the reason. The reason for skepticism here is that the empirical evidence is too weak. Before he ventures a theological judgment, Professor Olson wants to get clear on the facts, the scientific facts.

If the scientific data demonstrate that we are not alone in God’s cosmic creation, Olson would have to revise his theology. He would need to rethink both anthropology and soteriology.

Should I ever become convinced that there are other intelligent life forms in the universe, I would have to adjust some of my Christian beliefs. Especially my belief that humans are uniquely created in God’s image and likeness….If there are intelligent beings from other planets who are not human (and I think that’s a given–that they would not be human), I would have to revise my Christian anthropology….It would also affect my soteriology. Did Christ die for them?

Knowledge of the cosmos gained from scientific data gathering would yield theological questions. “First contact would force us to recognize that ours is not the only story,” adds “Slachtivist” columnist Fred Clark.

Yes, an honest theologian would have to ask whether intelligent creatures with a second genesis on an off-Earth site share the imago Dei. And the theologian would have to ask: Would God elect to become incarnate on each exoplanet with intelligent creatures, or would God’s atoning work in Jesus Christ on Earth suffice for the entire cosmos? I call this thought process “Astrotheology.” We take up these questions in our 2018 book, Astrotheology, an edited volume published by scholars at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley.

This thought process has been around for centuries. “Anxious Bench” columnist Chris Gehrz, reminds us that “Christians have actually contemplated the possibility of life in the heavens for a long time.” What is distinctive about the modern way of posing this question is the role that science and technology play in contemporary culture. Technoscience plays the role of a disguised religion, including a temptation to abandon God for self-redemption. And, curiously, this yearning for technoscientific salvation gets projected onto the as-yet-undefined extraterrestrial alien. That projection takes the form of the ETI Myth.

The Search for ETI in Science and Theology

Technological Salvation? Really?

Over decades of studying both UFO/UAP and astrobiology, I have noticed an almost inarticulate yet influential myth. I label it the “ETI Myth.” The logic goes something like this. If an alien civilization living on an exoplanet has evolved for millions of years longer than we on Earth have, then that civilization will be more advanced in science and technology. And, of course, more advanced in morality and civility. In fact, ETI will have discovered how to live in peace, without war. This means, then, that if ETI visits Earth in flying saucers, they would put an end to the terrestrial nuclear arms race and even heal our ecological problem. In short, advanced technology descending from the heavens will bring salvation to Earth.

This is a myth. The myth derives from a set of unquestioned assumptions about the soteriological power latent in technology. If earthbound technoscience has resulted in the threat of nuclear war and ecocide, then a heavenly technoscience will be needed to save us from nuclear war and ecocide. This is what I dub the “religious dimension” built into the current search for ETI in both astrobiology and ufology.

Yes, this is a myth in the sense that it is a conceptual set within which scientists and ufologists interpret their subject matter. Yes, scientists can believe in myths. Scientific myths exist not as conclusions drawn from data, but rather as assumptions. The theologian, in turn, must respond critically: do not believe such a myth!

In her “Pax Culturati” column on Patheos, Kate O’Hare is aware of this technoscientific temptation. She draws a theological directive: don’t confuse highly advanced extraterrestrials with what is divine. “If people have the Catholic (and generally Christian) understanding of God, then they shouldn’t worship any fellow creatures, no matter how advanced.” In short, resist the temptation to find salvation in technoscience, whether terrestrial or extraterrestrial.

Should astrobiologists and ufologists attend the same BBQs?

I keep asking: why don’t space scientists invite UFO enthusiasts to their BBQs? This question came up this spring when CTNS held a GTU seminar on “The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Why it Matters for Science and Theology.” Astronomer Grace Wolf-Chase and I debated this matter. Here’s free access to my write-up in Theology and Science. Just click.

The Search for ETI in Science and Theology

Patheos SR 1224. ETI in Science and Theology

Patheos SR 2015. Sharing a Church Pew with a Space Alien

Substack SR 1214. UFOs, Presidents, and Disclosure

Substack SR 1215. The Search for ETI: Why it Matters for Science and Theology

Substack SR 1221. Disclosure Day? Yes. Spielberg? No.

Substack SR 1222. Searching for ETI in Science and Theology

Substack SR 1223. Katie Souza’s Alien Egg Heist

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Meet Ted Peters. For Patheos, Ted Peters posts articles and notices in the field of Public Theology. He is a Lutheran pastor and emeritus professor at the Graduate Theological Union. His single-volume systematic theology, God—The World’s Future, is now in the 3rd edition. He has also authored God as Trinity plus Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society, as well as Sin Boldly: Justifying Faith for Fragile and Broken Souls. In 2023, he published The Voice of Public Theology, with ATF Press. This year, he has published an edited volume, Promise and Peril of AI and IA: New Technology Meets Religion, Theology, and Ethics (ATF), and, along with Arvin Gouw, an edited collection, The CRISPR Revolution in Science, Religion, and Ethics (Bloomsbury, 2025). See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com and Patheos blog site on Public Theology.

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About Ted Peters

For Patheos, Ted Peters posts articles and notices in the field of Public Theology. He is a Lutheran pastor and emeritus professor at the Graduate Theological Union. His single volume systematic theology, God—The World’s Future, is now in the 3rd edition. He has also authored God as Trinity plus Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society as well as Sin Boldly: Justifying Faith for Fragile and Broken Souls. In 2023 he published. The Voice of Public Theology, with ATF Press. This year he has published an edited volume, Promise and Peril of AI and IA: New Technology Meets Religion, Theology, and Ethics (ATF) and along with Arvin Gouw an edited collection, The CRISPR Revolution in Science, Religion, and Ethics (Bloomsbury 2025). See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com and Patheos blog site on Public Theology. You can read more about the author here.

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