Sometimes I really dig being Catholic, especially when the Vatican astronomer comes on record saying that aliens wouldn’t contradict the faith, and that they’d be as much a part of creation as we are. I also like the comment he made about how original sin may not be an issue for them, but if it is that they’d be included in salvation, as well. As a matter of fact, there’s a branch of theology, called exotheology, that deals with the issue of aliens and theology.
These are things I’ve been thinking about a lot, actually. For instance, do aliens need to be baptized, or is original sin only a human thing? (I could see the Orthodox arguing that original sin is only a human thing.) I tend to think that if they’re able to choose between right and wrong, they’re able to sin, so they’d need some sort of grace, like the rest of us. (I’d think it would be easier for an alien to convert to Orthodoxy, since they’re not as hung up on original sin as Catholics are.)
Here’s another one. Suppose a race of aliens has a device (like the chameleon arch in Doctor Who) that would change their biology so that they’re human. They’d have no memory of being anything other than human. Assume changed alien as a human finds Jesus and gets him/herself baptized. Then when the alien changes back into an alien, would the baptism be valid? (Assuming proper form.)
