Vatican scientist says belief in God and aliens is OK

I’m still not quite so sure what I think about this (or how I can fit this into the topics of my blog), but Yahoo! Odd News published an article where the Vatican approved believing in God as well as believing in aliens.

As a limited sci-fi fan (Star Wars and some Star Trek TNG) I have often thought about what the theological implications might be of the discovery of intelligent aliens creatures (somehow I am able to rationalize around non-intelligent life). Some say that CS Lewis has addressed this issue in his Space Trilogy but (only having read the first book) I think he is using sci-fi to prove his theological point with an allegory.

I think what bothers me is the alleged implications for my faith if there are other intelligent creatures in the universe. Have they, too, been created in the image of God? Did they fall with Adam? Could Jesus die for their sins as a human? What about the validity of their religious beliefs? This is an issue of apologetics.

If aliens suddenly appeared would that destroy my faith in Christ? No. It might cause me to redefine some things: what it means to be created in God’s image or what the humanity of Christ might mean as far as the atonement goes, for instance. Like a Big-Bang my understanding of God and his creation would explode while not destroying my faith.