The difference between aliens and religion?

Many people say they have seen UFOs.
Many people claim to have had direct contact with aliens.
Many people are convinced aliens are visting the Earth.

I think the majority of witnesses are sincere. They believe what they saw was extraterrestrial. It is not anyones place to doubt a person who has given no reason to.

They have researched sightings, read reports and books on the subject. Maybe they even joined a group or a message board to discuss the topic and learn more about it. Some people have invested thier lives to it. They spend considerable time and effort studying convinced they will eventually be rewarded with a smoking gun. They try to convice friends,families and strangers about the existence of aliens. They may be persecuted or laughed at for the belief.

There are many witnesses. There are so called government officals and prophets that claim to have all the answers, sometimes all they want is money. Fuzzy pictures and grainy films exist but there is no undeniable scientific proof.

Many people believe in god.
Many people say they have been touched by a higher power.
Many people are convinced god is watching over the Earth.

The believers know that god is everywhere. They have personal experiences and have formulated thier beliefs based on thier own lives. It is not anyones place to doubt those peoples sincerity.

They have researched the stories and parables. They have read thier scriptures. They may join a group who share thier beliefs. Maybe they go a place of worship. They study the subject. Some people have invested thier lives into thier belief and one day they know they will be vindicated. They try to spread thier belief with thier friends,families and strangers. They may be persecuted or laughed at for thier religion.

There are millions of people who claim to have witnessed the existence of a higher power in thier lives. There are religious leaders and prophets who claim to have all the answers. Sometimes these people only want money. Outside of a personal experience there is no way to prove the existence of god.

So, the belief in aliens and god both demand faith and or a personal experience.

What is the difference between the two?


((( sorry, posted in wrong forum. could a MOD please move it into Aliens & UFOs)))

[edit on 3-11-2008 by drock905]

The diff. between ET and God is the same difference between a human being and God. In short, God is an ethereal being while "Aliens" have physical bodies. Haven't you realized that you too are an alien? It all depends on perspective. To the aliens, WE are the aliens.

Its ironic isn't it? Ask someone who believes in god:

Where is god?
Up in the sky.

Where are the aliens?
In outer space.

Who is god?
Nobody really knows.

Who are the aliens?
Nobody really knows.


More or less, god is the universal consciousness that exists within us (ETs and human beings)

Human's are realatively low on the scale of spiritual evolution, and many persons (bodies) do not even have a soul. Some of the ETs basically see and treat us as animals.

I see the point you are making here.

To me, it doesn't seem as black and white as that though. While I believe that religion is complete bunk, and a waste of time, I feel differently about Aliens...

To think that we're alone in the universe is a completely self centered approach to the problem... lets do the math...

There are billions of stars... suppose a small fraction of that billions has planets. suppose a fraction of those planets are suitable for what we know of as life...

That means there would be a high probability that there is at least 1 other planet out there capable of supporting life. (most likely, many many many more than 1).

As long as there is a strong chance of planets similar to ours in the universe, it would be kind of arrogant for us to assume we're unique in the cosmos.

This means, that in the best interest of objectivity and intellectual honesty, you cannot state that the instance of intelligent life appearing in the universe is specifically unique to our planet...

however, Religion, for the most part is much different... Statistically speaking, the odds of a supreme being pulling the strings and running the universe are astronomically small, to the point of near impossibility.

UFO believers do not:

* worship aliens and ufos
* believe that believing in them will earn them tickets to heaven
* have a place to meet and worship them
* lack evidence
* have teleological arguments
* have moral arguments

Here's an example: your friend just came back from the Amazons and told you that he saw a lost tribe that no one ever seen. He showed you 1 or 2 pictures. You believed him despite scant evidence.
What's the difference?

Perhaps a better comparison would be between aliens and spirituality.

Originally posted by nj2day
There are billions of stars... suppose a small fraction of that billions has planets. suppose a fraction of those planets are suitable for what we know of as life...

There are a lot more than BILLIONS of stars.

There are billions of galaxies! And each galaxy has billions of stars. If i were to make an estimate, I'd say there are about this many planets in the universe:

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00 0,000,000,000,000,000

Seems like an awful waste of space.
If GOD is so powerful and omnipotent, how come he created all those planets, and then decided to only create life on ONE?

If there is no GOD, then what are the odds of sentient life only evolving on ONE of those planets?

reply to post by freakyty


Freakyty-good post
When you speculate that the Hubble space telescope estimated there are 3000 billion galaxies in the universe and a recent German super computer estimated the number may be as high as an incomprehensively mindboggling 5000 billion,then I think it is fair to say that there could well be a great many sentient life-forms out there.
If you look at this image taken in Arizona and then realise we can only see just two galaxies from earth (depending what hemisphere you are standing in) its all a bit flabbergasting.

Likewise,this amazing Hubble photo shows entire galaxies going about their business (each one said to contain between 10 and 100 billion stars):


As for religion,the UFO/OVNI subject and discrepencies in reputations of validity,plausibility and credibility;George does a good job of explaining various differences:

Google Video Link

Cheers Karl


[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

"We are alone in the universe." We who? That idea is so full of ignorance I don't know where to start...

Ya, some think we are the only sentient specie around and that might be true. We are surrounded by intelligent life, though.

Consider the banobo. It uses tools, eats a varied diet, and is a generally agreeable animal. So, does it believe in god or aliens? I think, from my cursory study of them, that they a very close to what we call Stone Age peoples. A person is not anything more than an animal who uses tools and applies them to continuing an existence. Language, as we know it, is a tool as much as a pen or a computer.

Aliens are like religion in that it is a tool some people use to stay alive. Basically. Food, water, shelter is the basics right? Some people get tooled into believing all kinds of stuff...by other people using tools, right?

I see aliens like an extinct species see humans. They could kill us, help us, or try to control us. I am sure the same can be said of religion in a convincing argument by people who are superior to me.

What he's saying is the same point that I always try to make in that belief in ET visitation is the same as religion, there is no proof just hearsay and speculation. "I've been abducted" is the same as "I had a vision", neither can be proven either way.

People who believe in ETs visiting the earth are merely following another religion in which they have "faith" that it has occurred and see signs in lights in the sky the same way that people see the face of Jesus in toast.

I really bakes my cakes when people who follow science slag off people who follow religion and then in other threads fight over the proof of visitations it's completely hypocritical

BTW I don't believe in a GOD that has any knowledge of our existence nor do I believe in alien visitations. I do however believe that it's statistically possible for aliens to exists out there... somewhere.

[edit on 3/11/2008 by spitefulgod]

reply to post by drock905


Excellent analogy and post Starred and flagged,

I think more people out there should sit back and think about all of the different religions, myths, legends, creatures, demons, angels, devils, fairies, etc. etc. that have come out of history to present.

What's with such a wide variety of stories and beliefs?

Could it be that everyone just experienced things in their own different way and wrote down what they saw and experienced from their own human perspective or belief of what they perceived to happen to them at the time? I mean heaven really means the sky for those who wrote the bible.

They believe in a God from the Sky, do you believe God is literally coming down from the sky on all inhabited planets in the universe? Could there only be 1 God if that is the case?

Pillars of fire in the sky,
Clouds of light,
Angels on clouds, etc. etc. etc.

You do the math in my mind there is really only one answer out there.
More intelligent life forms from other planets and dimensions visiting.
Extraterrestrials..

These ET's have been with us from the beginning but are left unseen by most of us as they operate interdimensionally.

It doesn’t mean there is no God,
Or right or wrong or Heaven or Hell.
God is just a word for us humans,
The definition of the creation is really beyond our comprehension so how
Could we even begin to understand or label the creator of all things with one word God.

There could never be a most high or 1 God because if there was that would mean the universe and all dimensions are finite. In other words they reach a top and a low and nothing beyond that point. Infinity means never-ending creators above us that to us would equal God.

So God to us literally could in fact be these very extraterrestrials that have been seeding earth and watching it from the very beginning. We ourselves are part of God and the creation and are creators ourselves, we are just on a lower level than the Gods above us and above them and son on never-ending etc.

God is only a word we use to label something of greater understanding.
We can’t understand it all or comprehend it all, Heaven to us is anything greater than earth.
Hell to us is going in the opposite direction or anything lesser and worse than earth.
These are just words, it all depends on how we look at things from our human perspective.
(Perception and understanding)


Time to wake up and smell the fresh coffee.







[edit on 3-11-2008 by Malevolent_Aliens]

You seriously cannot see the difference? In religion, people worship deities. UFO believers and experiencers do not. UFO believers do not try to establish a new religion (unless you are talking about UFO cults like Raelians).

reply to post by Deaf Alien


He's not getting at the principles of the ET/religious followers merely that they both rely on "faith".

reply to post by spitefulgod


Then perhaps religion is the wrong word to use?

reply to post by Deaf Alien


IMHO I think it's the correct word to use especially like I stated you see people who believe in ET visitation slagging down people who believe in GOD on these forums saying "There's no proof GOD exists", then when confronted about the proof of ET you get a load of "Are you blind, look at the video evidence"

reply to post by spitefulgod


LOL yeah some people do that. Personally, I think spirituality is a more appropriate word. Religion is just a set of beliefs, rituals, worship, etc.

Spirituality is a personal thing, experienced by oneself. One can share his or her experience without pushing it on others.
I have personally seen a UFO, so yes I believe it because I have seen it. I can't prove it to you. That's for me only. That does not mean I will believe any and all others stories and videos. I am very careful when it comes to videos.

reply to post by Deaf Alien


Peace 101

Then let us all agree that people can believe in what they want, and if they state that on a forum then we shall not attack them (unless it infringes on the rights of another being) for their beliefs nor shall we force ours upon them. Such is the word of ATS, so it is written let it be so.

Prehaps religion is the wrong word but I can't not think of another way to describe the faith required to believe in alien visitation. The comparsions between the two is very strong.

It's true that people don't exactly "worship" aliens and UFOs the same way they do a higher power (except of course the UFO cults).

I do think that some believers fill their need for understanding the same way that the religious do. The search for proof fills similar needs. As religions slip in importance in western society something has to fill the gap. To me the building blocks of the two are very close.



I do believe that aliens exist. Mathmatically it is too strong of a possibilty. Are they visiting us now? I have no idea.

reply to post by drock905


Well the UFO/OVNI subject,whilst not having any definitive,unequivocable proof out there in the public domain,does have circumstantial evidence in the form of sworn eyewitness testimony from trained aviation professionals and high ranking military officials;radar and sonar evidence where objects have been captured,plotted and visually corellated on (multiple) screens travelling ´in formation´ and generally displaying unprecedented aerial manouverability and flight characteristics (like executing right angle turns and arriving at immediate stops from high speeds);documentary evidence in the form of tens of thousands of authenticated governemnt reports describing how seriously the subject is taken;ground trace evidence at (alledged) landing sites where the environment has been altered in some way (radiation being ten times higher than normal etc..) and photographic/video evidence in the form of a great many images and reels of footage.

When you compare this to the many fantastical claims of all the 3000 religions alive in the world today then I think its fair to say there is no evidence for whatsoever for any given deity you care to mention.

Beleiving in gods and goddesses is all well and good but it relies on faith,specualtion,conjecture,rumour and guesswork-at least UFOs/OVNIs turn up on radar.