Someone on UFO Twitter (What else could it possibly be for?) asked which religion was the most ET friendly, and this was the best response. (Sorry Raelians!) Apparently Mitt Romney’s Mormons have an interesting approach to extra-terrestrial contact that is as refreshing as it is surprising. Kent Nielsen, in a post on what seems to be the official churchofjesuschrist.org website, addressed “People on Other Worlds” with a matter-of-fact attitude:
Age-old questions again come to the surface: Is our earth the only world in all of space that has intelligent inhabitants? Or is there life on other worlds—perhaps intelligent beings like ourselves or maybe even more intelligent than ourselves? Might they visit us?…
One of the most exciting things for many Latter-day Saint students to learn is that the Church, through revelation from God (who—have you ever thought of it in this light?—is our contact from outer space), teaches some of the answers to these questions. And we’ve had the answers for quite some time.
Let’s see some other religions step up and acknowledge that capital G-God is our contact from outer space. A discussion of the vastness of space follows, a primer on on looking up on a starry night that may possibly be an advantage in Utah’s wide open spaces, summing up with this:
Not only do we know about the existence of people on other worlds; Latter-day Saints know also that people from other worlds visit the earth! Earth has been receiving visitors from outer space for years, and these visitors have been leaving highly intelligent messages for our benefit. When we put this all in perspective, it becomes very exciting: intelligent beings from a higher culture have visited earth frequently. In fact, isn’t that a large part of the gospel message?
Most of the things that “Latter-day Saints know about outer space” is based on what Mormons attribute to the teachings that were given to the Prophet Joseph Smith by revelation, including some of the earlier writings of Moses quoted in the article, including:
“And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose. …For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man;..
For anyone having difficulty accepting this, consider this from author Nielsen:
In the days of St. Augustine, 400 years after Christ, Christian scholars vigorously debated the possibility of people living on the other side of our world! Men debated whether such a land, virtually another world, actually existed, and if it did, whether it was inhabited by men of some form or other…Certainly it is no harder for the Lord to visit other worlds than it was for him to visit the Nephites on this continent after his resurrection. When speaking of other worlds, the Lord told Joseph Smith that “all these are kingdoms,” and he likened them to a field in which different servants labored, each of which he visited in turn;
Great point, Mr. Nielsen! As to what they might look like:
People “out there” are like people here, because we are all of the race of Gods.
Here is my favorite passage in this article:
Anyone interested in intelligent beings on other worlds ponders the obvious question: Could a person from outer space ever come to earth?
Any Latter-day Saint knows the answer. Of course visitors from outer space can come to earth! They’ve been doing it for six thousand years!
God and angels visited Adam. Visitations of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ to the earth are recorded in the Old and New Testaments, as well as visitations by angels. The Book of Mormon has numerous accounts of visitations. The Father and the Son visited Joseph Smith in 1820. Space travel seems to be quite common!
The only possible response in Ufology is, “But of course!” And Mr. Nielsen (and by association, the Mormon church) seems comfortable with this answer. It gets better:
God continues to guide his prophets and his people by the revelations of the Spirit. That is nothing else but communication with other, more intelligent beings from another world.
Communication with other worlds is not a future possibility; it is a present fact!
... No one on earth should know more about outer space—and talk more about it—than Latter-day Saints.
I don’t know how much of this filters down to the rank and file Mormon on the street, but to have this article on the official Mormon Church website next to other articles like:
What to Consider When Choosing a Vacation Job
is eye-opening. This open-minded attitude is missing in most Ufological discussions online. And the point is made without ever using the words ”Extra-Terrestrial”, indicating more comfort with “visitors from outer space” or even the title, “people on other worlds.” Mind blown.
Here’s the link to the article:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/1971/04/people-on-other-worlds?lang=eng