On October 30th, we reflect on a most auspicious occasion. It’s the 70th anniversary of the Orson Welles famed radio production known as “War of the Worlds.” It first aired back in 1938, on Halloween night. And it scared the dickens out of a lot of folks—especially if you tuned in late.
War of the Worlds was written some forty years earlier by H.G. Wells. An announcement preceded the airing of the radio program telling listeners it was fiction. As the radio audience listened to aliens taking over Manhattan, many panicked! Orson Welles had to interrupt the program to assure listeners it was not real.
It certainly sounded like it! The chief scriptwriter thought the book was so antiquated he worked on rewriting what he considered laughable. Then Orson Welles joined him in the final rewrite. Later, the addition of news bulletin effects helped “plot the course of the Martians’ progress toward Manhattan.”
Millions of radio listeners tuned in regularly to hear the popular Bergen and McCarthy radio monologue. But as Bergen introduced an unknown singer, Welles’ play interrupted the broadcast. Many missed Welles’s warning at the beginning that the production was make-believe. Panic set in!
A famous movie producer in our times has given us three films showcasing our fascination with extra-planetary life. This past summer, Steven Spielberg released Disclosure Day. The film portrays a government “cover-up of classified information proving that aliens exist and have walked among us here on Earth.”
Spielberg fans will remember his two other forays into this subject matter. His earlier works—E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind were highly successful. This more recent film raised deeper questions.
In Spielberg’s words to the USA Today,
“If a real ‘disclosure day’ was to occur, there would be ontological shock. All of our foundational realities would be shattered and blown apart by a new foundational reality…it would shake certain core, fundamental beliefs.”
That is certainly true. USA Today noted,
“numerous articles, Reddit threads, and YouTube videos (argued) that definitive proof of extraterrestrials would undermine Christianity, showing that we are not uniquely God’s children and our relationship with God isn’t special if there are other intelligent beings in the universe.”
In an Associated Press article near the film’s release, several faith-minded people offered their views. Catholic convert Vice President J.D. Vance said in a podcast,
“I don’t think they’re aliens. I think they’re demons.”
He wasn’t alone. Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, formerly an exorcist with the Archdiocese of Washington, was emphatic:
“It’s my personal belief that probably many, if not most, of these UFO sightings are in fact demons.”
That didn’t sit well with Catholic Church teaching. They fired him.
Political leaders weighed in. During a podcast interview, former President Obama said about aliens,
“They’re real.”
But there are no underground bunkers studying aliens at Area 51. Whew!
Meanwhile, President Trump accused Obama of giving out “classified information.” Then he pledged to declassify government documents on what used to be called unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The preferred name now is “unidentified anomalous phenomena.” (UAPs). I feel better.
In an article for Christianity Today, theologian Russell Moore asks, “What if Aliens are Real? A Thought Experiment.” After asking the question as to what would happen if it was discovered that alien life WAS real, Russell assures us,
“What I do know is that even if we were ever to definitively solve the question of whether we are alone in the universe, Christianity would be just fine. And that’s because the question is not really all that new.”
He later adds that if aliens were to arrive and say,
“Take me to your leader,”
it would be unnerving. But Dr. Moore states,
“We would not be facing a dilemma we hadn’t seen before. We have always known there are nonhuman intelligences out there in the created order—principalities and powers, angels and demons.”
Best we take this Bible teaching more seriously:
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.”(Ephesians 6:12, ESV)
Yikes! That will keep you up at night!
