Here is an interesting tidbit I found on www.bustedhalo.com
From a Catholic perspective, does it mean you are part of a cult if you believe in life on other planets?
No, not really. Though there are people who part of established religious cults who do.
It's important to remember that in modern Roman Catholic Christianity, we don't see a conflict between science and faith. This is because like other non-fundamentalist Christian faiths, we believe the Bible is a book about faith, not history or science. Thus, we need not think of creation as an event occurring in six days and centered on the earth (as in Genesis 1). Genesis 1 is a story communicating how God is responsible for all created things, the power behind all life and all the cosmos. Catholics can easily see the Big Bang and Darwinian evolution as a part of God's plan of creation rather than something that happens without him.
Likewise if life (and even intelligent life) has evolved on another world, that could also be seen as a part of God's plan. Right now, we do not know of such life, so it does not fit into our understanding of creation and salvation. If such life were discovered, it might mean we would have to revise a number of our assumptions about the way we understand things. Perhaps it would not just be human beings that were made in the image and likeness of God, but other sentient beings as well. Would we then see Jesus Christ as sent just to save the human race or all intelligent life? Wasn't he made uniquely human? But wasn't he sent to renew all of creation? (Romans 8:18-27 ) These are questions theologians, bishops, and the pope would have to grapple with.
Having said all of this, there are a lot of existing cults surrounding the phenomenon of UFO's (unidentified flying objects) and beliefs about extraterrestrial beings having already visited the earth. (A cult is a religious group that is dangerous to the spiritual, psychological, and often physical health of its members.) So it's good to be careful about groups interested in life on other planets. Some of them have quite outlandish beliefs and strange rules and ideas.
Some of the tests to know if a religious group is a cult or not include:
- 1) exclusiveness ?cults are known for dividing people from their families and friends, even sometimes forbidding people to visit or maintain contact;
- 2) the control over the hearts and minds of the cult's adherents that charismatic leaders take?people are encouraged to rid themselves of their own thoughts, ideas, and emotions;
- 3) the separation from "the world" required for the group's members as the cult's "reality" gets more and more divorced and distant from actual reality and common sense.
Other frequent practices in cults are the leaders requiring sex from the adherents, and consistent use of unrealistic and unfulfilled promises to attract people who are depressed and vulnerable. A cult may not exhibit all of these characteristics but only one or two.
Hope this is helpful.
---Fr. Brett Hoover, CSP
I just felt like sharing...