In Theory:Examining the UFO question

City officials in Roswell, N.M., want to establish a UFO-themed amusement park, given the area's history — some believe a UFO crashed in the area.

Do you believe in UFOs and alien life?

At this point in the 21st century, I personally do not believe that we have ever been visited by alien civilizations or UFOs. However, I am also a fan of the late Carl Sagan, who said there were billions and billions of stars and planets out there, so I do believe that there could be life as we know it, or even life as we don't know it, on some distant planet, or even planets.

Each of us is trapped in time, and so each of us must use the knowledge and understanding that are available to us now. At one time, mankind thought the Earth was flat. At one time, the thinking was that the Sun, Moon and stars all revolved around little old us. That thinking has changed as our knowledge has changed.

If and when we do meet members of civilizations that took root on other planets, we'll have to change our thinking again, including our theological thinking. We religious people can sometimes be the most closed-minded people because we think God spoke once and for all through his holy prophets and through his holy books.

For Christians and Jews, the book is the Bible; for Muslims it's the Koran. In the United Church of Christ, we have a slogan that says, "God is still speaking." I believe that statement, and I believe most thinking believers would agree.

We get into trouble when we try to contain the living, breathing God in our poor conception of God. If God is as great as we believe God to be, we will never stop having new revelations from the One in whom we live, move, and have our being.

THE REV. C.L.

"SKIP" LINDEMAN

Congregational Church

of the Lighted Window

United Church of Christ

La Cañada Flintridge

A friend of mine, Dr. Velvl Greene, is a biologist who was enlisted by NASA in the 1960s for a project to determine the status of life on Mars. He once asked my teacher, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, if such a project was appropriate to engage in and whether it was in accord with Judaic teachings (after all, the Bible says nothing about extraterrestrial life).