I'm an athiest and I don't claim to speak for all the athiests in this forum, but imo it's much more likely that we could be visited by intelligent life-forms from another planet one day than Jesus returning, or Judgement Day arriving, or whatever other fictional stories the Bible predicts ...

If aliens did visit (and I sincerely hope they do), what would the religious 87% of the world's population make of it? Would they deny it or claim it as the second coming? Would there be widespread panic or a sudden realisation that we are nothing more than evolved living creatures on a tiny planet in a cosmos so incomprehensibly large it's statistically improbable that we're the only intelligent life?

You do realize you're not God don't you?

People can't predict what they'd do.

Only God can make predictions with any accuracy.

So this thread is purely hypothetical.

I hope you're not prone to mixing fantasy with reality.

A good dependable God beats a bunch of unknown aliens any day.

Most people that write about aliens portray them as not very benovolent and sometimes downright destructive towards the human race. See H.G. Wells' book " The War of the Worlds".

Unlike God who reveals Himself in his Word we have no Word from aliens describing their intentions toward human beings so I find your blind welcoming of them risky to say the least.

I don't see what the existence of aliens has to do with religion. My beliefs would be unchanged. Not sure what others would do, though.

Yes, that was pretty clear from the OP. That doesn't make the question any less answerable.

Just less realistic.

Religionists claim religion to be reality.

So what's with encouraging all the false comparisons? It's good to let everybody stay asleep so they can't wake up and acknowledge God rules this world and people can be safe under God's wings?

Hey ganstaman...ganstaman....isn't it true you're a good Jewish boy?

Don't you know God loves you?

If you do then why don't you say so?

I know God gave you the gift of helps....you work in psychiatry, after all.

More on the gift of helps here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_gift

Ive been reading this over for about 5 minutes and have no idea what she's trying to say. Is it a warning against anyone but god considering hypotheticals?

Are children the only ones who experience boogeymen?

Can't adults get scared by fantasies as well?

Back to the OP.

There is no homogeneity in the theistic population. Thus there would not be a single uniform response to an alien landing. It would run the entire gamut including: these are angels and this is the second coming, this is just one more challenge God asks us to face and these are demons and we need to fight them. Probably the biggest determining factor would be how the aliens behave, but then that would have a big impact on how atheists respond also.

It is interesting that there is no actual physical theory that says that a Judgement Day is impossible, just none that would predict it. Yet that is considered less likely than an alien landing by the OP post. But there is a very robust and successful physical theory that states that an alien landing is massively unlikely.

I am a theist although I am not at all certain that there will be a Judgement Day. But given the phenomenal success of Lorentz invariance I consider the likelihood of an alien landing to be minuscule.

Some would say they were sent by god to test our faith.
Some would say they were sent by god as a gift.
Some would say they were sent by the devil.
Many would be confused.
Some would become atheists.
If the aliens had their own religion (god forbid), a handful would convert to that.
A few would think the aliens themselves are gods.
Some would think the whole thing is faked by a conspiracy to control us.
A few wouldn't care.

And some wouldn't fit within this prediction.

I think New Jerusalem is actually going to be a space ship that comes down, takes the 144k up, then torches everyone else. (or something along these lines)

So.. depending on what these aliens look like, I would have different reactions.

My first thought would be, "oh crap, why couldn't I grow a pair and put that 40 day fast in."

But say they looked something totally freaky, like the movies usually depict. Then my thoughts would be like, "hmm b.s., nice one illuminati ()"

I just don't think anyone else (the other beings) uses bodies that are visible to the human eye, as Earth is the reform school for the beings that cause trouble to the rest of the universe, and flesh suits are a training apparatus for our soul.

So....hypothetically speaking, I probably would end up dead by not giving them any respect, or I'd just lay there thinking, "well, I knew this was coming God, f it, where's that fire pit." (for annihilation of soul and body)

Why would you root for this? They would be so much more technologically and intellectually advanced they would likely consider us as we do insects or very primitive animals. They would see us as food, or our planet as a resource they could use or destroy for their gain. The chance anything good would come from such a visit is less likely (in my opinion) than the 2nd coming of Jesus (not really, but the chances aren't good).

I don't see aliens ever visiting us, from my understanding of physics it's not possible. I'm not denying the chance of life existing in space.

for OP, if somehow aliens did manage to visit, I believe that more people would probably become more spiritual in belief that something is wrong that society is not as advanced as them.

Who knows what would happen!

You need to change "not possible" for "not likely".

"Not likely" is not strong enough. "Not likely" things happen all the time. "Almost impossible" or "inconceivable" might be better.

It's inconceivable for us to visit them, but not the other way around. Consider that any alien civilization could easily be a million years ahead of us. Even if they were somehow only slightly more advanced technologically, a million years would still be a lot of time to explore parts of the galaxy.

Yeah, there are hundreds of billions of stars in the neighborhood to pick from, but there could also be a whole bunch of these alien races out there. Even our sun is like two billion years younger than an average star, so it's not like they haven't had time to develop.