How do the major religions see the possibility of extraterrestrial life? Guy Consolmagno, a Jesuit as well as an accomplished astronomer, addressed at a 2014 meeting at the Library of Congress the question of whether he would baptize an alien. He later expanded on the topic in a book. His short answer was yes—if the alien wanted to. And that suggests that he expects aliens to be religious in the first place.

Michael Waltemathe, another speaker at last week’s meeting in Bochum, told me something interesting: There is a fatwa—a ruling on a point of Islamic law given by a recognized authority—making it clear that you cannot escape Allah’s judgement by a one-way trip to Mars. It’s more evidence that at least some religious authorities have given consideration to the possible discovery of extraterrestrials and how it might affect Earth’s religions.

Science fiction writers have taken up the question, too, in novels like Michael Faber’s The Book of Strange New Things and the classic 1980 movie Enemy Mine, where the alien, who starts out as an enemy but becomes a friend, has a strong belief in a higher being.