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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026

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I feel like people overdistinguish between B(/D) and C. Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic and all. "Demons try to trick humanity into thinking they're aliens to shake our belief in God" is an opinion that's all the rage among fundies these days, and every time I see it, all I can think is, can you really not draw the connection that "angels and demons" and "aliens" could quite sensibly just be two different sets of vocabulary for the same thing? Is "angels and demons might be beings much like humans but from different stars/planets" an inherently heretical view? Did ancient people have any need to be informed of the logistical specifics of how angels and demons came about? If we have faith, why would we presume that aliens don't have their own histories with and views on God, for good or for ill, which would make them, to us, angels or demons? In the event that our elites are secretly in contact with aliens, it seems entirely plausible to me that this is a very evil thing, on both ends of the contact, and that this is functionally occult activity, powerful people with demonic patrons.

If we have faith, why would we presume that aliens don't have their own histories with and views on God, for good or for ill, which would make them, to us, angels or demons?

This is the Islamic view on Jinn. That they are alternate sentient beings with their own rules/relationship with God. And can do good or evil just as humans.

Is "angels and demons might be beings much like humans but from different stars/planets" an inherently heretical view?

Yes. Angels are not "beings much like humans", they are held to be completely different creations. For "angels and aliens are just two words for the same kind of thing", you would have to change the nature either of angels or of aliens. If you want "angels are corporeal creatures with high tech" then that's not consonant with traditional Christian belief. If you want aliens to be the same sort of being as angels, then you have to drop the "much like humans" part. (As an aside, this is probably the origin of the "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" joke about Scholasticism).

Coincidentally, though I'm not watching the latest season of "The Boys", I see that Homelander's arc is him wanting to become a god, or thinks he's God, or has been chosen to be God, and my reaction is "Huh. Well, inventing your own twist on Christianity is very American" and while I imagine (though I don't know what the scriptwriters intend) that this is all meant to be more criticism of megachurch American Protestantism that is seen to be right-wing and in cahoots with Trump, what it could also be jabbing at is Mormonism, because "we can become gods of our own worlds" is the King Follett Discourse. and while they've given Homelander raging mommy issues, this is Heavenly Mother if you want to look at it that way.

(As an aside, this is probably the origin of the "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" joke about Scholasticism)

So they're arguing whether angels are fermions or bosons?

Yes, it is heresy for mainstream Christians. Angels are held to be made as, specifically, servants of God and demons are simply those who rebelled. They are not beings with their own civilization.

for mainstream Christians

I guess here we also bump into another free variable in the "Christianity is right (and it's actually aliens)" scenario: do we only want to assume that Christianity's initial version was a true revelation of cosmic realities packaged up as memes digestible for the Mediterranean of 2000 years ago (and every elaboration humans added on since might be a corruption, even if done by overwhelming consensus), or do we have to assume that one or even multiple branches remained under "divine" guidance or inspiration until now, so the space opera would also have to fit at least some innovations that don't strictly follow from what was in the 1.0 release?

Did God not make us to be servants, and did we not rebel? All the works of detailed information on the nature of angels and demons that I know of are either extremely speculative, not considered religiously significant by many serious authorities, or both.

not considered religiously significant by many serious authorities

Tell me you're from a 19th century American Protestant mainstream tradition without telling me you're from a 19th century American Protestant mainstream tradition 🤣

Did God not make us to be servants?

No, God made made us in his own image.

Yes. "We were made to know, love, and serve God in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next". Not mere servants, but sons:

4 What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.