In Search of God in Alien's Clothing
Copyright 1998 by Jeffrey Stueber, all rights reserved

"One of the best movies of the decade." That's tremendous praise for Contact, a movie that would read partly like a book on philosophy were it converted to text. To a movie buff like me, at least one schooled in philosophy, I am tempted to put it either in my video cabinet or alongside my books by Kant, Kung, Moreland, and Adler.

Ellie Arroway, played by Jodie Foster, is of a peculiar obsession: She looks for aliens. Ellie is not interested in aliens with green blood, huge ears, or antennas sticking out of their heads. All she wants is to find beings with higher intelligence who can somehow help us understand the meaning of the universe. God may not fill that bill, but ET might.

Ellie hooks up with Palmer Joss, played by Matthew McConaughey. Joss is a fallout theologian and best-selling author who appears on the Larry King show and advises scientists and presidents alike. Joss is worried that technology is attempting to fill the "hole in the soul" where a spiritual life should reside and warns us about "those who deify science at the expense of truth." Joss becomes part of a panel to select a representative to journey to the stars to meet the aliens that sent information down and informs Arroway that in good conscience he cannot vote for someone who didn't believe in God and who, according to Joss' words, believes the rest of us are victims of a "mass delusion" - a comment which alludes to another member of the panel who said that 95 percent of humanity believes in a deity.

Ellie is your typical skeptic. In place of the name "Ellie Arroway" we could just as well put Carl Sagan, Stephen Gould, or perhaps Richard Dawkins (although Dawkins would probably not be as friendly toward the religious views of Palmer Joss). Ellie believes there is no evidence for the existence of God and probably never will be any evidence. Of course, Ellie never hints that she has explored the truth in any of the major religions because she probably assumes a priori that there is none. You get the impression that any proof has to come to her personally and in the present, not in any dusty book like the Bible or Koran, for Ellie's skepticism originates early in her life after a pastor assures her that we aren't meant to know why everything happens. Of course, this happens after she loses her second parent. No doubt, all too many have felt like Ellie, wishing that God would somehow appear to them during their worst trials.

Ellie, however, feels the pressure her skepticism is put under. During the selection process Joss asks her if she considers herself a spiritual person and later narrows the question to a more direct line: "Do you believe in God?" Arroway, the hardened skeptic with undoubtedly years of experience of avoiding meddling questions like that, fudges an answer. "I consider myself a moral person. I rely on science and empirical evidence." Of course, that wasn't the question. Her science and scientific methods were well known and, as far as her morality, it stands to reason she was a moral person since the only speck on her record was believing by faith that aliens were out there. Of course, that is enough of an intellectual crime if ever there was one, but that is not enough to keep her from consideration.

As a result of her fudging - her inability to go along with the flow of events and say she believes in "some god out there" - Ellie loses the nomination. The winner is a fellow scientist of hers, a man who says he will go to meet the aliens and represent his god. No mention is given of any specific god or any correct god. Of course, Contact bows to the political correctness of the New Age faith where all gods are one

Of particular interest is Richard Rank, a member of the Conservative Coalition. The first thought to come into my mind when seeing him is, "That's Ralph Reed!" The thought is inescapable. The age seems to be nearly the same as both are very young and both have a tremendous voice in their respective organizations although Reed has since quite the Christian Coalition to become a political consultant. Substitute the word "Christian" for the word "Conservative" and you have a perfect political statement about the beliefs of organizations like the Christian Coalition. Of course, the producers don't want to come right out and tell everyone their views because this is movie making, not petty partisanship. Of course, there are always ways to make your opinions known without saying them!

Rank worries that science is intruding on matters of faith once again. During a hearing, Rank states there is a grave danger in trusting these aliens since there is no hint of any moral thought in their communication with us. "We don't even know if they believe in God," he tells his colleagues as if we would be advised to know the church-going habits of the aliens before anyone goes to meet them. Ellie is understandably upset because once again faith is intruding on matters of science. Rank's objections mirror an attitude toward the religious which is present among the skeptics of religion and shows itself even more strongly among others who protest the launching of the space ship. The terrorist who blows up the first ships warns his listeners that we shouldn't be looking to the scientists to talk to our god.

Ellie does succeed in making her trip to the great beyond and becomes a convert of sorts, but not to any spiritual life in the traditional sense. As a scientist she recognizes empirical proof but also recognizes personal subjective proof that appears in undeniable fashion, such as in a resurrection appearance or soothing words from a being hovering near some galaxy far away. For Arroway, the tables get turned when the even-more-skeptical senator asks her if she knows what Ockham's Razor is. (For those beginning philosophy majors who still think Kant is a contraction, Ockham's Razor is the tenet that when all things are equal, the simplest solution best explains.) Ellie had earlier dismissed any talk of God by offering this to Joss, the man who believes in a spiritual life because of his own religious experience. Ellie now finds herself in the same boat as Joss and finds she has to defend her own subjective experience which lacks the empirical proof she earlier used to shoot down "mass delusions" by god-believers. She tells us how unimportant we are in the vast universe - a comment that reminds us of Sagan's "billions and billions," something that should not surprise us since the movie is based on a novel by Carl Sagan.

Contact is great science fiction for those who are into movies like this. It's also great philosophy. I suggest buying it and putting it next to your Spielberg, Cameron, and Lucas. Or perhaps, a more fitting place is next to your scholarly journals on miracles, the kalam arguments, and how to experience the supernatural.