<p><b>Witty and thoughtprovoking, two Vatican astronomers shed provocative light on some of the strange places where religion and science meet.<br></b><br><i>“Imagine if a Martian showed up, all big ears and big nose like a child’s drawing, and he asked to be baptized. How would you react?”</i> <br><i> – Pope Francis, May, 2014</i><br> <br>Pope Francis posed that question – without insisting on an answer! – to provoke deeper reflection about inclusiveness and diversity in the Church. But it's not the first time that question has been asked.<br><br>Brother Guy Consolmagno and Father Paul Mueller hear questions like that all the time. They’re scientists at the Vatican Observatory, the official astronomical research institute of the Catholic Church. In <i>Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? </i>they<i> </i>explore a variety of questions at the crossroads of faith and reason: How do you reconcile the The Big Bang with Genesis? Was the Star of Bethlehem just a pious religious story or an actual description of astronomical events? What really went down between Galileo and the Catholic Church – and why do the effects of that confrontation still reverberate to this day? Will the Universe come to an end? And… could you really baptize an extraterrestrial?<br><br>With disarming humor, Brother Guy and Father Paul explore these questions and more over the course of six days of dialogue. <i>Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial</i> will make you laugh, make you think, and make you reflect more deeply on science, faith, and the nature of the universe.</p>