Why do people believe in aliens?

Answer 1

Because they either want to, or have evidence and/or reason to believe so.

'Want' being from the fascination of extraterrestrials and their capabilities, and perhaps the personal attachment of being part of something more vast and mysterious.

'Evidence' being from the sightings, reports and documentations of over thirty million people, or perhaps personal experience only explained through the intervention of aliens.

And,

'Reason' from the ancient scientific and philosophical questions regarding the size of the universe and potential habitation of other life as evidence of our own existence.

Answer 2

Answer:

First: It is not a fact that "people so easily believe in aliens".

Second: People from whose lives a belief in deities is absent do not generally "believe in aliens".

Answer:

It is quite reasonable to believe that as there are so many billions of stars that at least a few of them (which would still be a lot) have planets with life of some sort on them. This is not the same as believing that advanced alien civilisations have visited earth on 'UFOs', which is highly unlikely. (Star Trek was NOT a documentary!)

All the world's religions have so much obviously wrong/impossible stuff in their dogmas (e.g. creationism, global flood & Noah's Ark) that the whole belief system is discredited to lots of us.

Answer:

Belief in aliens is an extension of observed facts that promote the thought that life can exist and can exist in many places:

• Life has arisen on at least one planet (Earth)
• Life on at least one planet has become intelligent enough to explore in space
• There are millions of other planets
• Life can exist under a myriad of conditions (Aerobic, anaerobic, boiling hot, freezing cold, acidic, caustic, etc.)

There is no similar set of observed facts that would promote belief in any deity.

• No physical evidence
• No measurable impact
• No repeatable testing
• No manifestations

Belief in aliens is therefore more easy to justify than a belief in a god. Whether more people accept a belief in a deity than a god is not a proven fact.