In some ways, this is remarkably astute socio-religious commentary. Sociologists Ryan Burge and Jonathan Haidt have argued the same thing in their books “The Vanishing Church” and “The Anxious Generation” respectively. Human beings need a common worship of their shared values to be socially bonded in community-wide groups. And religious communities do that more effectively than any other social organization. Both Burge and Haidt largely attribute the growing divisions today to a lack of such a common religious social framework.
But this is also one of the many ways Spielberg’s film feels out of touch. Religion hasn’t fulfilled that unifying force function in America for decades. Today, aliens wouldn’t disrupt any such religious glue holding together society because that ship has already sailed.
It’s also somewhat out of touch with how actual religious communities think about how their faith relates to aliens. Most Christian thinkers who’ve actually dealt with the question are totally comfortable with the compatibility of Christianity and aliens. CS Lewis literally made a whole sci-fi trilogy about it.
Instead, as Ross Douthat explained in The New York Times, religious people have “the fear of a particular kind of extraterrestrial encounter, where supposed brothers from another planet offer themselves as shepherds of our souls, and we have to decide whether it’s a revelation or a grand deception.”
As Randal King writes, “I don’t have a problem believing in his movie aliens. I’m just not prepared to elevate them to deities who will fix us if we just listen.”
Disclosure Day is another example of how Hollywood misunderstands religion.
— The Coddling Movie (@CoddlingMovie) June 25, 2026
Ted Balaker argues that the Steven Spielberg thinks he’s asking profound new questions about Christianity.
The problem is they’re only new inside Hollywood’s bubble.https://t.co/pqZstj9qEt pic.twitter.com/gSZ6cPzs08
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