"The less religious you are, the more likely you are to think that aliens exist."  So said an recent op-ed piece by Clay Routledge in the New York Times.  Is he correct?  In his article, argues that even though we are more knowledgeable and intellectually confident than ever, we cannot escape our need for greater meaning, some sort of connection with whatever it is that we sense is beyond, figuratively, metaphorically, or physically, us.  
     He's not the only one in this regard.  Countless studies confirm that although interest on conventional religion has been decreasing steadily for decades, interest in spirituality has not waned; in fact, it has increased.  Hence, sometimes a highly irreligious person will want to believe in the something which, to her, speaks to her of things of the "spirit."  On occasion, these "things" can include aliens.  Why?  Aliens bespeak of a presence utterly foreign to this world, something we cannot find in this life, something that, well, is "alien" to us.
     In their interest in aliens, the irreligious among us confirm the fact of our need to answer the most fundamental questions of our existence.  To wit, it's hard, perhaps impossible, to evade who we most deeply are:  spiritual and believing beings.