I was actually asked this question by a pastoral search committee once. The question was “How would I respond to the church if it was reported by the news media that life had been discovered on Mars?” Recently this issue was brought up by National Geographic Magazine on September 14th. The article title was “Possible sign of life on Venus stirs up heated debate” by Nadia Drake. She wrote: "Something deadly might be wafting through the clouds shrouding Venus: a smelly, flammable gas called phosphine that annihilates life-forms reliant on oxygen for survival. Ironically though, the scientists who today announced of this noxious gas in the Venusian atmosphere say it could be tantalizing, if controversial, evidence of life on the planet next door."