[benhoyt]

A statement from within orthodox Christianity about this (http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/248/are_god_and_al...):

   God became man in Jesus in order to save us. So if
   there are also other intelligent beings, it’s not a
   given that they need redemption. They might have
   remained in full friendship with their creator.

The article also includes an interesting quote from C. S. Lewis on the subject:

   I look forward with horror to contact with the other 
   inhabited planets, if there are such. We would only 
   transport to them all of our sin and our acquisitiveness, 
   and establish a new colonialism. I can’t bear to think of 
   it. But if we on Earth were to get right with God, of 
   course, all would be changed. Once we find ourselves 
   spiritually awakened, we can go to outer space and take 
   the good things with us. That is quite a different 
   matter.

[jimbokun]

Lewis also wrote a SciFi trilogy to explore these ideas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Trilogy