That predisposes that aliens needed saving. Maybe we humans were the only species in the universe that needed saving.
It predisposes that aliens exist, that aliens have immortal souls, that aliens need saving, and that God’s plan of salvation for the aliens is the same as ours.
C.S. Lewis did a fascinating take on this in his Space Trilogy, specifically the book Perelandra, where a corrupted earthling travels to Venus and there tempts their “Eve”. In Lewis’s version of things, this planet’s Eve chooses to obey God, and life on that planet takes a different course.
While the Times article may take a patronizing/mocking tone, the question is one that can be considered, and should not simply be dismissed. (Oftentimes the purpose of such mockery is simply to humiliate & silence believers. Just sayin’)
Anyway ... if one thinks of God the Father as the mysterious, the great I AM, creator, God of Abraham, and the Son (Christ) as his intermediary/interface/with his creation (the Word who was with God and was God), then it is quite conceivable that if the Father has created life on another planet and that life has chosen to disobey him, that Christ will likewise come to redeem them.
And for that matter, having been redeemed, why shouldn’t the Holy Spirit then dwell in them?
Again, just sayin’
(And yes, I do like C.S. Lewis...)