How do you know we haven't received any? Just because the governments of the world tell you, doesn't mean it's true.

Let's imagine we haven't received any signals though. Personally, I believe that other civilizations are so much further advanced that they communicate in other ways, and we have no way of catching those signals yet. Also, the universe is huge. Even if they are communicating in a way that we can hear them they may be so far away that those signals haven't reached us (or facing away from us).

In part, yes, if you look at religions' "vested interest" reason for survival as a lucrative business enterprise. But my pedestrian logic dictates that "there's more than meet the eyes" because the well-crafted plot in this well-thought 5,000 year-old drama still unfolding has more twists and turns than the Burma Road.

Volumes of documented reports of mysterious cosmic radio signals from legitimate and well-funded scientific groups in search of extraterrestrial life have often been declared classified by the authorities not fit for public consumption.

There's a deeper angle to the issue on the separation of church and state cloaked in so much mysteries that it would take more than a lifetime to comprehend - because they wanted it that way - to keep us in constant turmoil, chaos and intense conflict.

To quote Walter Scott: "Oh what a tangled we weave."

i doubt it

Meaning, does every civilization exterminate itself soon after getting the technology, and is "religion" invariably the reason?