>a discovery so profound as first contact must have some impact to their belief. But then again, my guess is that when this discovery is made, the larger part of the world are secularists.

Explored in the film "Contact" and the Carl Sagan book upon which it was based. Though apparently the ending differs significantly between the two. (I enjoyed the movie, but haven't gotten around to reading the book).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118884/