Blaming Religion
Question
Are people right to blame religion for the world's problems?

Answer
Religion is not blameless. Its proponents need to identify the constructive elements in religious tradition and make them the agenda.
Religion is not blameless.

Not that governments will like it if religion says it has some solutions to offer: the politicians will tell religion to keep its nose out. Unfortunately, the politicians have not done such a great job themselves; there are some who pretend to be pursuing just and lasting solutions when the main things they want are re-election and personal immortality.

We must, however, acknowledge that antagonism to religion working at the coalface is partly caused by the Western doctrine that religion is a private matter, an affair of the individual soul and its God. Religion - certainly Judaism - needs to explain that its role was always public, as well as private. Abraham, Moses and the prophets had something to say to the world, not just to the individual soul.

So, in a world beset with problems that range from inter-group relations to shortage of resources, climate change, economic downturn, aging populations and lack of opportunity, religion has to speak out and put forward its ideas. This does not necessarily mean that every religion and every group within a religion will say the same things, nor that the public has to abdicate its judgment and do exactly what a particular religion or religious leader says.

The greatest contribution that religion can make is to explain its spiritual-ethical take on a given subject and work (rationally) to convince public figures and the public that it is right.

Aliens and the Torah
Question
Is it possible that there are intelligent beings outside the Earth that observe the Torah?

Answer
Here are two answers by great modern thinkers:

1. "I would say it's impressive for God to have Martians on Mars. I would be perturbed if He gave them a different Torah, one with different commandments. We see the Torah as ultimate. So it's not a threat unless a Divine value system were given that contradicts the fundamental values of our Torah, because we have a God who is omniscient and speaks in absolutes.

"Would Jewish law apply to them? If they are humans or humanoid, it would be a matter of identifying the species.
And if the aliens aren't Jewish?
 If on Mars there are people who have a mind and free will, then the exact same values should apply. And if the aliens aren't Jewish? Then they would have to be bound by the Seven Noahide Laws, by universal ethics." (Rabbi Moshe David Tendler)

2. "The difference between human beings and animals is free will. You cannot give a commandment to a creature that doesn't have free will. If we assume there are human beings elsewhere in space, it would be a contradiction. If they are human, then they have to have free will. That means they would have received the Torah. Now, they could either have a different Torah than ours, or our Torah. But since our Torah is the truth, they cannot have a Torah different from ours. And they cannot have ours because it would be irrelevant to them, since our Torah was given at a specific time, in a specific place and to a specific people. We shouldn't even assume such a possibility." (Professor Herman Branover)