Do UFO Religions Count as “Real” Religions?
[Written by Connor for an undergraduate philosophy essay & conference paper. We've also done a follow-up podcast]
A relatively novel phenomenon in its current forms, UFO movements have been the subject of media coverage, television documentaries and popular fiction for the last several decades. Principally, they can be regarded as any identifiable social movement, almost exclusively Western, which to a notable degree, is concerned with the existence of unidentified flying objects.[1] Typically, for these groups such UFOs are regarded to be vessels piloted by extra-terrestrials or spiritual beings, often from an advanced culture or race with some agenda regarding humankind. These groups can range from organised institutions to more dynamic and loosely organised spiritual subcultures, believing in the existence of angelic, celestial and transcendent beings or technologically advanced alien races (or even both). Erik Östling claims it to be a ‘diverse field’ with varying levels of organisation, not to mention that some movements present as religious and other groups try to be more scientific in their observations and practices.[2] It is also evident that this is a phenomenon that has been somewhat neglected in academic study. Though there are many kinds of UFO movements that we can identify, it can be largely said that they generally represent a religiosity[3] or spirituality considerably more so than one might first think but that it also depends on how one defines religion.
With accuracy we can date the true inception of these groups as arising in the 20th century. Prior to the 1950’s we see unidentified flying objects more commonly explained as clandestine military weapons[4] or celestial beings[5] as opposed to alien life or technology, though there are some exceptions to this[6]. The birth of science fiction writings[7] saw a sudden explosion in popularity of these phenomena interpreted as the work of aliens as the ‘saucer craze’ took off in the 1940s, 50s and beyond as the phenomena of identifying UFOs and seeking to explain their appearances expanded. With grounded roots in this ufology, the subculture of UFO sightings and growth of alien abduction stories we see these groups look much more familiar as we might recognise them today.[8] As these groupings develop we see some discernible thought towards UFOs having implications on humankind - and thus the notable element of religiosity subsequently enters more prevalently in this period.
In both characterising these groups and seeking to identify elements of spirituality and religion, obviously it would be necessary to start with those religions which admit to and/or palpably display such elements. These can be alluded to as UFO religions - ‘religious groupings (…) formed around the concept that we (…) have been visited (…) by alien beings’[9] being referred by those who elect to study them as emergent spiritualties, new religious movements, religions and even cults. Here we have the Church of the SubGenius, Heaven’s Gate, Universal Industrial Church of the New World Comforter and perhaps the most infamously well-known, Scientology (though Scientology is often quick to deny these extra-terrestrial elements) including a good variety more. These can drastically range in how these beings are viewed – as overlords who look on us as property or ‘cattle’[10] or as benevolent allies who endeavour to aid humanity.
On balance, these groups generally present these beings as salvific, benign, nurturing beings whilst still offering some critique of certain, more destructive aspects to human behaviour.[11] An example of a more optimistic such group would be Raelianism, an extant, successful and contemporary UFO religion. Here is the notion that we should be ’worthy of our inheritance’[12] at the hands of our alien creators, inferring to us some sense of meaning. These are welcome allies who wish us to build embassies and in contrast to other groups are world and humanity-affirming.[13] This, when coupled with its promotions / encouragements and prohibitions of particular human behaviours (such as embracing sexuality and condemning war) begins to fiercely resemble what one might call conventional religion. In fact, Raelianism itself offers an explanatory narrative of traditional religion, particularly the Judeo-Christian faith. That is, that the renegade alien scientists who created us and the prophetic figures and deities of religious texts are, in fact, one and the same. Here the name Elohim is given to this race of beings, one of which being Yahweh, generally perceived by the monotheistic faiths as their God, who communed with Moses. The idea that one day we will create our own race also seems to somewhat imply and impart responsibility and alongside explanations of phenomenon like divinity and human nature begins to, as is common in religions, address a cosmic crisis. So these groups can be considered very much religious.
Others have a more holistically critically view of human behaviour, perceiving humanity as a problem in itself. Many advocate prophetic apocalyptic narratives and doomsday predictions (This phenomenon characterised the discourse of Chen Tao or Right Way[14], Order Fiat Lux[15] and The Outer Dimensional Forces[16] groups). Though specific doomsday dates are uncommon, ‘ideas about imminent rescue of a chosen elect by space beings persist in the wider UFO movement today’.[17] One such pessimistic religion in its discourse and practices is Heaven’s Gate in which we can veritably see a ‘mixture of biblical narratives, (…) ufology (and) sci-fi materials’ in the language they employ.[18] Heaven’s Gate, a UFO religion (or religious cult to be more appropriate) offered the idea, like Raelianism, that humans were seeded by a more advanced alien race and that this alien intelligence can inhabit the bodies of ‘walk-ins’; humans sufficiently advanced to receive such thoughts. Marshall Applewhite and his partner Bonnie Nettles were such people alleged to be hosting alien intelligence residing within them. The lexis utilised here is truly a mixture, with ideas of religious self-transcendence and sci-fi popular culture with words and phrases such as departure, recycle, “beam me up” and evolve.[19] Both this religious imagery and ideas of popular cultures in conjunctive use is an important and prevalent point in characterising these groups with illustrated language borrowed from TV, radio, books and comics such as Star Trek and perhaps later Stargate.
Ultimately, what determines this group as truly world-denying is essentially its take on humanity. Recognising their true form elsewhere in a kind of Cartesian dualism that rendered the material form as simply a vessel they endeavoured not only to give up financial and sexual aspects of life (even volunteering to castration) but ultimately took their own lives. This was in an effort to release their true form to a spaceship, often referenced as the Kingdom of Heaven, tailing the Hale-Bopp comet before planet Earth’s predicted recycling in the late 90s. Such an undertaking required not only intense socialisation but also strong voluntary commitment from its membership.
An interesting parallel can be drawn between Melanesian millenarian “cargo cults” and these groups claiming extraterrestrial grace or Armageddon. Insofar as their obsession with the salvific grace of transcendent beings from the sky, offering yields of ‘incredible new technologies’ they can ‘at least partially be considered Western parallels to the famous Pacific cargo cults’ who worshipped planes and aircraft they did not fully understand, for their bounties.[20] Perhaps, subsequently we can make some claim to an element of sky-being worship as an almost immutable, innate thread of human existence, even if not explicitly a deity.
Some may argue that other UFO movements only partially display this kind of religious discourse and can be more aptly alluded to as spiritual, but not religious. Here we must be careful; as many writers have advocated - religiosity and spirituality at best share a deeply flirtatious relationship, if not they are in fact one and the same in almost every way. Largely because we can ‘understand religion as a spiritual activity, and crucially, see spirituality as fundamentally religious in nature’[21]. Perhaps this isn’t wholly true but at the very least we can see that there is a much deeper religious essence to these groups than one might be tempted to imagine.
It is worth noting here that such a group need not prefer a religious element over the scientific, or indeed vice versa; often they are not viewed as incommensurably different but one and the same. In fact, some groups would reject the distinction entirely and simply claim to purport the truth.
Many of these movements have also become arguably more niche in modernity; as the UFO phenomena disappears from media attention and popular culture so too do its religious formations. So it could be said that these are somewhat correlative. Presently, it could be argued that similar or shared notions are manifest in movements such as contemporary transhumanism, which advocates ideas of cloning and rejection and/or amelioration of human nature.
In looking at the allegedly more spiritual side of ufology we can also ascertain some crossover with the Occult and even Paganistic thought, something perhaps not sufficiently studied. These ideas, that we are ‘connected with the stars’[22] alongside the prevalence of cosmic language in Paganism or theories of alien involvement at Pagan worship sites (such as Avebury or Stonehenge) can be seen to be ‘popular in the 70s’[23]. Around this time, both root movements of ufology and Paganist thought (such as Wicca, Druidism, ecofeminism and Heathenism) were at a relative peak of popularity and subsequently threaded, often syncretically into one another. It is here we observe this blended thought as people suggest that the Egyptian Pyramids, Mayan Temples, the Moai Heads of Easter Island and other sites of antiquated nature worship were built or designed by Alien-Gods and/or used by them for landings.[24] Such talk encapsulates a flirtation between ancient tribal worship, modern science and popular fiction, with writers such as Erich von Daniken enquiring ‘Was God an astronaut?’.[25] It would also seem to thematically echo antiquity and offer us a ‘folklore for the present time’.[26]
Again, creeping in here are these same discourses and narratives of meaning and ‘existential purpose’ as religion[27]. Some from within these groups who advocate a strong genetic aspect in terms of our relationship with aliens are offering us a more meaningful look at what we are and how we relate to the wider universe. We also see the kind of lexis employed by UFO enthusiasts transforming from intrusive and violating with aspects including anal probing to a more spiritual and transformative[28] experience that can be likened to religious ‘spirit journeys’[29] with an emphasis on truth, enlightenment and privileged selection. Such conversation is generally ‘full of religious imagery’ and reminiscently almost ‘tribal’ in ideas of self-transformation[30]… even in those groups who would claim to be particularly secular in their approach and language. So regardless of how we may feel about where spirituality fits in with religion (though there is a strong case for their homogeneity), these movements are often very spiritual, at the least.
Then we encounter the question of invented and ironic UFO groups such as Science-fiction fandom and cosplay[31] and religious groups centred around fictional extra-terrestrial concepts[32]… surely these cannot be alluded to as religious in any honest or meaningful sense - surely these groups are “just joking” or invalid on account of having been “made up”, and therefore not religious? Perhaps so, but that does not mean that we should not pause here for some serious consideration and that there is nothing to say about this manifestation of the UFO phenomenon; the intellectual reality is far different. As Taira advocates, some warrant attention as ‘fiction-based religions’ rather than “invented religions”[33] that simply exist in the realm of “make-believe” and “absurdity”. That is to say that some are fiction… others are fiction based – and there is a conceptual differentiation worth noting here, one that informs our argument.
The purpose of this distinction is that, through satirical commentary and ritualistic behaviours we can ascertain some critique or comment on modern society and human behaviour. Singler writes how Jediism, for instance, raises questions of defining legitimacy.[34] Indeed, ideas about aliens / visitors of any kind have offered us new ways to express notions of human importance and cosmic meaning through popular culture; principally science fiction. Alongside the former kinds of groups these expressions can offer us ways to comment on human worth and conflict (the latter being especially important when one considers the context of popularity of these groups; against the backdrop of World Wars and a Cold War). There is an idea here that through a higher authority (whether metaphorical fiction or not)[35] we can judge our actions and subsequently ‘transcend our destructive force’.[36] Even elements of popular culture provide this; The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, for instance, offers a ‘comic inversion’ of our apparent cosmic importance in the agenda of aliens by reducing our only significance in the universe to obstructing an intergalactic bypass.[37]
This notion of the invented religion has some natural link to ideas of hyper-realism and postmodernism; the presentation of relativistic and localised truth and the construction of reality and identity politics are integral here. That is, reality can be a simulation, a world that we would rather inhabit, as opposed to it being literally true[38] – this offers commentary concerning values and ideals and can be an expression of this or a form of reactionary escapism. Either way, this gives us some intellectual insight into what many may simply render nonsense. The internet has exploded the practical and social ease of becoming a part of such ironic or fiction-based groups. The use of satire has also trickled down from an intellectual engagement to a phenomenon whereby people now eat certain foods, use prosaic phrases or enjoy music “ironically”[39]… this is vexatiously common. Most people who roleplay fictions, when pressed will, alongside being irritated, admit to a symbolic affiliation to such organisations over a literal one and this has partially always been an element of religions; only fundamentalism insists on explicit literalism. This phenomenon is aptly described by Tom Williams, a priest of CAW (Church of All Worlds) in advocating that ‘It is from the oppression of overwhelming consensual reality constructs that the mythology of science fiction/fantasy so frees us. It does this in two ways: one, the most obvious, by offering us alternate reality constructs, and two, by revealing to us the way in which realities are made’.[40]
Now, other groups do in fact manage to largely avoid these religious discourses, beliefs and rituals, if not entirely. That said, some of the most scientific of these groups, methodologically still can be considered as religious in their approach to moral authority. That is, what determines these groups to be religious is that they advocate a ‘meaning in a wider scheme of things’ from beings of higher power, knowledge and most importantly, authority.[41] It could even be argued that through the process of secularised thinking they even unconsciously seek to restore theistic meaning in the so-called “faith crisis” of modernity by looking for existential meaning in our secular gap, not unlike people who would tendentiously call themselves spiritual seekers. Yet it would be clumsy and inaccurate to say that all such groupings are religious in any real sense when the reality is evidently different. These groups include BUFORA[42], UFO-NORGE[43], UFO-Sweden[44] And of course, some are merely “joking” and can offer us very little in the way of meaningful societal commentary through irony and satire.
In summation, it can be easily argued that these groups, while not always wholly religious in essence, share many of the functions and much of the discourse of religious movements. Indeed, when we consider the relationship between religiosity and spirituality, the nature and considerations ascribed to fiction-based and ironic movements and the sociological characteristics of these groups and the kinds of questions they attempt to answer we can say with some honesty that these movements do have very strong religious elements. Of course, as noted, some do principally avoid many of these elements and remain an essentially secular phenomenon; others are not as secularised as they would like to imagine. Whether it makes meaningful sense to term these groups as religious therefore, relies almost entirely upon the given definition of religion and divinity. If it concerns creation myths, then many, with origin stories of mankind, could be validly counted among religions. If religion relates to subscription to a higher power, or being(s) over man, or a sociological and ritualistic movement concerned with meaning and beliefs then we can certainly argue that such circles are as religious as Evangelical Christianity or Haredi Orthodox Judaism in their conduct and beliefs.
[1] The largest such groups (and many peripheral movements) being situated in countries such as The United States, France, Britain and Canada.
[2] Erik A.W. Östling in Dave Webster and Erik A.W. Östling, UFO Religions, University of Gloucestershire: Philosophy & Religion Video Interviews, 3 June 2014 https://philosvids.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/ufo-religions/ [Accessed 14 February 2016] (3:10-3:40)
[3] I would generally define religion in a social or psychological sense, concerning power – being the servitude to some greater or higher authority other than human’s own moral agency (choice, justification, autonomy, responsibility & reason) and that this figure (or figures) is transcendent and infallible, being apparently a greater being; not necessarily in a metaphysically divine sense. In this manner, I would argue dialectical materialism to be a kind of religion and many forms of Buddhism and existential spirituality as not. Though this is just one, arguably broad take on religion.
[4] Such as the mystery airship phenomenon, WW2 machines or secret cold war weaponry.
[5] Flames, ships, signs, lights, beasts and monsters were sometimes described in ancient antiquity and the Medieval period.
Richard Stothers, "Unidentified Flying Objects in Classical Antiquity" The Classical Journal 103.1 (2007) 79-92 p. 87
[6] Time Magazine, Americana: Close Encounters of a Kind, 12 March 1979 (Reposted 2016) http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,948461,00.html [Accessed 29 February 2015]
[7] An early example being Charles Fort, Book of the Damned (Penguin: London, 2008)
[8] Östling in Webster and Östling, UFO Religions (5:00-5:34)
[9] Ibid. (0:33-0:48)
[10] Ibid. (1:45-2:08)
[11] Such as The Unarius Academy of Science and One World Family Commune.
[12] Östling in Webster and Östling, UFO Religions (8:50-9:00)
[13] RaelTV, The Raelian Embassy, YouTube, 22 March 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW805IZVSt4 [Accessed 07 February 2016]
[14] Jessica Tinklenberg deVega, Guesses, Goofs and Prophetic Failures: What to Think When the World Doesn’t End (Thomas Nelson Inc.: Nashville, 2012) p. 142
[15] James R. Lewis, The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2003) p. 425
[16] Outer Forces Defence, Armageddon Time Ark Base Operation, http://www.atabase.info/ [Accessed 08 March 2016]
[17] Christopher Hugh Partridge, UFO Religions (Psychology Press: Abington, 2003) p. 279
[18] Östling in Dave Webster and Erik A.W. Östling, Popular Culture and UFO Religions, University of Gloucestershire: Philosophy & Religion Video Interviews, 3 June 2014, https://philosvids.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/popular-culture-and-ufo-religions/ [Accessed 14 February 2016] (1:50-2:55)
[19] Heaven’s Gate, Student Exit Statements, HeavensGateDatabase, 9 Apr 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHz9it70TdI [Accessed 14 February 2016]
[20] James R. Lewis, The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2003) p. 425
[21] Dave Webster, Dispirited: How Contemporary Spirituality Makes Us Stupid, Selfish and Unhappy (Zero Books: Winchester, 2012) p. 1
[22] Webster in Webster and Östling, UFO Religions (1:00-1:06)
[23] Ibid. (1:00-1:10)
[24] Doug Bolton, Stonehenge: The Most Unusual Theories About Why the Mysterious Monument Was Built, The Independent, 7 December 2015, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/origin-of-stonehenge-theories-wales-a6763911.html [Accessed 17 February 2016]
[25] Daniken, Erik Von, Chariots of the Gods (Berkley: New York, 1984) p. 32
[26] Östling in Dave Webster and Erik A.W. Östling, Alien Abduction and UFO Religions, University of Gloucestershire: Philosophy & Religion Video Interviews, 26 May 2014, https://philosvids.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/popular-culture-and-ufo-religions/ [Accessed 14 February 2016] (0:58-1:02)
[27] Webster in Webster and Östling, Popular Culture and UFO Religions (5:27-5:38)
[28] Östling in Webster and Östling, Alien Abduction and UFO Religion (2:40-3:00)
[29] Webster in Ibid. (3:54-4:09)
[30] Ibid (7:25-7:41)
[31] Such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate and X Files.
[32] These include Jediism and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. (Due to the interrelationship between ufology and popular culture even these groups can be very much regarded as kinds of UFO movements due to how these ideas feed into one another).
[33] Teemu Taira, The Category of ‘Invented Religion’: A New Opportunity for Studying Discourses on ‘Religion’ – Culture and Religion, 2013 14(4): 477-493
[34] Beth Singler, ‘”See Mom it is real” The UK census, Jediism and Social Media’, Journal of Religion in Europe, 7 (2014), 150-168
[35] This does not necessarily revoke the definition of religion.
[36] Östling in Webster and Östling, UFO Religions (8:50-9:00)
[37] Webster in Webster and Östling, Popular Culture and UFO Religions (6:10-6:45)
[38] Benjamin E. Zeller, Heaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion (NYU Press: New York, 2014) p. 88
[39] Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and Ambivalence (Polity: Cambridge, 1991) p. 278
[40] Tom Williams in Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America (Penguin: London, 2006)
[41] Webster in Webster and Östling, Popular Culture and UFO Religions (5:24-5:38)
[42] The British UFO Research Association, Welcome to the British UFO Research Association, 12 August 2015, http://www.bufora.org.uk/ [Accessed 14 March 2016]
[43] UFO-Norway, UFO-NORGE, 2 March 2016 http://www.ufo.no/ [Accessed 14 March 2016]
[44] UFO-Sweden, Riksorganisationen UFO-Sverige, 2016, http://www.ufo.se/ [Accessed 14 March 2016]
With accuracy we can date the true inception of these groups as arising in the 20th century. Prior to the 1950’s we see unidentified flying objects more commonly explained as clandestine military weapons[4] or celestial beings[5] as opposed to alien life or technology, though there are some exceptions to this[6]. The birth of science fiction writings[7] saw a sudden explosion in popularity of these phenomena interpreted as the work of aliens as the ‘saucer craze’ took off in the 1940s, 50s and beyond as the phenomena of identifying UFOs and seeking to explain their appearances expanded. With grounded roots in this ufology, the subculture of UFO sightings and growth of alien abduction stories we see these groups look much more familiar as we might recognise them today.[8] As these groupings develop we see some discernible thought towards UFOs having implications on humankind - and thus the notable element of religiosity subsequently enters more prevalently in this period.
In both characterising these groups and seeking to identify elements of spirituality and religion, obviously it would be necessary to start with those religions which admit to and/or palpably display such elements. These can be alluded to as UFO religions - ‘religious groupings (…) formed around the concept that we (…) have been visited (…) by alien beings’[9] being referred by those who elect to study them as emergent spiritualties, new religious movements, religions and even cults. Here we have the Church of the SubGenius, Heaven’s Gate, Universal Industrial Church of the New World Comforter and perhaps the most infamously well-known, Scientology (though Scientology is often quick to deny these extra-terrestrial elements) including a good variety more. These can drastically range in how these beings are viewed – as overlords who look on us as property or ‘cattle’[10] or as benevolent allies who endeavour to aid humanity.
On balance, these groups generally present these beings as salvific, benign, nurturing beings whilst still offering some critique of certain, more destructive aspects to human behaviour.[11] An example of a more optimistic such group would be Raelianism, an extant, successful and contemporary UFO religion. Here is the notion that we should be ’worthy of our inheritance’[12] at the hands of our alien creators, inferring to us some sense of meaning. These are welcome allies who wish us to build embassies and in contrast to other groups are world and humanity-affirming.[13] This, when coupled with its promotions / encouragements and prohibitions of particular human behaviours (such as embracing sexuality and condemning war) begins to fiercely resemble what one might call conventional religion. In fact, Raelianism itself offers an explanatory narrative of traditional religion, particularly the Judeo-Christian faith. That is, that the renegade alien scientists who created us and the prophetic figures and deities of religious texts are, in fact, one and the same. Here the name Elohim is given to this race of beings, one of which being Yahweh, generally perceived by the monotheistic faiths as their God, who communed with Moses. The idea that one day we will create our own race also seems to somewhat imply and impart responsibility and alongside explanations of phenomenon like divinity and human nature begins to, as is common in religions, address a cosmic crisis. So these groups can be considered very much religious.
Others have a more holistically critically view of human behaviour, perceiving humanity as a problem in itself. Many advocate prophetic apocalyptic narratives and doomsday predictions (This phenomenon characterised the discourse of Chen Tao or Right Way[14], Order Fiat Lux[15] and The Outer Dimensional Forces[16] groups). Though specific doomsday dates are uncommon, ‘ideas about imminent rescue of a chosen elect by space beings persist in the wider UFO movement today’.[17] One such pessimistic religion in its discourse and practices is Heaven’s Gate in which we can veritably see a ‘mixture of biblical narratives, (…) ufology (and) sci-fi materials’ in the language they employ.[18] Heaven’s Gate, a UFO religion (or religious cult to be more appropriate) offered the idea, like Raelianism, that humans were seeded by a more advanced alien race and that this alien intelligence can inhabit the bodies of ‘walk-ins’; humans sufficiently advanced to receive such thoughts. Marshall Applewhite and his partner Bonnie Nettles were such people alleged to be hosting alien intelligence residing within them. The lexis utilised here is truly a mixture, with ideas of religious self-transcendence and sci-fi popular culture with words and phrases such as departure, recycle, “beam me up” and evolve.[19] Both this religious imagery and ideas of popular cultures in conjunctive use is an important and prevalent point in characterising these groups with illustrated language borrowed from TV, radio, books and comics such as Star Trek and perhaps later Stargate.
Ultimately, what determines this group as truly world-denying is essentially its take on humanity. Recognising their true form elsewhere in a kind of Cartesian dualism that rendered the material form as simply a vessel they endeavoured not only to give up financial and sexual aspects of life (even volunteering to castration) but ultimately took their own lives. This was in an effort to release their true form to a spaceship, often referenced as the Kingdom of Heaven, tailing the Hale-Bopp comet before planet Earth’s predicted recycling in the late 90s. Such an undertaking required not only intense socialisation but also strong voluntary commitment from its membership.
An interesting parallel can be drawn between Melanesian millenarian “cargo cults” and these groups claiming extraterrestrial grace or Armageddon. Insofar as their obsession with the salvific grace of transcendent beings from the sky, offering yields of ‘incredible new technologies’ they can ‘at least partially be considered Western parallels to the famous Pacific cargo cults’ who worshipped planes and aircraft they did not fully understand, for their bounties.[20] Perhaps, subsequently we can make some claim to an element of sky-being worship as an almost immutable, innate thread of human existence, even if not explicitly a deity.
Some may argue that other UFO movements only partially display this kind of religious discourse and can be more aptly alluded to as spiritual, but not religious. Here we must be careful; as many writers have advocated - religiosity and spirituality at best share a deeply flirtatious relationship, if not they are in fact one and the same in almost every way. Largely because we can ‘understand religion as a spiritual activity, and crucially, see spirituality as fundamentally religious in nature’[21]. Perhaps this isn’t wholly true but at the very least we can see that there is a much deeper religious essence to these groups than one might be tempted to imagine.
It is worth noting here that such a group need not prefer a religious element over the scientific, or indeed vice versa; often they are not viewed as incommensurably different but one and the same. In fact, some groups would reject the distinction entirely and simply claim to purport the truth.
Many of these movements have also become arguably more niche in modernity; as the UFO phenomena disappears from media attention and popular culture so too do its religious formations. So it could be said that these are somewhat correlative. Presently, it could be argued that similar or shared notions are manifest in movements such as contemporary transhumanism, which advocates ideas of cloning and rejection and/or amelioration of human nature.
In looking at the allegedly more spiritual side of ufology we can also ascertain some crossover with the Occult and even Paganistic thought, something perhaps not sufficiently studied. These ideas, that we are ‘connected with the stars’[22] alongside the prevalence of cosmic language in Paganism or theories of alien involvement at Pagan worship sites (such as Avebury or Stonehenge) can be seen to be ‘popular in the 70s’[23]. Around this time, both root movements of ufology and Paganist thought (such as Wicca, Druidism, ecofeminism and Heathenism) were at a relative peak of popularity and subsequently threaded, often syncretically into one another. It is here we observe this blended thought as people suggest that the Egyptian Pyramids, Mayan Temples, the Moai Heads of Easter Island and other sites of antiquated nature worship were built or designed by Alien-Gods and/or used by them for landings.[24] Such talk encapsulates a flirtation between ancient tribal worship, modern science and popular fiction, with writers such as Erich von Daniken enquiring ‘Was God an astronaut?’.[25] It would also seem to thematically echo antiquity and offer us a ‘folklore for the present time’.[26]
Again, creeping in here are these same discourses and narratives of meaning and ‘existential purpose’ as religion[27]. Some from within these groups who advocate a strong genetic aspect in terms of our relationship with aliens are offering us a more meaningful look at what we are and how we relate to the wider universe. We also see the kind of lexis employed by UFO enthusiasts transforming from intrusive and violating with aspects including anal probing to a more spiritual and transformative[28] experience that can be likened to religious ‘spirit journeys’[29] with an emphasis on truth, enlightenment and privileged selection. Such conversation is generally ‘full of religious imagery’ and reminiscently almost ‘tribal’ in ideas of self-transformation[30]… even in those groups who would claim to be particularly secular in their approach and language. So regardless of how we may feel about where spirituality fits in with religion (though there is a strong case for their homogeneity), these movements are often very spiritual, at the least.
Then we encounter the question of invented and ironic UFO groups such as Science-fiction fandom and cosplay[31] and religious groups centred around fictional extra-terrestrial concepts[32]… surely these cannot be alluded to as religious in any honest or meaningful sense - surely these groups are “just joking” or invalid on account of having been “made up”, and therefore not religious? Perhaps so, but that does not mean that we should not pause here for some serious consideration and that there is nothing to say about this manifestation of the UFO phenomenon; the intellectual reality is far different. As Taira advocates, some warrant attention as ‘fiction-based religions’ rather than “invented religions”[33] that simply exist in the realm of “make-believe” and “absurdity”. That is to say that some are fiction… others are fiction based – and there is a conceptual differentiation worth noting here, one that informs our argument.
The purpose of this distinction is that, through satirical commentary and ritualistic behaviours we can ascertain some critique or comment on modern society and human behaviour. Singler writes how Jediism, for instance, raises questions of defining legitimacy.[34] Indeed, ideas about aliens / visitors of any kind have offered us new ways to express notions of human importance and cosmic meaning through popular culture; principally science fiction. Alongside the former kinds of groups these expressions can offer us ways to comment on human worth and conflict (the latter being especially important when one considers the context of popularity of these groups; against the backdrop of World Wars and a Cold War). There is an idea here that through a higher authority (whether metaphorical fiction or not)[35] we can judge our actions and subsequently ‘transcend our destructive force’.[36] Even elements of popular culture provide this; The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, for instance, offers a ‘comic inversion’ of our apparent cosmic importance in the agenda of aliens by reducing our only significance in the universe to obstructing an intergalactic bypass.[37]
This notion of the invented religion has some natural link to ideas of hyper-realism and postmodernism; the presentation of relativistic and localised truth and the construction of reality and identity politics are integral here. That is, reality can be a simulation, a world that we would rather inhabit, as opposed to it being literally true[38] – this offers commentary concerning values and ideals and can be an expression of this or a form of reactionary escapism. Either way, this gives us some intellectual insight into what many may simply render nonsense. The internet has exploded the practical and social ease of becoming a part of such ironic or fiction-based groups. The use of satire has also trickled down from an intellectual engagement to a phenomenon whereby people now eat certain foods, use prosaic phrases or enjoy music “ironically”[39]… this is vexatiously common. Most people who roleplay fictions, when pressed will, alongside being irritated, admit to a symbolic affiliation to such organisations over a literal one and this has partially always been an element of religions; only fundamentalism insists on explicit literalism. This phenomenon is aptly described by Tom Williams, a priest of CAW (Church of All Worlds) in advocating that ‘It is from the oppression of overwhelming consensual reality constructs that the mythology of science fiction/fantasy so frees us. It does this in two ways: one, the most obvious, by offering us alternate reality constructs, and two, by revealing to us the way in which realities are made’.[40]
Now, other groups do in fact manage to largely avoid these religious discourses, beliefs and rituals, if not entirely. That said, some of the most scientific of these groups, methodologically still can be considered as religious in their approach to moral authority. That is, what determines these groups to be religious is that they advocate a ‘meaning in a wider scheme of things’ from beings of higher power, knowledge and most importantly, authority.[41] It could even be argued that through the process of secularised thinking they even unconsciously seek to restore theistic meaning in the so-called “faith crisis” of modernity by looking for existential meaning in our secular gap, not unlike people who would tendentiously call themselves spiritual seekers. Yet it would be clumsy and inaccurate to say that all such groupings are religious in any real sense when the reality is evidently different. These groups include BUFORA[42], UFO-NORGE[43], UFO-Sweden[44] And of course, some are merely “joking” and can offer us very little in the way of meaningful societal commentary through irony and satire.
In summation, it can be easily argued that these groups, while not always wholly religious in essence, share many of the functions and much of the discourse of religious movements. Indeed, when we consider the relationship between religiosity and spirituality, the nature and considerations ascribed to fiction-based and ironic movements and the sociological characteristics of these groups and the kinds of questions they attempt to answer we can say with some honesty that these movements do have very strong religious elements. Of course, as noted, some do principally avoid many of these elements and remain an essentially secular phenomenon; others are not as secularised as they would like to imagine. Whether it makes meaningful sense to term these groups as religious therefore, relies almost entirely upon the given definition of religion and divinity. If it concerns creation myths, then many, with origin stories of mankind, could be validly counted among religions. If religion relates to subscription to a higher power, or being(s) over man, or a sociological and ritualistic movement concerned with meaning and beliefs then we can certainly argue that such circles are as religious as Evangelical Christianity or Haredi Orthodox Judaism in their conduct and beliefs.
[1] The largest such groups (and many peripheral movements) being situated in countries such as The United States, France, Britain and Canada.
[2] Erik A.W. Östling in Dave Webster and Erik A.W. Östling, UFO Religions, University of Gloucestershire: Philosophy & Religion Video Interviews, 3 June 2014 https://philosvids.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/ufo-religions/ [Accessed 14 February 2016] (3:10-3:40)
[3] I would generally define religion in a social or psychological sense, concerning power – being the servitude to some greater or higher authority other than human’s own moral agency (choice, justification, autonomy, responsibility & reason) and that this figure (or figures) is transcendent and infallible, being apparently a greater being; not necessarily in a metaphysically divine sense. In this manner, I would argue dialectical materialism to be a kind of religion and many forms of Buddhism and existential spirituality as not. Though this is just one, arguably broad take on religion.
[4] Such as the mystery airship phenomenon, WW2 machines or secret cold war weaponry.
[5] Flames, ships, signs, lights, beasts and monsters were sometimes described in ancient antiquity and the Medieval period.
Richard Stothers, "Unidentified Flying Objects in Classical Antiquity" The Classical Journal 103.1 (2007) 79-92 p. 87
[6] Time Magazine, Americana: Close Encounters of a Kind, 12 March 1979 (Reposted 2016) http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,948461,00.html [Accessed 29 February 2015]
[7] An early example being Charles Fort, Book of the Damned (Penguin: London, 2008)
[8] Östling in Webster and Östling, UFO Religions (5:00-5:34)
[9] Ibid. (0:33-0:48)
[10] Ibid. (1:45-2:08)
[11] Such as The Unarius Academy of Science and One World Family Commune.
[12] Östling in Webster and Östling, UFO Religions (8:50-9:00)
[13] RaelTV, The Raelian Embassy, YouTube, 22 March 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW805IZVSt4 [Accessed 07 February 2016]
[14] Jessica Tinklenberg deVega, Guesses, Goofs and Prophetic Failures: What to Think When the World Doesn’t End (Thomas Nelson Inc.: Nashville, 2012) p. 142
[15] James R. Lewis, The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2003) p. 425
[16] Outer Forces Defence, Armageddon Time Ark Base Operation, http://www.atabase.info/ [Accessed 08 March 2016]
[17] Christopher Hugh Partridge, UFO Religions (Psychology Press: Abington, 2003) p. 279
[18] Östling in Dave Webster and Erik A.W. Östling, Popular Culture and UFO Religions, University of Gloucestershire: Philosophy & Religion Video Interviews, 3 June 2014, https://philosvids.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/popular-culture-and-ufo-religions/ [Accessed 14 February 2016] (1:50-2:55)
[19] Heaven’s Gate, Student Exit Statements, HeavensGateDatabase, 9 Apr 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHz9it70TdI [Accessed 14 February 2016]
[20] James R. Lewis, The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2003) p. 425
[21] Dave Webster, Dispirited: How Contemporary Spirituality Makes Us Stupid, Selfish and Unhappy (Zero Books: Winchester, 2012) p. 1
[22] Webster in Webster and Östling, UFO Religions (1:00-1:06)
[23] Ibid. (1:00-1:10)
[24] Doug Bolton, Stonehenge: The Most Unusual Theories About Why the Mysterious Monument Was Built, The Independent, 7 December 2015, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/origin-of-stonehenge-theories-wales-a6763911.html [Accessed 17 February 2016]
[25] Daniken, Erik Von, Chariots of the Gods (Berkley: New York, 1984) p. 32
[26] Östling in Dave Webster and Erik A.W. Östling, Alien Abduction and UFO Religions, University of Gloucestershire: Philosophy & Religion Video Interviews, 26 May 2014, https://philosvids.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/popular-culture-and-ufo-religions/ [Accessed 14 February 2016] (0:58-1:02)
[27] Webster in Webster and Östling, Popular Culture and UFO Religions (5:27-5:38)
[28] Östling in Webster and Östling, Alien Abduction and UFO Religion (2:40-3:00)
[29] Webster in Ibid. (3:54-4:09)
[30] Ibid (7:25-7:41)
[31] Such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate and X Files.
[32] These include Jediism and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. (Due to the interrelationship between ufology and popular culture even these groups can be very much regarded as kinds of UFO movements due to how these ideas feed into one another).
[33] Teemu Taira, The Category of ‘Invented Religion’: A New Opportunity for Studying Discourses on ‘Religion’ – Culture and Religion, 2013 14(4): 477-493
[34] Beth Singler, ‘”See Mom it is real” The UK census, Jediism and Social Media’, Journal of Religion in Europe, 7 (2014), 150-168
[35] This does not necessarily revoke the definition of religion.
[36] Östling in Webster and Östling, UFO Religions (8:50-9:00)
[37] Webster in Webster and Östling, Popular Culture and UFO Religions (6:10-6:45)
[38] Benjamin E. Zeller, Heaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion (NYU Press: New York, 2014) p. 88
[39] Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and Ambivalence (Polity: Cambridge, 1991) p. 278
[40] Tom Williams in Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America (Penguin: London, 2006)
[41] Webster in Webster and Östling, Popular Culture and UFO Religions (5:24-5:38)
[42] The British UFO Research Association, Welcome to the British UFO Research Association, 12 August 2015, http://www.bufora.org.uk/ [Accessed 14 March 2016]
[43] UFO-Norway, UFO-NORGE, 2 March 2016 http://www.ufo.no/ [Accessed 14 March 2016]
[44] UFO-Sweden, Riksorganisationen UFO-Sverige, 2016, http://www.ufo.se/ [Accessed 14 March 2016]