UFO Religions

Another Secular-Religious ET Article

That last article may have had you wondering about my choice of the word “secular.”  I’ve quoted religion scholar Christoper Partridge on this blog a number of times. Partridge has done a great deal of research showing that “secularization” is really a re-paganizing process (he uses the term “re-enchantment”). That’s the flavor of that article. It also is far from objective. Consider this choice quotation, after she overviews traditional religion, then “new age” worldviews as recent innovation or advancement in religion (!):

Is there any convergence between the evolving ideas of the religious, spiritual and philosophical leaders and what we have received from the helper and watcher extraterrestrials? Salla and Lamiroy have described the “helper” extraterrestrials as those who show respect for humans, do not abduct, and share information through telepathic communication. The “helpers” support a spiritual earth culture and are concerned with the environment and global transformation.

Uh, wouldn’t it be nice to actually get proof that there are ETs (as in beings from another planet) first? And how convenient — the aliens she favors don’t do nasty things to people.

In this next piece (a book review), atheist Michael Shermer gives us what he calls “Shermer’s last law”: “Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God.” The question is, do you think that’s true or can it be undermined? I’m of the latter opinion.

And in the spirit of Shermer’s Last law, I’d like to apply it to the former article’s new-agey and pretty gullible writer:  “Any helper ET that spouts theosophy is indistinguishable from a demonic anti-Christ inter-dimensional propagandist.”

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Mike to Appear on Coast to Coast AM

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Online Ufology Courses: I’m Starting a Paranormal Studies Institute

This has been a long time in the planning. I hope all of you will spread the word by linking to this post and informing people via email.

This October will mark the kickoff of the Institute for Paranormal, Preternatural, and Parapsychological Studies (IPPPS). It is an online institute. There are roughly 60 six-week courses. Besides myself, Dr. Judd Burton is the other faculty member. I may be recruiting other faculty as we proceed.

The goal of the institute is to conduct formal online courses on various topics that fall under the IPPPS acronym. Students will be reading the best academic material on the subject matter and engage in other weekly learning activities with fellow students and the faculty (and likely other guest lecturers).

Here are the divisions and “departments” in IPPPS:

Division of UFO Studies

Ufology and U.S. History

UFOs, Science, and Technology

The Alien Abduction Phenomenon

God, Man, and ET

Division of Preternatural Studies

Vampirism

Lycanthropology

Giant Folklore

Demonology

The Occult

Withcraft

Paraethnology

Religion and Mythology

Division of Parapsychology

Parapsychology

Remote Viewing

Of the 60 courses, some have been selected for the 2010-2011 calendar year (first six week module begins October 4). Students can register at a deep discount until September 19.  I’ll be doing some UFO history courses and a couple classes going through the works of Zecharia Sitchin and Barry Downing.

For those who are interested in biblical and ancient studies, I’m launching an institute for that as well. See the Naked Bible blog for info. Those who read this might find the courses on the book of Enoch of interest in that other institute.

Please visit the site; all the details are there.  Hope some of you register!

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Where Angels Fear to Tread

Those of you who know me will know that one of my least favorite subject is end times (eschatology). That might surprise you, given that I’m a Bible scholar. I mean it, though. Over on my other blog, The Naked Bible, I once wrote a short post on how everyone cheats on eschatology. Eschatology is one of those subjects where most people have no idea why they could be drastically wrong and (worse) why there’s no way to know the right position even if you’re aware of the pitfalls. And anyone reading this who’s thinking, “well, Mike, I interpret the Bible literally and that tells me what’s going to happen in the future” are perhaps the worst off. It’s so much more complicated than that, and literalism doesn’t help, even if we knew precisely what that term meant and how to apply it consistently (which no one does).

Why do I mention this? To get you prepared (at least for point #4 below). I’ve decided to start a thread on this blog entitled “Understanding the Christian Fundamentalist View of UFOs and Aliens.” A better, but clunkier, title would be “Understanding why Christian Fundamentalists Think UFOs and Aliens are Demonic.” Basically, there are four reasons for this:

1. Abductee testimony of the forcible trauma of their experience.

2. The similarity of abductee testimony to early Christian (and otherwise) reports of demonization.

3. The similarity of abductee testimony to the events described in Genesis 6:1-4 (and other ancient Jewish texts).

4. A belief that the events of Genesis 6 (and so, an alien presence) is a specific touchpoint in New Testament teaching about the Second Coming (or, for many, the notion of a rapture — which is not the same as what is broadly thought of as the Second Coming).

Readers of this blog know that I’m not in the fundamentalist camp on this issue, primarily because I don’t see such 1:1 correlations. But on the other hand, I don’t oppose the position either since (see below) I consider to be one of several possible views.  I think there are multiple explanations for what are called “alien abductions.”  I also do not accept as necessary the idea that UFOs have anything to do with abductions; they may, but they also may be entirely separate issues.  Here’s a summary of how I think the UFO / ET / abduction phenomena could be parsed:

1. UFOs and non-human intelligences may or may not even be related issues. Here are the sub-categorizations:

(A) All real UFOs (i.e., those that are clearly not astronomical or meteorological phenomena) are above top-secret human craft, using exotic technologies not even widely used within the military.

(B) All UFOs are produced by non-human intelligences. That may mean they are physical (material), or that they are not physical (material). The latter includes both an inter-dimensional sense and a “projected” sense (see D below).

(C) Some UFOs are man-made, some are made by non-human intelligences.

(D) Some UFOs are man-made, some are manufactured (visually) by human or non-human intelligences.

2. Non-human intelligences may or may not be related to what the Bible would call demons or aliens. Here are the sub-categorizations:

(A) There may be a complete overlap (aliens = demons, or aliens = angels, some of whom are fallen/evil);

(B) There may be partial overlap (some aliens = demons, or some aliens = angels, some of whom are fallen/evil, but some aliens may be either extraterrestrial beings [occupants of a physical planet somewhere] or some aliens may be extra-dimensional beings [having nothing to do with a planetary existence as we know it]).

(C) There may be no overlap at all (there are demons [or fallen angels] or demons or aliens or extra-dimensional beings, each in its own category or box).

My goal in starting this thread is twofold: (1) to help those outside the Christian community understand the “fundamentalist” view (and I do *not* use that term pejoratively) — to understand how that view coheres given its presuppositions, and (2) to help those who hold the view appreciate that it isn’t as tidy as they might think — that they may not want all their eggs in that one basket.

Some of you might be wondering what prompts this.  I was recently interviewed by a Columbia University grad student about Christian involvement with “UFO and alien stuff,” and I was struck (anew) at how many Christians involved in the subject are really of one view (the fundamentalist view). That doesn’t bother me that much, though. More troubling is how the whole subject is linked to a very narrow view of eschatology — one that has significant problems at the presupposition level, where all eschatology is really done.  But I can’t really cover #4 without the others.

More pointedly, I’m becoming concerned that this view is so prevalent that, if we ever really find out what all this stuff really is, and it *isn’t* about demons and the rapture, the faith of *many* will be harmed and the Christian message will appear either buffoonish or ineffectual for accommodating an ET reality. Both would be an unnecessary (but understandable) shame.

Stay tuned . . . and contact your friends. This won’t be a lightweight discussion.

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The Scoop on Junk DNA

No, it’s not alien DNA. What a shocker.

Ancient Astronaut fundamentalists love to tout “junk DNA” in humans like it’s this impenetrable mystery because it’s alien in origin. No, it’s not.  Read about the work being done in this regard here.

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