The Reddit UFO Cult

[Glaurung]

As I have mentioned before I have always had a low key interest in UFOs and aliens. (In all things paranormal and strange actually). As such I have been following a couple of subreddits on the subject for some months now. While there is much silliness in these subreddits every once in a while you do find a discussion that is genuinely interesting.

One thing I have noticed is that for some an interest in UFOs and aliens is often accompanied by a rather ugly anti-Christian sentiment. The animosity seems to stem from the view that Christians are holding humanity back from understanding the UFO phenomenon because some Christians deny the abduction phenomenon as evidence of extraterrestrial activity. Instead they see at as a form of demonic attack intended to mislead. Now if you are deeply committed to the extraterrestrial hypothesis I can see why Christian denials of it would be annoying but I think there is something deeper going on.

I think for some the extraterrestrial hypothesis has become a substitute for religious belief. The existence of aliens would in the minds of many validate their naturalistic paradigms of the universe wherein humanity is tiny and irrelevant. Man is not a creation in the image of God but a primitive species of primate who must seek help from benevolent alien species. The eschatological hope is a technological salvation delivered to us by the hands of our betters from out of space. It is in my view at least naive to think that aliens would have any interest in coming out publicly, yet alone in aiding us in our technological development if it were not for those confounded religious people preventing it by their superstitions. The aliens won't talk to us until we are ready. That is, until spiritual beliefs are exercised from the public body.

My own position on the phenomenon is that of an interested but sceptical curiosity. I do believe something odd has been going on. I have had rather haunting dreams involving the greys (at least I hope they were dreams) but I doubt the governments of the world know much more than the public.

But what for me is an interest to read about every so often is (I posit) for others a pseudo-religion of deep emotional pull. Rejecting any concept of God or the divine they instead place their hopes in shadowy creatures from Zeta Reticuli or Orion. If I had their ears I would warn these people to not put too much stock in lurking shadows. What you find in them may not be what you were hoping for.

 

[Martin]

Yeah, it's like a new-age religion for some people. Maybe they read "Chariot of the Gods" in their formative years? It was written by Herbert von Danish-pastry.

 

[Heyo]

As I have mentioned before I have always had a low key interest in UFOs and aliens. (In all things paranormal and strange actually). As such I have been following a couple of subreddits on the subject for some months now. While there is much silliness in these subreddits every once in a while you do find a discussion that is genuinely interesting.

One thing I have noticed is that for some an interest in UFOs and aliens is often accompanied by a rather ugly anti-Christian sentiment. The animosity seems to stem from the view that Christians are holding humanity back from understanding the UFO phenomenon because some Christians deny the abduction phenomenon as evidence of extraterrestrial activity. Instead they see at as a form of demonic attack intended to mislead. Now if you are deeply committed to the extraterrestrial hypothesis I can see why Christian denials of it would be annoying but I think there is something deeper going on.

I think for some the extraterrestrial hypothesis has become a substitute for religious belief. The existence of aliens would in the minds of many validate their naturalistic paradigms of the universe wherein humanity is tiny and irrelevant. Man is not a creation in the image of God but a primitive species of primate who must seek help from benevolent alien species. The eschatological hope is a technological salvation delivered to us by the hands of our betters from out of space. It is in my view at least naive to think that aliens would have any interest in coming out publicly, yet alone in aiding us in our technological development if it were not for those confounded religious people preventing it by their superstitions. The aliens won't talk to us until we are ready. That is, until spiritual beliefs are exercised from the public body.

My own position on the phenomenon is that of an interested but sceptical curiosity. I do believe something odd has been going on. I have had rather haunting dreams involving the greys (at least I hope they were dreams) but I doubt the governments of the world know much more than the public.

But what for me is an interest to read about every so often is (I posit) for others a pseudo-religion of deep emotional pull. Rejecting any concept of God or the divine they instead place their hopes in shadowy creatures from Zeta Reticuli or Orion. If I had their ears I would warn these people to not put too much stock in lurking shadows. What you find in them may not be what you were hoping for.

Yep. The belief in aliens is pretty much like a religion - only with more evidence.

 

[Martin]

Dare I mention Scientology?

 

[Nimos]

One thing I have noticed is that for some an interest in UFOs and aliens is often accompanied by a rather ugly anti-Christian sentiment. The animosity seems to stem from the view that Christians are holding humanity back from understanding the UFO phenomenon because some Christians deny the abduction phenomenon as evidence of extraterrestrial activity.

I don't really see why they would go after the Christians, they should go against the science community if any, because they are the annoying ones constantly wanting evidence and proofs.

Even if the Christians didn't "interfere" with these abduction ideas, they wouldn't be any closer to demonstrating that people are in fact abducted, seems more like a bad excuse.

It is in my view at least naive to think that aliens would have any interest in coming out publicly, yet alone in aiding us in our technological development if it were not for those confounded religious people preventing it by their superstitions. The aliens won't talk to us until we are ready. That is, until spiritual beliefs are exercised from the public body.

Personally I think one of two scenarios would play out, either the aliens wouldn't care about us at all, besides out of curiosity, given that we show signs of intelligence, but besides that, probably not all that interested, depending on how much life exists in the Universe and how well aware they would be of this, if there are lots of life and intelligent life, we would just be yet another lifeform in the Universe and they might already have examined lots of these already, so we would just be stored in their big book of lifeforms in the Universe. If life is extremely rare they would probably be a lot more interested in us due to that mere fact.

Secondly, I don't think they would care about giving themselves away, they would quickly be able to identify us, before even coming here how advanced we are and that we would pose no threat to them at all. Given that they would be able to space travel, means that they must have figured out how to somehow deal with the limitation of the speed of light, or at least how to accelerate things to close to the speed of light. And assuming that technological advancement within a society is somewhat on the same level, they would be equally advanced in all other aspects, whether that is to defend themself or in destroying things. I would think that they could pretty much wipe Earth from the solar system in the blink of an eye should they desire it, either by firing some sort of thing into it, light speed an object into it or just redirect an asteroid and give it a little push.

Also, I disagree with Hawkings that we should be scared of them. A civilization, that is so advanced would in my opinion value science and life over anything else, running around the Universe and beating up the small kids seems rather pointless. The idea of them wanting our resources also doesn't make a lot of sense, given that they have a whole Universe to gather stuff from, I would assume that they are not exactly starving of resources, but would also have developed some moral sense that simply destroying a lifeform due to this is not something you do. Exactly as we do not intend to destroy potential lifeforms we might find, in fact we are extremely careful not to contaminate other planets.

If anything, I think aliens would be much more interested in learning and collaborating with us. Exactly as we as humans urge to learn things about the Universe, exploring it and study it, so would they. The primitive view of "tribal" warfare from early human history as we explored Earth, I don't think we would see happening. Should we be the aliens and travel to another more primitive civilization, we wouldn't go in weapons hot and just destroy them, but rather we would try to make contact, and be extremely careful not to hurt them or spread any diseases to them, logically we would still do anal probing, because that is sort of a requirement .

 

[Sirona]

New age overlaps with belief in extraterrestrials. New age people call their gods "ascended masters", and they're a wild mix of saints and actual gods from whatever religion, as well as shadowy figures of every kind. The most revered alien among them is Ashtar Sheran of the Galactic Federation of Light. He looks exactly as you would imagine such an extraterrestrial to look like - blond hair and blue eyes.

EN - TALKS WITH TEACHINGS FROM MY COSMIC FRIENDS - universe-people.org

About ascended masters including Ashtar Sheran: Angels And Masters

 

[Brickjectivity]

I think for some the extraterrestrial hypothesis has become a substitute for religious belief.

You think its a lot of people or just a small number of people?

 

[Sirona]

I think for some the extraterrestrial hypothesis has become a substitute for religious belief.

I can only reply as far as Ashtar Sheran is concerned, but he is characterized as a peace mediator who wants to train others to become peace mediators. The channeled texts, which are supposed to come from him, are about the light and love theme, of course without a God who seems to oscillate uncontrollably between forgiveness and anger. Instead of God, there is "the Great White Brotherhood" or "the Galactic Federation of Light".

The existence of aliens would in the minds of many validate their naturalistic paradigms of the universe wherein humanity is tiny and irrelevant.
I rather think the fact that we are "tiny" in comparison to the Universe makes makes many people humble and aware how fragile our world is. Moreover, I belive think the arrival of extraterrestrials would constitute a bigger challenge for some theists or Christians, since it would validate many things scientists said. The accepted view of the church was that the Earth is the center of the universe, that the Sun, all the other stars and planets rotate around it and that it exists for the need of man.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

As I have mentioned before I have always had a low key interest in UFOs and aliens. (In all things paranormal and strange actually). As such I have been following a couple of subreddits on the subject for some months now. While there is much silliness in these subreddits every once in a while you do find a discussion that is genuinely interesting.

One thing I have noticed is that for some an interest in UFOs and aliens is often accompanied by a rather ugly anti-Christian sentiment. The animosity seems to stem from the view that Christians are holding humanity back from understanding the UFO phenomenon because some Christians deny the abduction phenomenon as evidence of extraterrestrial activity. Instead they see at as a form of demonic attack intended to mislead. Now if you are deeply committed to the extraterrestrial hypothesis I can see why Christian denials of it would be annoying but I think there is something deeper going on.

I think for some the extraterrestrial hypothesis has become a substitute for religious belief. The existence of aliens would in the minds of many validate their naturalistic paradigms of the universe wherein humanity is tiny and irrelevant. Man is not a creation in the image of God but a primitive species of primate who must seek help from benevolent alien species. The eschatological hope is a technological salvation delivered to us by the hands of our betters from out of space. It is in my view at least naive to think that aliens would have any interest in coming out publicly, yet alone in aiding us in our technological development if it were not for those confounded religious people preventing it by their superstitions. The aliens won't talk to us until we are ready. That is, until spiritual beliefs are exercised from the public body.

My own position on the phenomenon is that of an interested but sceptical curiosity. I do believe something odd has been going on. I have had rather haunting dreams involving the greys (at least I hope they were dreams) but I doubt the governments of the world know much more than the public.

But what for me is an interest to read about every so often is (I posit) for others a pseudo-religion of deep emotional pull. Rejecting any concept of God or the divine they instead place their hopes in shadowy creatures from Zeta Reticuli or Orion. If I had their ears I would warn these people to not put too much stock in lurking shadows. What you find in them may not be what you were hoping for.

Good article here on the subject by a Professor of Religion at Rice University.

Jeffrey Kripal on how to think about the UFO phenomenon
KATHARINE SHILCUTT
– JUNE 30, 2021

...the tone of media coverage on UFOs notably has shifted since the initial New York Times article in December 2017. Derision and skepticism have given way to more serious inquiry. And as government reports like these trickle out, open and rational discussion of UFOs may become more normalized — or, as Jeffrey Kripal has said for over a decade, attitudes of disparagement and a general refusal to engage with the full spectrum of the subject may become even more entrenched.

Kripal is the J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Religion and Associate Dean of Humanities at Rice, and he has devoted much of his professional research, public lecturing and published thought to the UFO phenomenon. Along with his graduate student researchers, Kripal has also been compiling a massive archive from the works of fellow UFO scholars and researchers, all of it housed at Fondren Library’s Woodson Research Center.

With this newest report, Kripal and his colleagues, including Leslie Kean — the New York Times journalist who helped break the UFO story in 2017 — will have much to discuss next spring when Rice hosts a conference centered around this new archive. “Opening The Archives Of The Impossible” will take place March 3-6, 2022, in Fondren, and will also include exhibitions from the UFO archives across several floors of the library.

Rice News: How does a professor of religion come to be an expert on UFOs? They’re not topics one would immediately associate.

People commonly assumed then that the UFO phenomenon was not serious or was some kind of “California” thing. But that is simply not true, and it has never been true. Some of the earliest and most dramatic documented modern encounters have been around nuclear military sites and in cultures and places like Brazil, France, New Mexico — in the summer of 1945, just a few miles from the recently radiated Trinity atomic bomb site and just a week after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — and New England. The latter case involved a mixed-race couple who were civil rights activists, no less. The U.S. military, the U.S. intelligence services, American space exploration, Western colonialism, indigenous American cosmologies, a major Black religion — the Nation of Islam — U.S.-Mexico borderlands, Latin America, American-Soviet and now American-Russian relations, NATO, the aerospace and aviation industries, Western esoteric and mystical currents, science fiction literature and the history of science have all been involved. And that is just the beginning.

To study the UFO phenomenon adequately is, in actual fact, to study pretty much everything. It is also to come up against, hard, the realization that the institutional or university order of knowledge within which we work and think today, an order that effectively splits the sciences off from the humanities, is simply not helpful, and certainly not reflective of the reality we are trying to understand. The difficult truth is that the UFO phenomenon has both an objective “hard” aspect (think fighter jet videos, photographs, alleged metamaterials, apparent advanced propulsion methods, and landing marks) and a subjective “human” aspect (think close encounters, multiple and coordinated visual sightings, altered states of consciousness, visionary displays, often of a most baroque or sci-fi sort, and experienced traumatic or transcendent abductions). And both sides — both the material and the mental dimensions — are incredibly important to get a sense of the full picture.
Cont...

Jeffrey Kripal on how to think about the UFO phenomenon