Religious Indoctrination & Susceptibility to Ufology

Of course there is! There may be more evidence of UFO's than of God, that's the problem. People gave up their faith. You also have people who gave up their faith and don't believe in anything anymore.

I would say Man has for a long time believed in UFO's and life amongst the stars and way back then religion was huge! So honestly, I would say ufology would exist without religion! However you can draw many parallels to religion and ufology, they still are independent of each other.

We can measure space and time, we can't measure Heaven, or the underworld, or life after death. All you have is your faith these things exist. So because religion is more of a thing of faith and ufology is more of a thing of contact, I think that is your big difference between the two.

In other words you will only discover religion through faith, and ufo's we will discover by actually coming into contact with them. So when flying saucers are over the white house lawn on live TV, maybe your faith will come back? Maybe you will want God in your life then, and that is the difference because ultimately, UFO's and aliens, are science.

Unless you are straight up talking about an actual fake alien religion (not sure if there is one) replacing your religious faith from your childhood, well that's different.

Come to think of it, there really is no detailed story of alien intervention with our DNA or even life on Earth, it's just considered by some to be a theory because technically it's feasible. Roswell has a distinct story about technology exchange, and abduction claims have stories about the abduction experience. So really if you got into Ufology as a religion there is no one "bible" to read, or story of creation. Your "bible" would be space and time, namely looking at the stars. Not to mention the occasional news story of a UFO sighting or looking at the ancient sites of the world.

Been to a catholic school for a few years, then went to public school for the rest of the education process, a few of family my members were the religious types, but it been years since I've been to church.

I do get the common idea of how religion would like to relate to the idea that God, angels, or demons are Extra Terrestrial, since those characters do sound out of this world or realm I guess you could say. Especially since the believe that heaven resides in the sky, and alien would naturally have giant floating fortresses just to sound epic.

However, as far as the religions concerned, there aren't any Sky Gods making their presence known, displaying their power or to be used for some pitiful conformity act like they were circus animals.

And no, most religious(older generation that is) people will not even believe aliens are real.

a reply to: duaneology

I was not raised in any organized religion. I have had an intuitive attraction to towards spirituality for as long as I remember. Kamra and Reincarnation have always made sense to me at a gut level. I've felt the benefits of personal spirituality and I'm satisfied on an intellectual level that karma and reincarnation make sense as very real possibilities. Personal experience two years ago helped to re-affirm those beliefs, though I can not attest to them as absolute fact.

My current personal beliefs on spirituality and the meaning of life is that reincarnation is real and that the purpose of reincarnation is the evolution of the soul. What does that mean? As far as I can tell from my current perspective, living my life, on this planet at this point of time, is that spiritual evolution is learning to Love. Love yourself, love others. Other people and other things. If there is an ultimate level to be reached, it would be to eventually love all beings and all things equally and unconditionally. Is that the final stage? Or is there something even greater we can't even imagine until we learn universal love? I don't know.

So, I have deeply developed views on spirituality, but I am decidedly not a fan of organized religion. If a religion actually benefits someone's spirituality, then it may be useful for them and others who attain that benefit. If, on the other hand, one's religious beliefs guide them toward hate and fear, instead of love and mutual trust, then it's detrimental to their spiritual growth and has very little value, spiritually or otherwise.

UFOs? ETH? My personal experience started at age 8, though it wasn't until my twenties before I broke the shackles of societal mores on the subject and accepted the reality of my experiences and their potential implications. So, religion played no role in my beliefs about UFOs, but my personal experiences and general open-mindedness clearly predisposed me towards my current beliefs.

I still use belief, because while UFOs have intruded upon my subjective reality and are just as real to me as any other true life experience, there is still much I don't know, the ETH has not been scientifically proven, and there are other, just as extraordinary, alternative explanations as well.

I know there are craft in our skies that defy human technological limits, because I've seen them. I know there are beings that are decidedly non-human in appearance associated with some of those craft and that they are carrying out what can be termed "abductions", because I've experienced that. Are they humanoid androids built by human black projects that also have produced these fantastical craft? Are they us from the future? Are they from another dimension or an alternate reality? I don't know. The ETH makes most sense to me, but it is still just theory, even though life experience has produced some subjective fact that informs my views.

My impression is that dogmatic followers of religion are usually very resistant to the possibility of the ETH explanation for UFOs. (From my perspective, devoted Atheism is just another dogmatic religion, even if it considers it self a non- or anti- religion, so the association of atheism with ETH skepticism or hostility fits right into the same mold as dogmatic followers of religion).

However, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a correlation between those who have rejected dogma and orthodoxy in the religion they were raised in and an openness towards the possibility of UFOs being controlled by non-human intelligences. Once you learn to question one form of orthodoxy, it's easier to question all forms of orthodoxy and even question societal imposed mores and taboos regarding what is or isn't "correct thought".

I was not raised in a traditional organized religion either. My mother, when I was growing up, was more a spiritualist. She didn't stop myself or my brother from exploring and experiencing any religion we felt like looking into. However, she spent much time warning us of the dangers of "organzied religion". Which I was taught, because of the nature of us humans, will always morph and change into something controlling and separating. Even when I joined a pagan coven, by mother warned me, I was entering into something where somebody was "organizing" the rules. She said to me, not much growth there sissy. When somebody is telling you what to do, what to experience, what to say. She was right, and my involvement in said group was temporary. It was also a negative enough experience in the end; that I've remained a solitary wanderer ever since.

My belief in aliens and UFO's derives from personal experiences. However, ironically enough, those experiences do correlate with my experiences in the pagan coven. Could my religious practices and experiences have opened up a mechanism in my mind - to perceive what I experienced? Or somehow create a tag on me to be picked up, taken, and returned? Did I need adjusting, after my experience in the coven? I don't know.

CdT

Interesting question.

I grew up with a "Christian upbringing" and as an adult I was "saved" in 1985. However, many years of study and reflection soured me on the church. One of the primary things that I recognized is that others were just as sure that their particular religion was "the right religion". I also noticed the hypocritical nature of many followers, led by the tele-evangelists like Swaggard, Baker, Falwell, and others.

Eventually I have believe that the Bible holds many truths, as does Christianity, but so do many other religions. I had some very interesting paranormal experiences which further convinced me that our life here is not the end, that we were spiritual creatures and there were much deeper answers.

Ufology holds the key to many thing, I believe, including a better understanding of our spirituality. So, I would say yes. My spiritual walk has shaped my belief in ufology.

Interesting question.

I grew up with a "Christian upbringing" and as an adult I was "saved" in 1985. However, many years of study and reflection soured me on the church. One of the primary things that I recognized is that others were just as sure that their particular religion was "the right religion". I also noticed the hypocritical nature of many followers, led by the tele-evangelists like Swaggard, Baker, Falwell, and others.

Eventually I have believe that the Bible holds many truths, as does Christianity, but so do many other religions. I had some very interesting paranormal experiences which further convinced me that our life here is not the end, that we were spiritual creatures and there were much deeper answers.

Ufology holds the key to many thing, I believe, including a better understanding of our spirituality. So, I would say yes. My spiritual walk has shaped my belief in ufology.

Don't believe in any of it (religion) never had since I was about 5 and people really weren't explaining things to make me just want to believe in what they were saying. Now don't get me wrong. Religion, back in the day when the majority of people had no formal education, gave people a moral code to live to and at least attempted to explain our existence. But it was also designed by men to control people as well. Religion got us so far and I accept that. But we are no longer the uneducated primitive savages we once were (well the majority of us). And logically only one of the religions can be totally correct at the very most.

There is an obsession with "spirituality" and how we somehow are lacking in it so are not allowed to join the galactic federation or something. But where has spirituality got us?

Science is not perfect and it's application can be both beneficial and destructive. But it is the one thing we can turn to explain new discoveries and it has kept us moving forward as a race. We are the only species we know capable of travelling into space.

So I don't have any susceptibility to Ufology through religion. I happen to think that maybe once or twice in the past we might, just might, have been visited. But it is also possible that UFOs are not ET. Either way solving the mystery is the most interesting thing to me.

I was born an raised as a Methodist, yet my religious Christian faith has been buoyed by my knowledge of certain ET's as being one of my saviors, that could help lead Earth's humanity to our salvation.

I don't know whether growing up religious makes one more interested in UFOlogy. I didn't grow up religious but I find it interesting.

I don't know if being religious makes one more vulnerable to experiences some associate with the contact side of UFOlogy; when I had such experiences I was a medical-model skeptic, and it was the experiences that changed my mind, rather than my mind already being open to the experiences. Those were long ago. Don't have them anymore.

I think UFOlogy is pretty nebulous as a term because it spans everything from practical nuts&bolts and meter readings, to folklore, to some pretty metaphysical stuff. Many people who are fascinated with the nuts&bolts elements abhor the more 'woo' elements or even those with less trackable 'physical' evidence. As a field, "UFOlogy" spans a lot of people often with radically different personality profiles, and radically different interests in it as well.

Great question by the OP. I grew up in a very religious family and am now atheist. I have not had any direct UFO experiences, but have been avidly interested for around 40 years and am now 50. How about this for an answer. Religion tries to tell us the why of life while UFO study looks to the discovery of other intelligent beings to help us understand the why of life. By why of life I mean, to understand its true meaning, our purpose or higher truths, etc. Perhaps there is nothing more to life than we are born, we are judged by our deeds and we die. But man has always thirsted for greater knowledge and studying UFOs is just that, fulfilling the thirst for greater knowledge.

I have waffled for years from being sure that the earth has been visited by ETs to thinking it was probable to thinking it is not likely. There are enough strange artifacts that are indicative that it has happened I don't think anyone can state definitively that it has not. Unfortunately, there is not proof the other way either to state definitively that it has. Even some of the credible eyewitness accounts, such as Rendleshem Forrest, often end up with fairly credible witnesses who ultimately indicate they can describe what they say, in some cases touched, but, they really don't know what it is or where it came from. Makes for fun times trying to figure out the puzzle. When I was younger, I thought these mysteries would be solved within my lifetime. Now I am hoping that there is least definitive proof of intelligent ET life during my lifetime. But, I am far less optimistic of ET revealing itself openly to humans or us mutually finding each other in a way to meaningfully communicate during my lifetime.

originally posted by: muse7
Religion just does not fit in the grand scheme of things.

The only way I see that God can be real is if that God is a far advanced alien species that seeded life on Earth.

One religion that I know of claims that humans were made in the image of their creator. And that the head guy right now in the universe is really a human.

I believe it's important for students of ufology to at least be familiar with some biblical/religious stories, due to the chance that some form of alien to earthling communication contact might include biblical stories --- such as the biblical story of Jonah and the Whale --- in the possible form of a combination of geoglyphs and laser holography melded together.

I tend to speculate that the ET would think that a earthling's understanding of such a communication form would be better understood, if the earthling could more easily decipher a geoglyph/laser holograph image that is biblical related; such as the visual story of Jonah and the Whale. I propose that what I've said is true...due to possible photographic evidence that I've collected about such a communication form attempted by an ET; though I can't prove it.

a reply to: duaneology

I was raised Catholic too, but I don't have the longing for a power greater than me. I like being in control of my own destiny.

As far as UFOlogy goes though, I continue to use logic and reason in this field as well. And logic and reason says that alien visitation is unlikely (though not out of the realm of possibility). If only some actual concrete evidence would surface instead of all this circumstantial and subjective evidence. I will continue to hold out hope, but I won't willingly delude myself if the evidence isn't there.

a reply to: Erno86


A better example would be the extra dimensional nature demonstrated with Elijah and Elisha.

I think the question about past religious affiliation/devotion/indoctrination is easily applied as a prerequisite to all sorts of situations. I have often heard this question posed in regards to belief in conspiracy theories, in general. I.e., "Does prior religious belief predispose someone to belief in conspiratorial and shadowy unanswerable potentialities?"

The question makes sense, but the real issue with this particular question is one of correlation and causation. In essence, the question being asked is: "Does belief in, or susceptibility to, ufology increase based on whether or not someone who has prior religious indoctrination, (an experience common to the overwhelming majority of human beings?)" One might well ask if breathing oxygen makes us predisposed to belief in extraterrestrials.

Good thread, great question.

When I was very young I often saw ghosts. I usually wasnt frightened but on one occasion when I was 4 I was so startled that I swallowed my tongue and my mother had to call 911.

I've always found it curious how the ghosts of my childhood could so easily and effortlessly be replaced by aliens. Just as my hope for a savior for humanity so seamlessly evolved from the god of my Catholic upbringing to benevolent advanced beings from far far away.

I realize now that I have been diagnosed as having fantasy prone personality disorder that I wasn't seeing ghosts as a child or aliens as a teenager. I was simply dreaming while awake and seeing what I wanted to.

Oh well...we all have a story

originally posted by: Logarock
a reply to: Erno86


A better example would be the extra dimensional nature demonstrated with Elijah and Elisha.

A good read about Elijah and Elisha.

Jonah is honored in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Jonah is highly important as a prophet who was faithful to God and delivered His messages. Jonah's name is spoken of with praise and reverence by Muhammad.

Was Jonah taken aboard a saucer starship, instead of being swallowed by a whale? What made the whale spit Jonah out, along with the help of God?

My 1972 Calvert Cliffs photo was taken about a couple of minutes before I took the photo of the space alien hiding behind a fossil rock. Instead of showing the possible helmeted alien...it shows a ghostly laser holographic image --- coupled with geoglyphs on the cliff face] of a dinosauroid humanoid, in pretty much the same spot --- sitting down with his right hand resting on his knee, and his right elbow bent with his three fingered palm of his hand outstretched --- with a cloudy substance emanating from his left palm of his hand.

The cloudy substance goes over to the other side of the photo, that depicts a laser holographic image of a pterosaur biting on the neck of a image of an open mouthed large fish. Another image in front of the large fish, is an image of a T-Rex biting on the neck of a dinosaur. In front of the open mouth of the fish or whale...depicts a image of a human, with his arms outstretched, showing that he might have been spit out of the whale.

Above those images, is a laser holographic image of a rocket ship with a flume trail --- and at the bottom image of the tail --- is an image of "ESS" --- which I deciphered as being: Earth Star System.

originally posted by: duaneology
When I was very young I often saw ghosts. I usually wasnt frightened but on one occasion when I was 4 I was so startled that I swallowed my tongue and my mother had to call 911.

I've always found it curious how the ghosts of my childhood could so easily and effortlessly be replaced by aliens. Just as my hope for a savior for humanity so seamlessly evolved from the god of my Catholic upbringing to benevolent advanced beings from far far away.

I realize now that I have been diagnosed as having fantasy prone personality disorder that I wasn't seeing ghosts as a child or aliens as a teenager. I was simply dreaming while awake and seeing what I wanted to.

Oh well...we all have a story

I'm going to tell you something that should frighten all of you.

I didn't post this.

It's the 3rd post or PM I've come across, attributed to me, where "I" have talked about having a "fantasy prone personality disorder".

Lol, trust me boys and girls...keep your mouths shut and put it all in package for release after you die. It's so easy to discredit anyone by attributing fictitious online statements to them.

I'm amused actually.

It's further proof to those close to me that I'm not making a single thing up.

Sounds like your account (your body or your ATS login :-)) is not currently secured.