Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts

Monday, December 31, 2018

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church's UFO Investigation

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church's UFO Investigation

     An unlikely source for UFO history that time forgot... a six-part series from 1961 in a religious magazine, the Seventh-day Adventist Church's Review and Herald. It was written by the editor, Francis David Nichol, in his attempt to find answers for his readers.
Curt Collins
By Curt Collins
thesaucersthattimeforgot
12-21-18
In addition to the motley array of saucer club enthusiasts, mystics, and spiritists, there are other people, genuinely good people, sincere, hard-working citizens, some of them religious folks—a few even in the circle of our church—who are greatly impressed by the reports of UFO's and who think that they may be manifestations of evil spiritistic power, a proof of the nearness of the end of the world. For such people we have a sympathetic concern, and wish to make explicit that we consider them in an entirely different category from the run-of-the-mill flying saucer enthusiast. In fact, it is because of the letters of inquiry from some of our subscribers that I have made this investigation and here publish the report of my findings.
Nichol's quest to get to the bottom of the flying saucer mystery caused him to to travel to interesting places and meet memorable people from UFO history. Nichol examined the Contactee tales, travelled to NICAP headquarters, the Pentagon, and in Ohio, dug through the filing cabinets of Project Blue Book.

Monday, August 29, 2016

A Religion Founded on Extra-Terrestrial Experiences | The Aetherius Society

A Religion Founded on Extra-Terrestrial Experiences | The Aetherius Society

George King created the spiritual organisation
in the mid-50s after he was contacted by a UFO

     IN A leafy suburb of Brisbane there sits a charming white wooden farmhouse and inside is a congregation of believers who wait patiently for intergalactic saviours from distant planets.

Rod Middleton and his wife Megan run the Australian chapter of the
Nathan Church & Alana Moorhead
www.thesun.co.uk
8-28-16
Aetherius Society, a growing religion that basically cherry picks from different belief systems from throughout the ages.

They twist some details, add a New Age focus, and anchor everything in the teachings of founder George King, a Yoga-enthusiast-turned-author, who created the religion in the mid-50s after his own extra-terrestrial experiences.

Of course, some of its claims are harder to swallow than others; most notably, that their “philosophy and teachings come largely from highly advanced intelligences from the higher planes of Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn” — a statement on their official website.

Rod told news.com.au that he views the Society as “a spiritual brotherhood, dedicated to healing and service to mankind”.

After a childhood of twice-daily chapel sessions at his boarding school, and a failed attempt with a friend to contact UFOs when 14 — he dismisses this as “youthful ignorance” — Rod shunned religion in all forms and spent 25 years in what he calls “the wilderness”. ...

Monday, October 13, 2014

Would Finding Alien Life Change Religion?

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Would Finding Alien Life Change Religion?

Would Finding Alien Life Change Religious Philosophies?


By Megan Gannon
www.space.com
10-10-14

      The discovery of extraterrestrial beings — be they slimy microbes or little green men — would dramatically change the way we humans view our place in the universe. But would it shatter religion? Well, that depends on what you believe.

In his new book "Religions and Extraterrestrial Life" (Springer 2014), David Weintraub, an astronomer at Vanderbilt University, takes a close look at how different faiths would handle the revelation that we're not alone. Some of his findings might surprise you.

Public polls have shown that a large share of the population believes aliens are out there. In one survey released last year by the company Survata, 37 percent of the 5,886 Americans who were polled said they believed in the existence of extraterrestrial life, while 21 percent said they didn't believe and 42 percent were unsure. Responses varied by religion: 55 percent of atheists said they believed in extraterrestrials, as did 44 percent of Muslims, 37 percent of Jews, 36 percent of Hindus and 32 percent of Christians.

Weintraub found that some religions are more accommodating to the idea of E.T. than others. Those with an Earth-centric spiritual point of view are the most likely to be made uncomfortable by questions about the discovery of aliens. Certain evangelical and fundamentalist Christians, for example, are of the opinion that God's sole intent was to create people here on Earth. Some believe that if God created life anywhere else, it would say that in Genesis, Weintraub said. . . .

Friday, September 19, 2014

UFO Sect Wants To Hand Out Religious Materials To School Kids

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UFO Sect Wants To Hand Out Religious Materials To School Kids

UFO Religion Wants to Hand Out Pamphlets at Florida Schools Now Too


By Chris Joseph
blogs.browardpalmbeach.com
9-19-14

      Earlier this week, we told you about how the Satanic Temple plans on handing out their literature to public school kids in Florida on the heels of an Orange County School Board decision to allow an Evangelical Christian group to hand out Bibles.

And now an international UFO religion wants to get in on that handing out religious materials to school kids action. And, yes, they have a chapter here in Florida.

The religion, known officially as the International Raelian Movement, has announced their support for the decision to allow the Satanic Temple to offer their religious literature in the school district. The group's leader is encouraging Raelian members to now go and do likewise. . . .

Monday, August 12, 2013

Raelian UFO Sect Wants to Rehabilitate the Swastika | UFO NEWS


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South Korean Raelians
South Korean Raelians

UFO religion the Raelians want to rehabilitate the swastika

By Jake Hanrahan
The Guardian
8-11-13


They believe that the symbol has been associated with Nazis for too long and have launched a campaign to reclaim it

     As the beachgoers of Long Island soaked up the sun last month, their attention was caught by a light aircraft flying above with a flag trailing behind it. On it was a huge swastika and the web address "proswastika.org". People were outraged. Who was responsible for publicly flaunting this ugly symbol of hate? Neo-Nazis? Pranksters? Neither, apparently.

The Long Island swastika actually belonged to the Raelians – the world's largest "UFO religion" – and the stunt was part of their pro-swastika campaign aimed at rehabilitating the symbol. Not because the Raelians are far-right extremists, they believe the Nazis' hijacking of the ancient Sanskrit peace symbol has been allowed to stand for long enough.

Before Hitler adopted it as the Nazi logo in 1920, variations of the swastika had been used by civilisations in China, Africa and South Asia since the bronze age.

"As long as we associate the swastika with Hitler and the horrors of the Nazi regime, they own it," argues Thomas Kaenzig, head of the pro-swastika movement. "We want to take it back. The swastika is an ancient symbol of good luck and harmony. It can be found all over the world.

Swastikas may have been depicted by ancient cultures since as far back as 2000 BC, but surely the pro-swastika movement recognises that what it represents today still offends millions of people? ""If somebody associates the swastika with something negative, then I feel offended," says Kaenzig. "It's part of our official symbol. What about our feelings? When we flew the flag on the East Coast it wasn't to incite hatred, but to educate."

Formed in 1974 by Claude Vorilhon – a racing-car journalist turned "messiah" – the Raelians claim to have 70,000 members worldwide. They believe that a race of aliens called the Elohim created earth, and that they chose Vorilhon as a prophet to spread their message of peace and free love. . . .

Friday, May 03, 2013

The Conspiracy Religion: UFOs and You

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The Conspiracy Religion: UFOs and You

By Alexandra Petri
www.washingtonpost.com
5-3-13

      I am holding a pamphlet from the Foundation for Extraterrestrial Investigations.

“With every mind that is able to lift the veil of ignorance from their eyes,” it proclaims, “the world is one step closer to what is right. There was a time when man believed that frogs were given birth by mud, simply because they were observed to be hopping about from its depths with such avid regularity. We once were sure that the world was flat, and that if one were to stray too far from the center, they would fall into oblivion off its edge. Not too many years past, it was deemed wholly acceptable to enslave a man, woman, or child, for no other reason than the color of their skin. One of the most amazing characteristics of the human race is our ability to evolve. We can evolve not only physically, but even more importantly we can learn to change the way that we think. Unless we feel it advantageous to live our lives within a flattened world where mud spawned frogs hop about the chained and shackled feet of our brothers, then let us not refuse to see the truth of our world as it is. We are not alone. We never have been.”

It must be nice to live in this world.

If you believe in conspiracy theories, everything is being taken care of. It is all very orderly and circular, bound up with “petro-dollars” and shadowy agendas.

In this world, the UFO enthusiasts’ Citizen Hearing on Disclosure (this week at the National Press Club) was a long-overdue shot of pure truth. . . .

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Beliefs in UFOs: No Different From 'Religious Beliefs'

UFO Believers
By Norio Hayakawa
www.myspace.com/noriohayakawa
7-10-10

Norio Hayakawa Beliefs in "UFOs" as physical extraterrestrial spacecraft are no different from "religious beliefs".

Religious beliefs are an intrinsic nature of human beings.

So there is nothing wrong or unusual about religious beliefs per se.

I am fascinated with a segment of the population's "beliefs in UFOs as physical extraterrestrial spacecraft" and "beliefs in physical extraterrestrial aliens that pilot or manipulate those UFOs".

People ask me, "so, what do you actually believe in?"

My answer to them is: "I believe that some people believe that we are being visited by physical extraterrestrial aliens in physical UFOs".

Then they aske me: "don't you believe that we are being visited by physical extraterrestrial aliens in physical UFOs?"

In that case, my favorite answers are:

  1. The truth is out there!!

  2. and

  3. I want to believe!! (not "I believe")
(These are two great slogans from the X-files!!) (LOL!!)

Stephen Hawking, theoretical scientist and one of the most brilliant minds of our time, states that in this wide universe there ought to be civilizations somewhere else besides our earth.

However, at the same time Stephen Hawking also states that no aliens have ever come or will ever come to earth in UFOs.

(What Stephen Hawking was referring to was UFOs as physical alien spacecraft piloted or maneuvered by physical alien beings).

The late Carl Sagan, who was also one of the most brilliant minds of our time, basically said the same thing.

If I were given a chance to choose between Stephen Hawking and "ufologists" (such as myself), I would definitely go with Stephen Hawking.

Two of the greatest "ufologists" of all time (in my opinion), Dr. Jacques Vallee and the late John A. Keel, had long given up on the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ET hypothesis) of the origins of UFOs, which continues to dominate this entire UFO field.

Vallee and Keel basically came with a conclusion that this whole phenomenon goes beyond the physical and that it may be impossible to study it through the so-called "scientific" or "empirical" method.

In other words, we may be confronting a phenomenon no different than some form of religious manifestations.

So, back to square one: beliefs in "UFOs" are no different from "religious beliefs".