72 Spirituality Studies 10-1 Spring 2024 1 Introduction In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in unidentified flying objects (UFOs). As evidenced by the media’s willingness to seriously entertain – and, in some instances, openly endorse – claims made at the July 2023 Congressional hearing on “unidentified aerial phenomena” (C-Span 2023) [1] (which could be regarded as the date on which UFOs became a relevant topic for political scientists), it now seems socially acceptable to accept the theory that UFO phenomena are extraterrestrial in origin. Yet perceptions are one thing, while the manner in which we interpret our perceptions is quite another. The extraterrestrial theory is but one – and the culturally acceptable – way to interpret UFO phenomena. Of the alternative explanations that could be presented, the theory that UFOs manifest malevolent spiritual realities is often hastily dismissed because it violates modern society’s secular assumptions. As this article contends, however, an a priori dismissal is quite arbitrary since it rests on similar evidential grounds. The next section expounds on why logical consistency demands that metaphysical explanations for UFO events be taken seriously. After removing the stigma of adhering to the spiritual theory, this article articulates a specifically Eastern Christian take on these phenomena, noting interesting – and at times alarming – similarities between accounts of alleged alien encounters and experiences of the demonic relayed in Eastern Christian hagiography. The empirical portion of this paper draws on U.S. state-level data on UFO sightings in order to demonstrate that a state’s religious climate significantly determines the frequency of UFO sightings reported there. These findings, it is argued, constitute circumstantial evidence that modern society is culturally induced – rather than led by the evidence – to embrace the interpretation that UFO phenomena are extraterrestrial in nature. The article concludes with a brief summary and final remarks. 2 Why It Is Arbitrary to Dismiss the Spiritual Explanation On what specific grounds is it now socially acceptable to endorse the extraterrestrial theory on UFOS? Four lines of evidence are often presented: (a) the fact that these objects travel at speeds defying natural laws; (b) eyewitness testimonies; (c) documentary (e.g., photographs and videos) evidence; and (d) authoritative testimonies. The first line of evidence clearly illustrates the double standards that characterize contemporary thought. The violation of natural laws is held up both as proof that extraterrestrials are real, and evidence that spiritual beings are not [2]. As for the second and third lines, there are countless witnesses of alleged supernatural occurrences – from the Resurrection to the 1968 Marian apparitions in Zeitoun, Egypt – as well as photographic and video evidence for many of these events [3]. Lastly, while much has been made of the testimonies of people in authority, particularly in the military and intelligence establishments, such evidence is by no means unique to alleged alien encounters (moreover, relying on it too heavily risks inviting the charge of having made an appeal to authority). For instance, one could cite claims from such leaders as President Theodore Roosevelt, Dutch Queen Wilhelmina, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill of having seen Abraham Lincoln’s ghost in the White House (Stansfield 2010, 63) [4]. One could also point to overlooked claims by government officials that the UFOs being studied are of supernatural, not extraterrestrial, origin. Luis Elizondo, the famed “whistleblower” who reportedly headed the U.S. Defense Department’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, has acknowledged that his superior told him to stop investigating UFOs on the grounds “that these things are demonic” (Kaplan and Greenstreet 2021). According to a former rocket scientist, there are also people in the UK government “who think the phenomenon is real – but demonic” (Kaplan and Greenstreet 2021). In short, it is arbitrary to disregard the spiritual theory for UFO phenomenon since the same types of evidence commonly used to substantiate the extraterrestrial theory could also be used in support of the former. To be sure, the spiritual theory might strike many as antiquated and unbecoming of social scientists. Perhaps this is so, however, because society’s cultural arbiters have not yet given their blessing to accept it, as they have recently done with the theory – which, but a couple years ago, would have struck people as equally bonkers – that our government is in possession of space alien technology and even bodies.
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