74 Spirituality Studies 10-1 Spring 2024 4 Theory and Methods Appearances to this contrary, the theory defended in this article is not that UFOs are of supernatural provenance (for it is beyond the author’s ability to scientifically prove this to be the case). However, unless there was reason to believe that aliens happen to have a penchant for visiting more atheistic or occultic places, the discovery that UFO events are more frequently reported in such places would constitute circumstantial evidence of a cultural tendency – as opposed to a scientific or logically-compelling reason – to embrace the extraterrestrial explanation. Therefore, the less ambitious theory is advanced that the religious climate of a society significantly affects the manner in which UFO events are interpreted. Both bivariate and OLS regression analyses on American states are relied upon to specifically test the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1. UFO sightings are reported with greater frequency in states that have more atheists. Hypothesis 2. UFO sightings are reported with greater frequency in states where Wicca is more frequently practiced. Using figures from the National UFO Reporting Center (n.d.), this dependent variable of this study is operationalized as the number of UFO sightings per 10,000 state population. As for the independent variables – alternative measures of what is referred to as “religious climate” – this study pulled data on the percent share of atheists in each state from the Pew Research Center (2023), and on the prevalence of Wicca in the U.S. from Jensen and Thompson’s (2008) study. Since UFO sightings are not equally distributed across the U.S. (see the Appendix), dummy variables are added in order to adjust for the effects of the two regions that reported UFO sightings most frequently (see the Appendix): New England and the Far West [8]. This study also adjusts for whether education and level of economic development significantly predict UFO sighting frequency, using government data on bachelor’s degree attainment (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Research Division n.d.) and Gross Domestic Product per capita, respectively (U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis 2023). 5 Results Bivariate Analysis As suspected, there are significantly more UFO sightings per capita in states with higher shares of atheists. Specifically, the frequency of a state’s UFO sightings is positively correlated at 52% with the percentage of self-described atheists in that state. There is an even stronger direct correlation of 82% between sightings and the practice of Wicca in U.S. states. In both cases, the p value is below 1%. Table 1 shows that as many as six of the ten states with the largest number of UFO sightings per capita had an atheist population higher than the national average of 3%, compared to only a third of the states with the smallest number of sightings. Table 1 Percentage of States Having an Above Average Share of Atheists (By Reported UFO Sighting Frequency) UFO Sighting Frequency % of States Scoring Above the National Average for Atheist Population Share The 10 States with the Highest Number of Per Capita UFO Sightings* 60 The 10 States with the Lowest Number of Per Capita UFO Sightings** 20 * These ten states are Vermont (9.29), Washington (9.09), Montana (8.76), Alaska (8.63), New Hampshire (8.43), Maine (8.40), Oregon (8.25), New Mexico (7.75), Wyoming (7.02), and Idaho (6.85). ** These ten states are Tennessee (3.21), New Jersey (3.06), Virginia (3.04), New York (2.93), Maryland (2.90), Alabama (2.69), Mississippi (2.62), Georgia (2.44), Louisiana (2.41), and Texas (2.00). Furthermore, virtually all of the 10 highest UFO-reporting states had an above average rate of people practicing Wicca, while literally none of the 10 lowest reporting states had an above average rate.
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