UFO religion refers to any religion in which the existence of extraterrestrial (ET) entities operating unidentified flying objects (UFOs) is an element of belief. Typically, adherents of such religions believe the ETs to be interested in the welfare of humanity which either already is, or eventually will become, part of a pre-existing ET civilization. Others may incorporate ETs into a more supernatural worldview in which the UFO occupants are more akin to angels than physical aliens; this distinction may be a little blurred within the overall subculture. These religions have their roots in the tropes of early science fiction (especially space opera) and weird fiction writings, in ufology, and in the subculture of UFO sightings and alien abduction stories. While there are historical religions such as buddhism that posit the existence of alternate worlds, ufo religion specifically refers to religions based on modern concepts of ufos. Ufo religions are often very exclusive and are often classified as cults.
While theosophy has elements of being a ufo religion, it shows up on its own page and is often not classified as such, since while it believes ufos and aliens exist and conflates them with spirits, it treats these beings more as spirits than as aliens,
One reason for the existence of these beliefs is the anthropological similarity of the concept of aliens to the concept of gods, leading anthropologists to often consider these to be two versions of similar cultural ideas. Namely that both are based an an intuitive assumption of humanity not being alone in the world, and so positing the existence of other intelligences. Since early people would have thought in a heavily hierarchical way, they ascribed some of these intelligences to a role above them. And since they may not have known the overall side of the universe, they imagined them far closer, and in common interaction with humanity. UFO religions are of course a modern phenomenon based on ascribing religious connotations to the modern idea of aliens.
Interestingly, megaten does reference the concept of UFO religion a bit, although it does not reference particular ones. In an interview they talk about how in keeping with how certain people interpret ezekiel's vision as being a vision of ufos and aliens, that the in-game appearance of the middle cherub design is based on this alien ufo appearance. Since the throne is the other being associated with this vision, and the throne in game has a head that looks like the common "grey" alien design, throne was likely designed based on this aesthetic as well. The aliens from 2001 are also associated with law a bit, with the room they sit in and the monolith showing up for the wisemen and yhvh's universe.
In addition, in the universe of strange journey at least there are implied to be multiple planets, and the angels are implied to not necessarily be native to earth. In an interview they imply that mastema is an alien, and that god presides over the universe as a whole. So in here, this depiction of them as aliens is in a sense literal, since they are actually beings from beyond earth, in keeping with the game's sci fi theme.
While that particular association comes from that real life conflation, megaten games often treat "space" as a law leaning concept in-general in keeping with its depiction of the sky as such. Since space represents cosmic order, and an all encompassing nature. They also may be depicting the idea of aliens as law since aliens are often seen as an outsider who may be trying to instill an alien order on the world, or perhaps many worlds. And the idea of a universal order being instilled is law leaning, whereas particularism, and groups fighting for different things is depicted as more chaos.
Specific UFO religions
The Aetherius Society was founded in the United Kingdom in 1955. Its founder, George King, claimed to have been contacted telepathically by an alien intelligence called Aetherius, who represented an "Interplanetary Parliament." According to Aetherians, their society acts as a vehicle through which "Cosmic Transmissions of advanced metaphysical significance" can be disseminated to humanity. These “transmissions” were recorded on magnetic reel-to-reel tape by persons present during each "telepathic transmission" as George King sat in a state of "Samadhi" and the "transmission" was “delivered” via his own voicebox.
In 1956 and 1957, and on occasion before a public audience, several of these “transmissions” forecast flying saucer activity in specific parts of the world on certain dates. Shortly after these dates, newspapers, such as the Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph, reported sightings which coincided with the dates and locations forecast in these “transmissions”. As a spiritual teacher, George King taught certain yoga practices, spiritual healing, Eastern mantra and “dynamic prayer”—tools for spiritual self-advancement and service to the world—which the Aetherius Society is principally based upon.
The Heaven’s Gate group achieved notoriety in 1997 when founder Marshall Applewhite convinced 38 followers to commit mass suicide. Members reportedly believed themselves to be aliens, awaiting a spaceship that would arrive with Comet Hale-Bopp. The suicide was undertaken in the apparent belief that their souls would be transported onto the spaceship, which they thought was hiding behind the comet. They underwent elaborate preparations for their trip, including purchasing and wearing matching shoes and living in a darkened house to simulate the long journey they expected to have in outer space.
The Universal Industrial Church of the New World Comforter is a UFO religion founded in 1967 by Allen Michael. In 1947, Allen Noonan was a pictorial sign painter in Long Beach, California, who that year claimed to have an encounter with Galactic Space Beings. While painting a signboard he said he was beamed up into a Mothership. He then changed his name to Allen Michael. He claimed to have physically encountered a flying saucer in 1954 at Giant Rock in the Mojave Desert of California. He founded a commune which began a series of restaraunts associated with the church.
Raëlism, or The International Raëlian Movement has been described as “the largest UFO religion in the world.” Raëlians believe that scientifically advanced extraterrestrials, known as the Elohim, created life on Earth through genetic engineering, and that a combination of human cloning and mind uploading to preserve your mental content on these close bodies can ultimately provide eternal life. Past religious teachers, like Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad, are said to have been sent by these scientifically advanced extraterrestrials as messengers to teach humanity. The Elohim are said to be planning a future visit to complete their revelation and education of humanity.
Raëlian Priest Thomas said on this topic, “The difference between Raëlians and Heaven’s Gate and Jim Jones etc., is that the others destructively believed in a God who would give them a better life after death, just like most believers in a monotheistic religion do today, and hence the risk for suicide chasing afterlife rewards … as Raëlians we want the best right now in our life, who would want to die now in that scenario with all those pleasures to enjoy? Raëlians believe in enjoying life now, with happiness and laughter.”
The Raëlian Church has a quasi-clerical structure of seven levels. Joining the movement requires swearing off membership of other religions. Raëlian ethics include striving for world peace, sharing, democracy and nonviolence, seeking to spread the world of their religion to facilitate its goals, as well as to prepare the world for the coming of the elohim. Some of their activism has involved advocating of wider access to condoms, and being pro gmo, stating that generically modified foods are not inherently dangerous. They also have a practice called sensual meditation, which seeks to combine meditation with a this-worldly focus on the tangible experiences it brings.
Despite this call for peace, Raëlians are encouraged to do whatever they feel is right, whether that matches the rules of the culture in which they live or not, and tend to be very lenient sexually, with some taking issue with the indulgent tone of how their ethics are expressed. However, despite this it does have rules about sexuality and tithes, and only the more committed members who do follow such rules can remain in the movement's structure. The one of this action being influenced by 60s counter-culture.
They have also been accused of elitism however, since in his book Geniocracy, Raël outlined his plan for a peaceful worldwide political union that, while democratic, would require members of the electorate to meet a minimum standard of intelligence. The thresholds proposed by the Raëlians are 50% above average for a candidate and 10% above average for a voter. The world government would also have a global currency, a common language, and a transformation of militaries of the world into civil police.
The Raëlians frequently use the swastika as a symbol of peace, often on the inside of a jewish star, combining hindu and jewish symbols. However, due to associations with nazis, they have since then chosen to replace the middle of the symbol with an internal swirl. Their original intention claimed by them was an attempt at reclamation of the symbol for good. The reason for the symbol chance they claim was told to them by the elohim themselves in order to achieve better relations with Israel.
Raëlian cosmology as proposed in 1973 by Raël states that the observable universe has no creator and is infinite in time and finite in size and surrounded by infinite space. In Raëlian cosmology, our observable universe is an "atom" of a much larger level of matter (and possibly organism) and subatomic particles in our bodies also possess universes like our own, but on a much smaller scale. This pattern, atom within universe within atom, is believed to be infinitely repetitive, from the infinitely small, to the infinitely large. The Raëlian Messages by Raël state that humanoid extraterrestrials, who were originally called under the name Elohim (singular: Eloha), verified this cosmology scientifically.
Because of the difference of mass, the activity of life inside in a living thing's atoms would undergo many millennia before enough time passes for that living thing to take a single step. Raëlians believe the universe is infinite in time and space and lacks a center. Because of this, one could not imagine where an ethereal soul would go. The Raëlian cosmology is meditated upon during the fourth activity in the rite of Sensual Meditation.
Yahweh was seen as one of the elohim, who gave explanations for various thigns to early humans, but which had been misunderstood over time. The Garden of Eden was a large laboratory that was based on an artificially constructed continent. Noah's Ark was a spaceship that preserved DNA that was used to resurrect animals through cloning. The Tower of Babel: a rocket that was supposed to reach the creators' planet. The Great Flood was the byproduct of a nuclear missile explosion that the Elohim sent. After tidal wave floods following the explosions receded, Elohim scattered the Israelites and had them speak the language of other tribes. Note how all these stories center around the abrahamic lore. From the Raëlian point of view, religious texts indicate that the Elohim would return at the age of Apocalypse or Revelation (unveiling of the truth). People from another world would appear to drop down from the sky and meet in the embassy they have asked Raël to build for them and share their advanced scientific knowledge with humanity.
Note how aspects of its ethics are seen as leaning multiple directions. Some aspects such as the emphasis on peace seem law leaning, whereas the call to personally do what you feel seems more chaos. Although neither call likely goes as far as the in-game religions.
Scientology has been discussed in the context of UFO religions in UFO Religions by Christopher Partridge, The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of UFO Religions by James R. Lewis, and UFO Religion: Inside Flying Saucer Cults and Culture by Gregory Reece. Stories of extraterrestrial civilizations and interventions in past lives form a part of the belief system of Scientology. The most well-known story publicized and held up to ridicule by critics is that of Xenu, the ruler of the Galactic Confederacy who is said to have brought billions of frozen people to Earth 75 million years ago and placed them near a number of volcanoes, and dropped hydrogen bombs into them, thus killing the entire population in an effort to solve overpopulation. The spirits of these people were then captured by Xenu and mass implanted with numerous suggestions and then “packaged” into clusters of spirits.
Scientology teaches that all humans have experienced innumerable past lives, including lives in ancient advanced extraterrestrial societies, such as Helatrobus and the Marcabians. Traumatic memories from these past lives are said to be the cause of many present-day physical and mental ailments. Scientologists also believe that human beings possess superhuman powers which cannot be restored until they have been fully rehabilitated as spiritual beings through the practice of “auditing”, using methods set out by Hubbard in his various works. According to Hubbard, a thetan (the Scientology term for a soul) has a body. When that body dies the thetan goes to a “landing station” on the planet Venus, where they are re-implanted and are programmed to forget their previous lifetimes. The Venusians then “capsule” each thetan and send them back to Earth to be dumped into the Gulf of California; whereupon, each thetan searches for a new body to inhabit. To avoid these inconveniences, Hubbard advised Scientologists to simply refuse to go to Venus after their death.
Scientology beliefs revolve around the immortal soul, the thetan. Scientology teaches that the thetan is the true identity of a person – an intrinsically good, omniscient, non-material core capable of unlimited creativity. Hubbard taught that thetans brought the material universe into being largely for their own pleasure. The universe has no independent reality, but derives its apparent reality from the fact that thetans agree it exists. Thetans fell from grace when they began to identify with their creation rather than their original state of spiritual purity. Eventually they lost their memory of their true nature, along with the associated spiritual and creative powers. As a result, thetans came to think of themselves as nothing but embodied beings.
Thetans are reborn time and time again in new bodies through a process called "assumption" which is analogous to reincarnation. Scientology posits a causal relationship between the experiences of earlier incarnations and one's present life, and with each rebirth, the effects of the MEST universe (MEST here stands for matter, energy, space, and time) on the thetan become stronger.
The Church of Scientology holds that at the higher levels of initiation ("OT levels"), mystical teachings are imparted that may be harmful to unprepared readers. These teachings are kept secret from members who have not reached these levels. The church says that the secrecy is warranted to keep its materials' use in context and to protect its members from being exposed to materials they are not yet prepared for.
of Scientology technology" and deal with "behavior adversely affecting a Scientology organization's performance", ranging from "Errors" and "Misdemeanors" to "Crimes" and "Suppressive Acts", as those terms defined by Scientology. Scientology asserts some people are truly malevolent, and Hubbard taught 20 percent of the population were suppressive persons, which includes some hopelessly antisocial personalities who are the truly dangerous individuals in humanity: "the Adolf Hitlers and the Genghis Khans, the unrepentant murderers and the drug lords." They have been heavily criticized for actions, many of which were veering into the illegal, that they enforced. The term Fair Game is used to describe policies and practices carried out against people the Church perceives as its enemies. Hubbard established the policy in the 1950s, in response to criticism both from within and outside his organization. Individuals or groups who are "Fair Game" are judged to be a threat to the Church and, according to the policy, can be punished and harassed using any and all means possible.
Unarius Academy of Science. Founded by Ernest L. Norman and his wife, Ruth, in 1954, the Unarians are a group headquartered in El Cajon, California, who believe that, through the use of Four-dimensional space physics, they are able to communicate with supposed advanced intelligent beings that allegedly exist on "higher frequency" planes. Unarians believe in past lives and hold that the Solar System was once inhabited by ancient interplanetary civilizations.
The Universe People or Cosmic people of light powers is a Czech movement centered around Ivo A. Benda. Its belief system is based upon the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations communicating with Benda and other “contacters” since October 1997 telepathically and later by direct personal contact. According to Benda, those civilizations operate a fleet of spaceships led by Ashtar (sometimes written Ashtar Sheran) orbiting and closely watching the Earth, helping the good and waiting to transport the followers into another dimension. The Universe People teaching incorporates various elements from ufology (some foreign “contacters” are credited, though often also renounced after a time as misguided or deceptive), Christianity (Jesus was a “fine-vibrations” being) and conspiracy theories (forces of evil are supposed to plan compulsory chipping of the populace).
Tempelhofgesellschaft is a A neo-Nazi esoteric Nazi Gnostic sect headquartered in Vienna, founded in the early 1990s, teaches what it calls a form of Marcionism. They distribute pamphlets claiming that the Aryan race originally came to Atlantis from the star Aldebaran (this information is supposedly based on "ancient Sumerian manuscripts"). They maintain that the Aryans from Aldebaran derive their power from the vril energy of the Black Sun. They teach that since the Aryan race is of extraterrestrial origin it has a divine mission to dominate all the other races. It is believed by adherents of this religion that an enormous space fleet is on its way to Earth from Aldebaran which, when it arrives, will join forces with the “Nazi Flying Saucers from Antarctica” to establish the Western Imperium.