Originally written by Michael Speight for a defunct Northern Ireland UFO group Farcebook post
In recent weeks, I’ve noticed across various social media platforms, people asking if ufology can be considered to be a religion. Some say yes, and others say no, however could the lines this question be blurred?
Religion is defined as “the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.” And ufology is simply defined as “the study of UFOs”
At first glance, you may think “what do those bright lights in the sky have to do with religion?” However, I will point that ufology, is not just the study of anomalous objects in the sky, but it is a massive subject area, with several different topics, ranging from the Ancient Astronaut theory to Time Travel!
But lets start to try and answer this question simply, before we go across different avenues. For some people, it does appear that ufology is like a religion to them, their dogmatic belief of the extra-terrestrial hypothesis, is every bit as strong as a church going individuals belief in the God in which they worship, with both believing in healing powers and redemption, with nothing being able to shake their fundamental belief. While the UFO subject should be studied carefully, objectively and with critical thinking to evolve as we learn more information, for some, their personal beliefs stand in the way, and can be considered to be a religious type faith. They may not pray, they do listen to and could argue that they are led, by people, who we can describe as “preachers”, such as David Icke and Corey Goode, to name two, who can be argued promote a Religious ideal in their work.
Although, this is not the question yet answered. Subscribers to the Ancient Astronaut theory, of which I am one, believe that what today’s Archaeologists label as myths, could have been events which actually happened. When looking at ancient cultures, especially of the Sumerian and ancient Irish culture, predating the Celts, writings depict beings coming from the sky, and interfering with life on our planet, from the creation of new life forms to the total destruction of life to start a new. For these ancient people, its believed that these myths, where their ancient Religions, and due to the technological advancements of these beings, the ancient people had little to base their descriptions on apart from describing them as supernatural beings. In Ireland, the mythical Tuatha de Danann where described as landing on Sliabh an Iarainn, also known as the Iron Mountains, in Co. Leitrim on a ship descending from the sky. Some would say that there is no smoke without fire…
This question is not easily answered, and it all depends on who you ask. But there are some people who ufology would be a religion to, and others who, although would not have a religious type belief, but see and appreciate the links between religious and quasi-religious stories and UFO accounts.