Are UAP from outer space? UFO 18
Are UAP from outer space? Yes, according to ETH.
UAP and ETH are bonded to each other like teenagers and TikTok. Just thinking about UAP (Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena) immediately calls to mind ETH (the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis). Shiney silver discs darting across the sky would be simply curious anomalies. But to imagine they are spaceships ferrying extraterrestrial explorers or tourists! Now, that’s downright exciting!
Frankly, I have long wanted to answer the question – are UAP from outer space? – with a resounding, “yes.” I could imagine a near-eschatological moment of arrival with the marvels of alien technology bestowing on Earth more gifts than all the Christmases of history. But, alas, there is as yet no empirical evidence that ETI (Extraterrestrial Intelligence) even exists let alone visiting us. ETH is but one hypothesis among many raised to explain strange things seen in our skies.
Turning the Unidentified into the Identified
Anomalous things seen in our skies cry out for explanation. If 95% of sightings get prosaic explanations, it’s the remaining 5% that draws our interest. What is the explanation? Are UAP from outer space?
“I think the ETH (extraterrestrial hypothesis) is the correct way to account for what is occurring with respect to certain UAP operating on and around Earth,” declares UFO researcher Jensine Andresen (Andresen, Hyperconvergenece: Religion, Politics, and UFOs 2023, 96).
Are UAP from outer space? The aliens answer: “yes”
The aliens who abducted Air Force Staff Sgt. Charles L. Moody during September 1975 near Alamogordo, New Mexico, told him they were extraterrestrials. At about 1:30 A.M. while alone out in the country where he had gone to watch a meteor shower, Sergeant Moody saw a brightly lighted oval-shaped spacecraft about 50 feet long drop out of the sky and hover at 25 to 50 feet above the ground. It then flew away and the frightened Moody drove home.
As we note in similar missing time cases, Moody later discovered he had lost conscious track of about 20 minutes’ time. Gradually strange images of alien beings popped into his mind. Eventually his memory recovered what he had apparently lost. Two of the craft’s crew had glided out and had taken Moody back aboard their ship. The aliens had disproportionately large craniums, frail slender bodies, whitish-gray skin, and were about five feet tall and wearing skin-tight white suits.
Moody said the abductors spoke “perfect English” but with no lip movement. They asked Moody if he were well. Moody relaxed. The ufonauts explained that the saucer was a small observation craft and that they typically travel between solar systems in much larger and faster starships. The aliens are presently studying us prior to considering full contact between our respective civilizations. Military fighter aircraft and guided missiles frighten them because their observation ships are vulnerable to our explosives. lf we put them in a corner under attack, they warned, they will retaliate with force. These ETI explained that they belonged to a league of extraterrestrial civilizations and implied that they were considering whether or not Earth would be invited to join their “league of races.” One alien made it clear: “It is not whether you accept us–it is whether we accept you.”
Ufologists and other investigators studied the Moody case. Moody passed a lie-detector test on a Psychological Stress Evaluator (PSE). His base supervisor, Technical Sgt. Arthur Wright, said, “Moody is a reliable, trustworthy man. I have never known him to tell a lie. His word can be believed.” (Peters 2014, 45-46).
With reports such as the Moody abduction, ufologists have good reason to entertain the extraterrestrial hypothesis.
Are space aliens coming to save us on earth?
Since the current chapter in the ETH story began with Kenneth Arnold’s sighting of flying saucers in June 1947, our picture of UAP has been framed by the ETI Myth. The ETI Myth is a conceptual set or belief system – what Richard Dawkins might call a “meme” – that imagines the following: on another planet there exists a more highly evolved and technologically advanced civilization of intelligent creatures who could bring to earth a cessation of the threat of nuclear war and healing to earth’s deteriorating ecosphere. No empirical evidence exists to support this myth, but I sure would like to believe it’s true.
Astrophysicist Keith Cooper touts the ETI Myth.
“If other civilisations exist, then they are very likely much older than we are. Their mere presence will encourage us to grow and develop, and to transform our approach by eschewing short-term gains for longer-term thinking, which could ultimately save our planet as we learn to better understand how the consequences of our actions today can ripple through time to what lies ahead. By making the right choices now, we can maintain our civilisation into the future” (Cooper 2020, 347).
Notice the hint of the ancient gnostic redeemer here. The more highly advanced extraterrestrials provide knowledge — not esoteric knowledge but rather technological knowledge — to us on earth. This advanced knowledge invites us to make the right decisions and take the actions that could preserve our civilization from self-destruction by nuclear war or ecocide.
Are UAP from outer space? Yes, according to ETH. And more. UAP bring heavenly salvation if we are willing to make the right choices.
Envoi
In this series on explaining UAP, we are surveying the hypotheses thus far raised to turn the unidentified into the identified. But more is at stake. We are surveying hypotheses that suggest an accompanying ontology, an accompanying theory of being. We’re looking at…
UAP Cryptoterrestrial Hypothesis
UAP Extraterrestrial Hypothesis
UAP UltraTerrestrial or InterDimensional Hypothesis
UAP Extratempestrial Hypothesis
Because many UFO experiencers claim that they have been confronted with a reality more real than our everyday life, we must ask: what is that really real? That’s what an ontology does. An ontology – theory of being – explains in ultimate or final categories why things are the way they are.
Are UAP from outer space? Some answer affirmatively. Others are naysayers. But even some naysayers provide tantalizing ontologies.
SR 1188 UFO 18 Are UAP from outer space?
SR 1177 UFO 7 Are UFOs demonic?
SR 1186 UFO 16 UAP Cryptoterrestrial Hypothesis
SR 1187 UFO 17 Scientizing Ufology
SR 1188 UFO 18 Are UAP from outer space?
SR 1189 UFO 19 Are UAP from future time?
SR 1190 UFO 20 Are UAP from another dimension?
SR 1191 UFO 21 UAP and Ancient Alien Theology
SR 1192 UFO 22 UAP, ETI, and David Bohm’s Physics
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Ted Peters directs traffic at the intersection of science, religion, and ethics. Peters is an emeritus professor at the Graduate Theological Union, where he co-edits the journal, Theology and Science, with Robert John Russell on behalf of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, in Berkeley, California, USA. He authored Playing God? Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom? (Routledge, 2nd ed., 2002) as well as Science, Theology, and Ethics (Ashgate 2003). Along with Martinez Hewlett, Joshua Moritz, and Robert John Russell, he co-edited, Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Intelligence (2018). Along with Octavio Chon Torres, Joseph Seckbach, and Russell Gordon, he co-edited, Astrobiology: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy (Scrivener 2021). Along with Arvin Gouw and Brian Patrick Green, he co-edited Religious Transhumanism and Its Critics (Lexington 2022). Look for his newest book, The Voice of Public Theology, a collection of previous articles. See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com.
Regarding UFOs, he is author of UFOs: God’s Chariots? Spirituality, Ancient Aliens, and Religious Yearnings in the Age of Extraterrestrials (Career Press New Page Books, 2014). He served as Louisiana State Director for MUON and is currently a member of two UFO investigation organizations, Society for UAP Studies and Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies.
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References
Andresen, Jensine. 2023. Hyperconvergenece: Religion, Politics, and UFOs. Independent: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/197292604-hyperconvergence.
Cooper, Keith. 2020. The Contact Paradox. London: Bloomsbury.
Peters, Ted. 2014. UFOs–God’s Chariots? Pompton Plains NJ: New Page Books.
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