Do you believe UFOs are real? These alien-based religions do
Who had UFOs being exposed by the U.S. government on their apocalypse bingo? Because we definitely didn’t. If 2020 wasn’t crazy enough, the Navy declassified footage showing that UFOs are real, and then earlier in August, the Pentagon put a task force together to figure out if UFOs are dangerous or not.
We may not know if we’re alone or not for certain, but it definitely is beginning to feel like Earth will be visited by little green aliens sometime in the near future. But for some people, this is a confirmation of beliefs they’ve held for years. UFO sightings and alleged contact and abductions with said UFOs are nothing new.
People have built entire religious movements around the idea UFOs are real, and that we’re not alone on this planet. So if you’re now on board with the idea that aliens are somewhere in the Milky Way galaxy, you may want to look into joining one of these religions.
Aetherius Society
In the 50s, an English man named George King received a message from space, or so he claims. This message inspired him to create the Aetherius Society, a religious movement dedicated to bettering humanity through communication with extraterrestrial forces.
While they’re no strangers to ridicule, the Aetherius Society actually acts as a new religion movement and feels the most religious out of the whole group. The mission of the group is honest and pure: Alien contact will better humanity. Instead of looking towards a god for the answers, the Aetherius Society looks towards aliens.
Raelism
Arguably the biggest UFO based religion in the world, they’re the original group promoting the theory that aliens and UFOs are real. Founded in the 70s by Claude Vorillhon, better known as Rael, the organization believes we were all created by aliens, and there’s 40 alien/human hybrids that serve as prophets.
Some of these profits include Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, and Rael himself. The largest belief of Raelism is since Hiroshima, Earth has put itself at risk of nuclear warfare, and the aliens won’t come to Earth until world peace is achieved. Once world peace is achieved, the aliens will come to Earth and share their technological advancements with us.
Universe People
In the 90s, Ivo Benda started a religion in the Czech Republic that believes Earth is being monitored by extraterrestrial life. As the members of Universe People live their lives, the UFOs monitoring the members will eventually be abducted and taken to another dimension.
While they have been called a cult by Czech media, Universe People was closely monitored after Heaven’s Gate and their mass suicide in 1997, as both groups share similar beliefs. However, the group hasn’t had any controversial incidents since its founding.
Church of the SubGenius
A parody religion, Church of the SubGenius isn’t a UFO based religion but has been known to embrace the idea that UFOs are real and other conspiracy theories. In fact, part of the Church of the SubGenius’ teachings is X-Day.
According to the Church of the SubGenius, July 5th, 1998 was supposed to be X-Day, the day where Xists from Planet X would arrive on Earth. Of course, this didn’t happen, and the prophecy was revised to be July 5th, 8661. Regardless, the religion still celebrates X-Day. Though it’s almost become a parody of itself, and now the celebration is about the aliens not coming to Earth.
Heaven’s Gate
Whether you prefer to call them a cult or not, Heaven’s Gate started as a UFO-based religious movement. Founded by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, Do and Ti, respectively, helped lead their followers to prepare for their trip onto a spaceship on the tail end of the Hale-Bopp comet.
While the religion originally believed the entire body would be taken from this Earth, Nettles’ death from cancer made Applewhite realize it was similar to a spaceship, the body was just a vessel, and the only thing taken would be the soul. In 1997, Applewhite and thirty-eight other members participated in a ritual suicide so they could board the spacecraft on the Hale-Bopp comet.
