Recently the Pentagon released declassified UFO documents. For some reason we’re now supposed to refer to UFOs, or Unidentified Flying Objects, as UAPs, Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, I guess because that sounds cooler. Of course, this has nothing to do with the “anomalous phenomena” that remain unidentified in the Epstein Files.
There are basically three theories of UAPs. The first is that these phenomena are a combination of natural oddities (such as sun dogs), human-made objects (experimental crafts, research balloons), recording distortions, outright deception, mental problems, and psychological fantasies. Let’s call this the “natural local cause” explanation, the one I find most likely by far. Skeptics such as Michael Shermer and Neil deGrasse Tyson advance this view.
The second is that these phenomena at least in some cases are caused by intelligent aliens visiting from other planets or, in more exotic tellings, even other dimensions. I don’t completely rule out this explanation, as alien life certainly is possible, but I also don’t think existing evidence convincingly supports it, especially given the plausibility of natural local causes. I think if real intelligent aliens were visiting Earth, the evidence for that would be so overwhelming that no sensible person could deny it.
I personally do think that probably there is lots of alien life in the universe, maybe even within our own solar system (underground water on Mars, Europa, Enceladus, Titan). But I think almost all of this life is relatively simple, akin to our bacteria. I suppose that reaching high-level conceptual consciousness comparable to what humans possess is very rare. And the jump from abstract consciousness to technological sophistication also is a long one. The universe contains maybe two trillion galaxies, so the universe could be teeming with intelligent life that we’ll never meet because it’s so far away.
The third theory of UAPs is that they’re demons or other supernatural forces. (Here I’m using “theory” in its loose popular sense to mean hypothesis or explanation.) Of course, people who invoke demons believe generally that the world is subject to “demonic powers,” as New York Times columnist Ross Douthat puts the point. In this view, demons in the form of UAPs is just a subset of demonic activity. In an interview with Tyler Cowen, Douthat explicitly referenced a “supernaturalist version” of the UAP story, although he is noncommittal.
In his May 11 article for the Times Recorder, Sean Beedle reviews how U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), following Vice President J.D. Vance, embraces the supernaturalist theory of UAPs. Boebert said that UAPs might be “fallen angels and Nephilim.” (Boebert also left room for the possibility of intelligent aliens.)
What the heck are Nephilim, you might wonder? As Genesis 6:4 explains, the Nephilim came about when “the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.” How exactly this fits with the narrative of monotheism and Jesus being the only Son of God, I’ll leave for the apologists to sort out; one idea is that “sons of God” here just means angels. To me it sounds more like Greek theogony. The “fallen angels” are, of course, the demons or devils, led by Satan or Lucifer.
An older tradition
Interestingly, Douthat explicitly references Jacques Vallée‘s 1969 book, “Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers.” “Magonia” refers to a much older mythical world of clouds and aerial sailors, the precursor to the Cloud City of “Star Wars.” Douthat said:
[M]ost of what I’d read in the literature about personal encounters with supposed extraterrestrials seemed to line up reasonably well with pre-modern accounts of encounters with angels, demons, and maybe especially fairies. This is an argument that the ufologist, Jacques Vallée, made early in the UFO [debate] many decades ago.
Here is how Vallée summarizes that book on his website:
[O]ur age has generated, and continues to generate, mythical material almost unparalleled in quantity and quality in the rich records of human imagination. More precisely, people have very frequently reported the observation of wonderful aerial objects, variously designated as flying saucers, unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and so on. …
[B]eliefs identical to those held today have recurred throughout recorded history and under forms best adapted to the believer’s country, race, and social regime. If we take a wide sample of this historical material, we find that it is organized around one central theme: visitation by an aerial people from one or more remote, legendary countries.
Vallée, then, discusses beliefs that include supernatural invocations. Others have turned more squarely to beliefs about demons rooted in Christian theology; in its entry “Demonic UFO Hypothesis,” Wikipedia cites a 1954 article suggesting a demonic cause of UFOs. Boebert, then, is tapping into a tradition spanning decades.
The danger of supernaturalist beliefs
The belief that UAPs are demonic forces is nutty, but not in itself especially dangerous. The problem is that supernaturalist beliefs about UAPs stem from broader beliefs about a demon-haunted world (to invoke Carl Sagan’s phrase).
For evangelicals such as Boebert, demonizing one’s opponents carries beliefs about literal demons. As Kelsey Vlamis reported for Business Insider in 2023, “Boebert spoke at an event where she discussed “standing up to demons” including a ‘speaker of the House.'”
Joe Oltmann, a candidate for state Republican chair, referred to Colorado’s Jewish political leaders, including Jared Polis, Jena Griswold, and Phil Weiser, as part of a “Synagogue of Satan.” Scott Bottoms, a GOP candidate for governor, has used the language of demons to refer to abortion rights, transgender advocacy, and gender affirming care.
The problem, then, is that people who imagine demons behind UAPs also tend to “see” demons all over the place. The notion that certain targeted people are acting under demonic influence or carrying out the will of demons can rationalize extreme measures against those people.
Acceptance of a demon-haunted world also tends to accompany apocalyptic beliefs: the view that the world as we know it has a short future, and that Jesus will soon return. As James Bickerton reported for Newsweek in 2022 (and as I discuss elsewhere), “Boebert told fellow Republicans at a dinner … that she believes humanity is ‘in the last of the last days’ with the ‘second coming of Jesus’ approaching.”
Obviously, if you believe we’re in the “last days,” that will strongly reduce your incentive to care about long-term environmental problems, or even the dangers of war.
A return to sanity
No, I can’t explain every UAP sighting. I can’t absolutely rule out the possibility that some UAPs were caused by intelligent aliens, although there’s no strong evidence that they were. What I can do is call bullshit on claims that UAPs are products of demonic forces, and I can point to the dangers of electing people who believe such nonsense to political office.
