Your Paracast Newsletter -- June 19, 2010

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THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
June 19, 2010

Where Science Was Wrong Featured on The Paracast

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Sunday, June 20, 2010: The Paracast covers a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions across the planet.

Set Up: The Paracast hosts interview long-time researchers in the field, to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.

Join us as we explore the realms of the known and unknown, and hear great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.

This Week's Episode: Co-host Paul Kimball presents the dean of UFO investigators, Stanton T. Friedman, and Kathleen Marden, co-authors of "Science Was Wrong: Startling Truths About Cures, Theories, and Inventions '€˜They'€™ Declared Impossible." It'€™s not just about UFOs folks, since there'€™s a lot of ground to cover that takes you out of that topic.

Paul Kimball's blog: http://www.redstarfilms.blogspot.com/

Stanton Friedman's site: http://www.stantonfriedman.com/

Kathleen Marden's site: http://www.kathleen-marden.com/

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The Theology of the Saucers

Religion is the one topic that rarely, if ever, pops up in discussion amongst Ufologists, who seem to spend most of their time these days obsessed with proving and/or disproving their own various theories about UFOs, almost none of which take into account the spiritual questions that the UFO phenomenon raises.

But the question of how a revelation that we are not alone would affect our religious beliefs — indeed, the very notion of our relationship (or, for many, non-relationship) to the Divine — has always fascinated me. One of my favourite books about the UFO phenomenon is Rev. Barry Downing's classic study "The Bible and Flying Saucers." One of my favourite (and, alas, all too infrequent) topics of conversation with Stan Friedman is the ETH and religion, a subject that Stan has touched upon in some of his work.

Part of this has to do with my own cautious, always questioning religious belief system (I am a spiritual combination of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully — "I want to believe, but..."), part of it has to do with my family background (my grandfather was a Reformed Baptist minister, and some of my relatives are evangelicals), part of it has to do with my studies while pursuing a Master's Degree in history (my unfinished thesis was on 19th century Atlantic Canadian evangelicals) — and part of it simply has to do with the fact that most people on this planet have religious beliefs of one sort or another, which would undoubtedly be affected by an "ETH is true" revelation. How can Ufology not consider the implications?

So, it was with interest that I discovered, in the Religion section of Time Magazine back on August 18, 1952 (at p. 62), a brief article titled "The Theology of Saucers.” Here it is in its entirety:

"If a flying saucer swooped down to earth some day and disgorged a crew of bulbous-eyed Martians, Christian theologians might have to do some fast explaining. The Bible does not mention the existence of any inhabited worlds other than earth. Last week Father Francis J. Connell, C.Sc.R., dean of Catholic University's School of Sacred Theology, decided that the time had come to summarize his church's position on the question of invaders from outer space. 'It is well for Catholics to know,' he said, 'that the principles of their faith are entirely reconcilable with even the most astounding possibilities regarding life on other planets... Theologians have never dared to limit the omnipotence of God to the creation of the world we know.'

"Theologically speaking, there are four principal classes into which outer-space dwellers might fall: 1) they might have received, like earthmen, a supernatural destiny from God, might even have lost it and been redeemed; 2) God could have created them with a natural but eternal destiny, i.e., like infants who die unbaptized, they could live a life of natural happiness after death, without beholding God face to face; 3) they might be rational beings who sinned against God but were never given the chance to regain grace, like evil angels of the Fall; or 4) they might have received supernatural gifts and kept them, leading the paradisiacal existence of Adam & Eve before they ate the forbidden fruit.

"Father Connell added a practical point: 'If these supposed rational beings should possess the immortality of body once enjoyed by Adam & Eve, it would be foolish for our superjet or rocket pilots to try to shoot them. They would be unkillable.'"

This is fascinating stuff, written just after the great Saucer Flap of July, 1952. Most important, like Barry Downing's work, it reminds us that the religious (or "spiritual") aspect of Ufology should not be completely forgotten in our rush to prove or disprove theories, and examine the evidence.

"The Theology of the Saucers" is another important piece of the search for the truth.

Paul Kimball
Co-Host "The Paracast"

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