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Outer Space and Inner Soul
Outer space has been lodged in my soul since my youth. This led me to write the first edition of UFOs–God’s Chariots? in 1977. In more recent years, I’ve invested considerable academic energy in the dialogue between science and religion with a special focus on astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). One thing I learned is that SETI scientists and UFO researchers do not attend the same barbeques. Rather, they sneer at each other in each other’s absence. Each accuses the other of not being scientific enough. I find this curious, but not boring. So, after writing a few treatises on astrotheology and astroethics, I’m returning once again to the UFO question with a focus on the extraterrestrial hypothesis.
As I return to prepare the second edition, I find today’s media right where they were a half century ago. Unfortunately, the media still thinks that the entire UFO pie can be divided into two slices, people who believe in UFOs and skeptics who do not believe. In order to obtain balance, reporters interview one unbeliever for each believer. Then, they consider their work done. In my judgment, this is too simplistic. When asked by a reporter if I believe in UFOs, I routinely answer: “No. I believe in God. I study UFOs.”
The UFO phenomenon is much too textured and complex and nuanced to reduce it to believers vs. unbelievers. When I wrote the first edition of UFOs–God’s Chariots? I tried to show how this is the case. Now as I turn to the revision, it appears that the phenomenon is even more complex than it was three decades ago.