The Gods Have Landed: New Religions from Other Worlds Book

What Carl Jung argued in, "Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky" and Bill Ellis argued in, "Aliens, Ghosts, and Cults: Legends We Live", the present volume of "Gods Have Landed" looks not entirely into whether or not there actually are flying saucers with occupants from outer space or different dimensions, but what people have interpreted the phenomenon to be. Some keep quiet about their experiences. This book is not about them. This book is about those who turn their experiences into religious movements.

From Unarius to George Adamski to Heaven's Gate (eerily, this book published just two years prior to their mass suicide), the present volume exams the similarities UFO cults share with other religions and perceived contacts with the "other".

In the end, there is no difference. Students of religion and mythology will immediately recognise UFO religions to be old themes/archetypes with a fresh paint of the space age. This does not belittle the movements. It helps students of religion and myth understand that when people come in contact with something they don't entirely understand, there is a tendency to see a higher meaning whether one exists or not. And, to paint it in a language they understand. This, of course, does not apply, in my opinion to the out right frauds. It may apply to their followers who believe a contactee's story but not necessarily to the contactee. (Adamski is a fraud by all accounts but all of his followers surely are not).

In summary, this is great if you're into either religion, myth, UFOs or both. An excellent contribution to all these fields of study.