I just finished reading Professor of Religious Studies D.W. Pasulka’s recent book American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology. Although I found the book to be an interesting read, I did have some issues with the presentation and underpinnings of the conclusion, such as it is.
Ostensibly this is a book about the religious aspects of the cultural phenomena of UFO belief, especially insofar as “the phenomena” is technological in nature. Certainly that is one of the themes of the book. But in the end, it becomes an opportunity for the author to act as a cheerleader for her own religion, Roman Catholicism. That conclusion was not what I was expecting at all.
Though I understand the methodological practice that Pasulka takes in her study of the topic whereby she forswears any judgment about the reality of the objects of the belief of her research subjects (UFOs, aliens, angels, etc.), the absolutely credulous stance she takes toward them is troubling to me. For example, her primary subject, “Tyler,” seems to have such an incredible back-story that he seems to be a comic book character. She refers to him as a scientist many times in the text, but she herself says he has no college degree. Yet we are to believe he works for the space program and teaches at universities and colleges. The only credentials she attributes to him are that he has several patents in his name. Anybody can apply for and receive a patent.
Given this suspect backstory, the outlandish things he says become almost comical. For example, he claims that his biotech patents are the result of psychic communication with some non-human others. Of course, the central point Pasulka is making is that the sorts of beliefs that Tyler has are similar in essential ways to religious belief. I think I can agree with her argument to some extent.
Perhaps essential to my problem with her presentation of material like Tyler’s story, is my own skepticism regarding both belief in UFOs and religion. I think anyone coming to the book with that kind of skepticism would take issue with her credulous presentation. Don’t get me wrong. I find the cultural/social phenomena of both UFOs and personal religious experience fascinating to consider and study. It’s the veracity of the beliefs themselves that I have a problem with, whether it’s Roman Catholicism or belief in alien psychic communications.
Which brings me to the biggest problem I have with Pasulka’s book. She seems to want it both ways. Throughout the book she withholds judgment regarding the reality of the objects of belief in UFOs, aliens, and such, beliefs she argues are religious in nature. And yet she parades her own Roman Catholic faith about, as if it is wholly compatible with the stories of her research subjects. The culmination of the book, its last chapter, is all about the religious conversion of Tyler to Pasulka’s own Roman Catholic faith. Her obvious pleasure at this turn of events comes through strongly in the text. To me, this flies in the face of her espousal of methodological neutrality in her consideration of the UFO material. It’s as if she is saying, “I’m not going to make a judgment about the truth of the new UFO religion, but, oh yeah, Roman Catholicism is the one true faith.” Ultimately, this is why I found the book interesting, but flawed.