Examining some old or vintage resources on the topic of "flying saucers" I ran across the "UFO Investigator", the formal newsletter of NICAP. I was amazed to see that a minister was a member of their governing board and had been an active investigator in New England. As I read, I realized there were many people, of many different faiths, who had found common ground on the topic of the possibility of extraterrestrial visitations. People from Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and other groups or philosophies were uniting in the possibilities presented.
Rev. Albert H. Baller, was a recognized authority on UFO's. He was a native of Trenton, NJ and had graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University and Boston University's School of Theology. At the time he worked with NICAP he pastored a Congregational Church and had authored three books for children (published by Rand McNally).
In the July 1957 issue was "Religion and Her Flying Saucer." Here it was noted that Protestant, Catholic and Jewish faithful were accepting the idea. A Catholic Doctrine was cited from 1952, Washington, by Very Reverend Francis J. Connel, "for Catholics to know that the principles of their faith are entirely reconcilable with even the most astounding possibilities of life on other planets."
The article cited an address of His Holiness Pope Pius XII to the 77the International Congress of Astronautics. This last was found in "Flying Saucers from Outer Space" By Donald Keyhoe (Holt & Co.).
In addition, comments had been sent in by religious people and their leaders from Lutheran, Methodist and other groups sharing the view that the reality of other life forms should be considered and often expressed the concept that there was no conflict between faithful belief on Earth and other beings in the Universe.
In the April issue of the Voice of Healing, Gordon Lindsay shared chapters from his upcoming book on the topic of "Flying Saucers." (April 1954).
May alternative groups were also accepting and merging some beliefs to accept the possibility represented by the flying saucer theme. The French researcher Jacque Vallee linked encooutners and alien abductions to events recorded through human history; "“I pointed out in Invisible College that the structure of abduction stories was identical to that of occult rituals. I had shown in Passport to Magonia that contacts with ufonauts was only a modern extension of contact with non-human consciousness in the form of angels, demons, elves, and sylphs. Such contact includes abduction, ordeal (including surgical operations), and sexual intercourse with the aliens. It often leaves marks and scars on the body and the mind, as do UFO abductions.”[21]" (See UFOs and the Bible - Are Aliens Demons? (christianworldviewpress.com))
Others, however, simply viewed the idea as antithesis to a literal and fundamentalist view of scripture. A "The Bible did not tell us of other life forms" so there could not be any. If people were seeing anything they had to be "demonic", evil, or bad in some form. Some based their thinking on verses such as Daniel 9:27 and its mention of "wings of abomination."
The problem is that it is not always clear to which group these references infer: the alien space brothers of the "Contactee" new religion or the small, strange beings, reported since the 1940's? Is one real and the other delusion? Are both? Are neither?
The newspapers, the military and the academics tended to mix the "Contactees" into the same bowl as the "flying saucers" and later "unidentified flying objects" and all were equally viewed as being as real as a spotted elephant. Just as one bad apple may spoil an entire barrel of good apples; one psychological report (a crazy, a loon, a contactee, etc.) could result in the tossing out a room full of good, scientifically viable, and multiple witnessed reports.
Many diverse individuals wrote works on the topic of UFO's and Biblical history and literature. Some also explored some theological issues but not as many. The topic was a poplar level one and so more esoteric discussions may have had no ready audience.
Unfortunately, today there are still academic reports being written that lump all these factors together instead of seeing them as separate strands sharing a time period but stemming from different stimuli.
I recall the old mini-series based on Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles, where the Catholic Priest is a missionary to the stars. He encounters the blue orbs - the remains of the original Martians - and it transforms him as any sacred encounter might. Science Fiction and religion have always had a close connection. "Science fiction writers continue to turn to religious characters, imagery and ideas to sort things out." Why do Catholic priests keep popping up in sci-fi? | America Magazine
It may be time to consider all these things. To sort things out. Is it a case of "God vs the UFO's" or "God and the UFO's."
Some interesting lines:
PIONEER CHRISTIAN WRITINGS ON FLYING SAUCERS AND UFO'S (bibeltemplet.net)
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