Demons in Our Skies!

[Recusant]

Various religious and political types have been pushing the idea that UFOs/UAPs are actually demonic manifestations. It's been a theme among evangelical Christians for a number of years now. Even the slimeball Vice President Vance has jumped on the bandwagon. It seems to me to be an attempt to make their religion more relevant in pop culture, and it's working to some extent. I consider it to be an example of weaponized ignorance, something certain religious sorts specialize in.

Vance is a Catholic (he became one just a few years ago) but he's definitely aligned with right-wing evangelical Christians and his endorsement of this appears to be an attempt to ingratiate himself with them. The Catholic church isn't convinced though.

"Washington archbishop removes priest as exorcist after comments on UFOs and demons" | AP

The Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Robert McElroy, on Wednesday removed a well-known priest as an exorcist of the archdiocese after he made public comments suggesting that UFO sightings were the work of demons.

McElroy said the archdiocese also was cutting ties with the St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, a Washington-based nonprofit headed by the priest, Monsignor Stephen Rossetti.

The archbishop said Rossetti's statements "linking UFOs to demonic presence and the Center's recent use of social media gravely undermine the Church's very precise teaching on the devil, demons and exorcism."

"There's a danger here," Rossetti said in a May 29 video posted on his Facebook page addressing UFO sightings and the existence of aliens. "As an exorcist I wanted to raise that danger. And that is that demons like to hide. ... They don't want us to know what they're doing because they're more effective when we don't realize it."

"They can kind of get into your head, you know, and manipulate things in the world to influence us to do evil."

"It's my personal belief that probably many if not most of these UFO sightings are in fact demons," Rossetti added.

Rossetti also said that people can be good Catholics and believe there's life on other planets, though he does not personally believe life exists elsewhere.

[Continues . . .]

[Icarus]

Crackpots will believe all manner of absurdities. 

Don't those knotheads know that ET was a really nice guy, certainly not a demon. Of course he could ride a bicycle into space while going home.

[Recusant]

If somebody believes there's an entity which created the entire Universe and is extremely concerned with what's happening here on Earth, then it's not much of a leap to believe that opponents of that entity are equally concerned. Why they would want to fly around mysteriously just to be spotted by suggestible people is another question.