Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

What do UFOs tell us about us?

With regard to your May 11 editorial, “Destigmatizing UFO research can bring needed clarity to Americans,” I couldn’t agree more.

The question, though, is what sort of research should be done into this important subject? What sort of questions should be asked?

I’m a teenage “UFOlogist” from the 1960s who grew up to become a professor of religious studies. I’m convinced that, contrary to my youthful belief, UFOs don’t exist. I’m convinced that they’re a human phenomenon, specifically a religious one, with the potential to tell us important and exciting things about ourselves as individuals, as a culture and as a species.

The key question to be asked is not “What are UFOs?” or “Where do they come from?” but “What do they mean?”

UFO witness Lt. Commander Alex Dietrich, interviewed recently by Anderson Cooper, spoke of the people who had responded to her on Twitter about UFOs. “I’m fascinated,” she said, “with their fascination.”

So am I. So, I think, we all should be.

The writer is professor emeritus of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.