Religions

Believers in extraterrestrials have also pointed to religious texts to support their claims of a previous visitation. Proponents often mention the imagery in the Book of Ezekiel, or the vimanas of Hindu Vedic texts, while some religions, like Raelism and Scientology, hold the belief of extraterrestrials as basic tenets of their faith. One thing some Ancient Astronaut theorists like to mention as a modern day comparison are the so-called Cargo Cults. These “cults” arose when the primitive, indigenous populations of isolated islands were exposed to visitors from civilized countries. For example, U.S. soldiers landed on the tiny island of Tanna, Vanuatu, during WWII to build airstrips for their fight against Japan. The tribal inhabitants viewed the soldiers as gods, and accepted gifts from them as rewards from their deities. When the soldiers left as quickly as they came, the inhabitants began recreating their “rituals,” such as marching in formation and building makeshift landing strips and planes, in order to continue the delivery of their divine “cargo.” Some ufologists have speculated that ancient religions may have developed the same way, with extraterrestrials acting the part of American soldiers.

宗教

相信有外星人的人士還曾引述宗教文字來佐證外星人曾經來訪的觀點。支持者經常提及以西結書中的雕像，即印度吠陀文獻中的維曼拿斯(vimanas，印度文獻中記載的一種神話般的飛行器--譯者注)，而有些宗教(如雷爾教派和科學論派)將相信外星人的存在作為其信仰的基本教義。一些古代宇航員理論支持者喜歡提及用來與當代作比較的一件事是所謂的貨物崇拜。這種“崇拜”在孤島上的原始、土著人遇到來自文明國家的來訪者時產生。例如，二戰期間，美國士兵曾登陸瓦魯阿圖一個叫塔納的小島，在島上建造機場，方便對日作戰。部落土著將這些士兵視為天神，接受“神賜”禮物，認為這是神對于他們虔誠的獎賞。當這些士兵們如同迅速到來那般迅速離開時，土著開始重新創建他們的“儀式”，如按隊列行進以及建造臨時機場和飛機，以便繼續上交他們的神圣“貨物”。一些UFO專家推測，古代宗教也可能是以同樣的方式發展的，只不過外星人取代了美國士兵的地位。