The UFO Deception: An Orthodox Perspective
January 2025 Book Club Discussion Thread
This book sat on my shelf for 2 years and I never read a single page. My reasoning, although completely unfounded, was that nothing more needed to be said about the UFO phenomenon that hasn’t already been addressed by Fr. Seraphim Rose in his book Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future. Aliens are demons, got it. UFOs are the materialized vessels they travel in, got it. Don’t be decieved by activity in the sky; you get the idea.
Recently, mainstream discourse of UFOs once again came to the forefront with US residents all across the east coast reporting mysterious drones and orbs in their backyard (myself included). This has been going on for months and there is still no official explanation, not even an attempt at one. My friends and family kept coming to me for answers and I would dismiss it with something like “I don’t know what they but the more you obsess over it, the more likely you will be decieved”. That is partly true and it’s the general sentiment I shared in my podcast episode on the UFO phenomena during the 2023 “Chinese spy balloon” incident".
I was not satisifed with my response, neither were my friends and family. They didn’t express it, but I knew they were expecting more. Suddenly, Fr. Spyridon’s book started really sticking out on my shelf. If I wasn’t going to be compelled to read it now, I never will.
As it came time to craft this year’s reading list for the book club, I added it to the list for January as a timely and sobering reminder that literally overnight, this UFO deception could become so widespread that it could become something we have to deal with in our every day life. There will be a time when simply going outside at night would never be the same.
Fr. Spyridon starts his book sharing the story of his wife’s encounter with a UFO on New Years Eve, 1978. In the first few chapters, he sets the stage by examining the characteristics, effects and dangers of the UFO phenonemon to present it as real and not some mass delusion. He starts with the first reported UFO sightings in 1933, described as “ghost ships” over London, seen in “extremely trecherous conditions” (p.14).
Many of the reports documented involve the U.S. government response (or lack thereof) to military reports of sightings by various pilots and high ranking officials. Sightings reached a peak by 1952 and by 1953, there were so many reports that it became a criminal activity with up to 10 years in prison for any military personell who discussed reports of UFOs. By the late 1980s, military psyops began associating the UFO phenomenon with conspiracy theories to control public discourse.
It wasn’t until 2020 when the unclassified Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) program confirmed that there were in fact secret ongoing efforts funded by the US government to examine UFO reports, dating back to 2007. Reports of sightings have continued to spike and lull through the years, but they have certainly not ceased. All that has changed as we enter 2025, is that we are now well beyond the UFO phenomenon belonging to the realm of conspiracy.
As we read The UFO Deception, I look forward to hearing your insights, experiences and commentary in the replies below and in our Discord community.
Member Review
One of our book club members
kicked off his newly launched Substack with a review of his own. I’d love to see more of this. Part of the value of the book club is those who participate are developing their reading and thinking skills. Writing is the most effective way to get the most out of your reading. So as you write your commnents and reviews, you will be generating content that you can use for your own publication. If you do the same as our friend “Smeagol” here, please share it and I would love to promote your work accordingly.
There appears to be a conflict between the impulse to search and explore for life outside of our planet and Christian dogma. I like how Father Spyridon addressed it by focusing on the intention. I would hope that searching and exploring would be ok. But he pointed out that after resounding failures, the SETI types never pivoted their hypothesis and thus revealed their intentions: to validate an atheist worldview.
How would/could an Orthodox Christian approach space exploration?
The most provocative message in the book is that this ET/UFO/aliens science that is being done, with millions upon millions spent, is not driven by human curiosity but a desperate need to validate an atheist worldview.
(Just was listening to a discussion on the book "the myth of disenchantment".... Similar ideas.)
When you begin to evaluate your unexamined views and beliefs, and prior utterances, you realize how drenched you are in modernism, secularism, and atheism.