(Dis)Enchanted Ufology: The Boundaries of Science and Religion in MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network

This article examines how adherents within the self-styled scientific side of the UFO subculture implicitly challenge the assumed dichotomy between a rationalized disenchanted modern scientific worldview, and a non-rational religious other. After providing background on the origin of the UFO subcult...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nova religio
Subtitles:DisEnchanted Ufology
Enchanted Ufology
Main Author: Zeller, Benjamin E. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: University of Californiarnia Press 2021
In: Nova religio
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Mutual UFO Network / Unidentified flying object cults / Quasi-religion / Science / New religion / History 1947-2021
RelBib Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
AZ New religious movements
TK Recent history
Further subjects:B Scientism
B reenchantment
B MUFON
B Ufology
B UFO
B Disenchantment
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:This article examines how adherents within the self-styled scientific side of the UFO subculture implicitly challenge the assumed dichotomy between a rationalized disenchanted modern scientific worldview, and a non-rational religious other. After providing background on the origin of the UFO subculture, ufology, and more explicitly religious forms of ufology, the article turns to the largest scientific ufological organization, MUFON, and the way in which participants within that organization engage and delineate social boundaries between religion, science, secularism, and spirituality. I argue that an enchanted ufology lurks just under the surface of this secular, scientific, rational disenchantment.
ISSN:1541-8480
Contains:Enthalten in: Nova religio
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1525/nr.2021.25.2.61