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I interjected an opportunity in the round table for a segueway, but nobody bit, so here's my response:

Let's make a quick comparision of the three examples:

Raëlism has its origins in an alleged contactee scenario between a Frenchman named Claude Vorhillon and aliens at the Puy De La Solas volcano of France that led to Vorhillon changing his name, declaring himself a prophet and starting a religion around that experience.
Heaven’s Gate was a cybersect led by Marshall Applewhite who claimed to have had an NDE, and combined elements of Judeo Christian Revelation with science fiction. Among the victims was Thomas Nichols, brother of actress Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura in the original Star Trek TV series.
Ufology arose out of the United States Air Force in the late 1940s when scientists and engineers at the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright Patterson Air Force Base began objective studies into the reports of flying craft that didn’t match the appearance or flight performance of any known natural or manmade object of the day. The first projects spanned around twenty years and involved other scientists on both sides of the UFO debate including Astronomer J. Allen Hynek and astrologist Carl Sagan.
Clearly what we see when we examine the origins of these three examples are entirely separate processes, and therefore we need to be careful not to short circuit the connections. To try to illustrate further, the Raelians and Heaven's gate were also reported in the general news media. Does that automatically make the general media part of the Raelians or Heaven's Gate? Certainly not. Ufology is simply another process that specializes in examining issues that surround the topic of UFOs.

Lastly, ufology isn't a scientific discipline and never will be because the full array of subject matter that makes up ufology as a whole extends well beyond the range of the scientific method. Nevertheless that doesn't make ufology any less objective in terms of observation, analysis and reporting. For example, one might compare the core work to investigative journalism. Observations are made, facts gathered, and reports written. Sometimes there can be a lot of editorializing and theorizing, but that in no way should be confused with either religion or science.

<blockquote data-quote="Randall" data-source="post: 151357" data-attributes="member: 2682">I interjected an opportunity in the round table for a segueway, but nobody bit, so here&#039;s my response:&nbsp;Let&#039;s make a quick comparision of the three examples:&nbsp;<ol>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Raëlism has its origins in an alleged contactee scenario between a Frenchman named Claude Vorhillon and aliens at the Puy De La Solas volcano of France that led to Vorhillon changing his name, declaring himself a prophet and starting a religion around that experience.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Heaven’s Gate was a cybersect led by Marshall Applewhite who claimed to have had an NDE, and combined elements of Judeo Christian Revelation with science fiction. Among the victims was Thomas Nichols, brother of actress Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura in the original Star Trek TV series.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Ufology arose out of the United States Air Force in the late 1940s when scientists and engineers at the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright Patterson Air Force Base began objective studies into the reports of flying craft that didn’t match the appearance or flight performance of any known natural or manmade object of the day. The first projects spanned around twenty years and involved other scientists on both sides of the UFO debate including Astronomer J. Allen Hynek and astrologist Carl Sagan.</li>
</ol>Clearly what we see when we examine the origins of these three examples are entirely separate processes, and therefore we need to be careful not to short circuit the connections. To try to illustrate further, the Raelians and Heaven&#039;s gate were also reported in the general news media. Does that automatically make the general media part of the Raelians or Heaven&#039;s Gate? Certainly not. Ufology is simply another process that specializes in examining issues that surround the topic of UFOs. &nbsp;Lastly, ufology isn&#039;t a scientific discipline and never will be because the full array of subject matter that makes up ufology as a whole extends well beyond the range of the scientific method. Nevertheless that doesn&#039;t make ufology any less objective in terms of observation, analysis and reporting. For example, one might compare the core work to investigative journalism. Observations are made, facts gathered, and reports written. Sometimes there can be a lot of editorializing and theorizing, but that in no way should be confused with either religion or science.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Randall, post: 151357, member: 2682"] [FONT=arial]I interjected an opportunity in the round table for a segueway, but nobody bit, so here's my response:[/FONT] [FONT=arial]Let's make a quick comparision of the three examples:[/FONT] [LIST=1] [*][FONT=arial][B]Raëlism[/B] has its origins in an alleged contactee scenario between a Frenchman named Claude Vorhillon and aliens at the Puy De La Solas volcano of France that led to Vorhillon changing his name, declaring himself a prophet and starting a religion around that experience.[/FONT] [*][FONT=arial][B]Heaven’s Gate[/B] was a cybersect led by Marshall Applewhite who claimed to have had an NDE, and combined elements of Judeo Christian Revelation with science fiction. Among the victims was Thomas Nichols, brother of actress Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura in the original Star Trek TV series.[/FONT] [*][FONT=arial][B]Ufology[/B] arose out of the United States Air Force in the late 1940s when scientists and engineers at the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright Patterson Air Force Base began objective studies into the reports of flying craft that didn’t match the appearance or flight performance of any known natural or manmade object of the day. The first projects spanned around twenty years and involved other scientists on both sides of the UFO debate including Astronomer J. Allen Hynek and astrologist Carl Sagan.[/FONT] [/LIST] [FONT=arial]Clearly what we see when we examine the origins of these three examples are entirely separate processes, and therefore we need to be careful not to short circuit the connections. To try to illustrate further, the Raelians and Heaven's gate were also reported in the general news media. Does that automatically make the general media part of the Raelians or Heaven's Gate? Certainly not. Ufology is simply another process that specializes in examining issues that surround the topic of UFOs. [/FONT] [FONT=arial]Lastly, ufology isn't a scientific discipline and never will be because the full array of subject matter that makes up ufology as a whole extends well beyond the range of the scientific method. Nevertheless that doesn't make ufology any less objective in terms of observation, analysis and reporting. For example, one might compare the core work to investigative journalism. Observations are made, facts gathered, and reports written. Sometimes there can be a lot of editorializing and theorizing, but that in no way should be confused with either religion or science.[/FONT] [/QUOTE]

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