FOCUS magazine (A German newsweekly) had as a cover story the resurgent beleif in UFOs. The following interview with sociologist Gerald Eberlein on UFO and paranormal "believers" may be of interest.

I'm responsible for the translation and any errors it contains. I'm also not going to go through and tidy up the translation to make it more readable due to lack of time. I think the main points are clear. From: UFOlogie als Ersatzreligion (UFO belief as an ersatz-religion), FOCUS, 6 November 1995, p. 252.

EBERLEIN: Research has shown that such people are not connected to any church, but claim that they are religious and react especially strong to the possibility that of the existence of aliens. For them the UFOlogy is a type of Ersatz-religion. The actual question however is which UFOs are there and for whom. From astronomers and pilots we have really no reports of UFOs. Only three out of every thousand UFO reports come from them.

FOCUS: Are UFO believers sort of narrow minded?

EBERLEIN: No. They simply possess a very archaic field of perception and strongly identify emotionally with that which they perceive. They are people of great fantasy; creative people, not idiots or pathological types.

FOCUS: Are they gullible?

EBERLEIN: I wouldn't say that. They identify themselves with the sofar unexplained appearances in the sky and believe that such things really exist. Here they find a way to express their beliefs for which don't have an outlet in an organized religion.

FOCUS: Would you personally dismiss the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence?

EBERLEIN: No, not at all. I would only doubt the feasability of communication per UFO across such huge distances, unless one grabs for answers from science fiction. An author can say and write what he wants. It just becomes difficult when a para-science like UFOlogie tries to claim that it knows a lot more than astronomers and astrophysicists.

FOCUS: You say that we're dealing with a crisis of the established religions, but isn't it also a crisis of the established sciences?

EBERLEIN: The science dealt with in academia is becoming less and less understandable to people. Many people have the impression that the important problems will be dealt with less by academic scientists than by individuals scientists on their own or by lay researchers.

FOCUS: Should we protect ourselves from belief in UFO stories?

EBERLEIN: I find the fear of academic scientists from touching the subject even more dangerous. We're avoiding any work with UFO research.

FOCUS: But their existence isn't yet proven.

EBERLEIN: Perhaps it isn't proven, but maybe there is something. Maybe there are really marks of UFOs that are thousands of years old.

FOCUS: Is the para-science a danger for the sciences?

EBERLEIN: The para-scientists appeal to very deep lying experiences, needs and hopes of the participants. They try to formulate that which moves people. I consider that legitimate. Basically, they are harmless people.

FOCUS: If you were on a walk and suddenly saw extermely strange things, how owuld you explain these appearances?

EBERLEIN: Anomalies and phenomena are everywhere. Alchemy or mythical animals in zoology. (translator's note: the answer is oddly worded even in German). If they exist, well, we don't know that at all.

FOCUS: But do we know that they don't exist.

EBERLEIN: No, we don't know that either.

---end translation---

COMMENT: Although FOCUS tried to sensationalize the issue by getting Eberlein to speculate on whether or not UFOs exist, I find the interesting part of the discussion the speculation that the belief in paranormal phenomena appeal to the religious notions of people not connected to a church. Belief in the paranormal seems to be emerging as a replacement to the outdated myths of past religions -- sort of a pseudo-scientific modernization of mythology. -scott