Jovanovic, Vladisav: The Alien Question Is Not About Aliens: Why UFO Disclosure Feels Religious Even When the Evidence Is Weak

This paper offers an analysis of the UFO/UAP disclosure phenomenon. It argues that the alien question carries unusual cultural, psychological, political, and spiritual force because it is not only an empirical question about possible non-human craft. It is also a question about secrecy, institutional distrust, hidden authority, technological anxiety, spiritual hunger, and the human desire for an outside witness beyond the managed world. UFO disclosure often behaves like secular revelation: it pr