Editing UFO conspiracy theories (section)

==In religion==
{{see also|UFO religion}}
<!-- Theosophy, Meade Layne, Nation of Islam, Scientology-->
[[Religious studies|Scholars of religion]] have identified some [[new religious movements]] among the proponents of UFO conspiracy theories, most notably the [[Nation of Islam]], [[Scientology]], and [[Heaven's Gate (religious group)|Heaven's Gate]].<ref name="Robertson 2021"/>

Mormon cosmology teaches that the Earth is not unique, but that it is one of many [[Habitable planet|inhabited planets]], with each planet created for the purpose of bringing about the "immortality and eternal life" (i.e., the exaltation) of humanity.<ref name="Johnson1992">{{citation
 | last         = Johnson
 | first        = Hollis R.
 | contribution = Worlds
 | contribution-url = http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/4358
 | pages        = 1595–96
 | editor-last  = Ludlow
 | editor-first = Daniel H
 | editor-link  = Daniel H. Ludlow
 | year         = 1992
 | title        = [[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]]
 | place        = New York
 | publisher    = [[Macmillan Publishing]]
 | isbn         = 0-02-879602-0
 | oclc         = 24502140
 }}</ref>{{rp|1595}}
One author observes "there has long been an association between UFOs and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/09/05/matthew-bowman-why-some-latter-day/ | title=Matthew Bowman: Why some Latter-day Saints believe in UFOs and why these alien travelers fit with their religion }}</ref>

Theosophists and occultists had long claimed knowledge of extraterrestrial beings. In 1946, [[Meade Layne]] achieved national notoriety when the wire service carried his claims to be in telepathic communication with people in a space ship.<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|102}} Other "contactees" like [[George Adamski]] and [[George Hunt Williamson]] similarly had backgrounds in Theosophy.<ref name="Barkun2006"/>{{rp|150}} [[Guy Warren Ballard]], founder of the UFO religion [["I AM" Activity]], had a background in Theosophist.

In the years following the 1931 [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria]], Nation of Islam founder W.D. Fard introduced the concept of [[Beliefs and theology of the Nation of Islam#The Mother Plane|The Mother Plane]]: an apocalyptic Japanese weapon of war. During the ensuing decades, the Mother Plane became identified with UFOs.<ref name="Robertson 2021"/>

1950s UFO religions included [[Unarius]] and the [[Aetherius Society]]. In the 1950s, [[L. Ron Hubbard]], a pulp fiction author in Raymond Palmer's magazines and a practitioner of [[Aleister Crowley]]'s [[Thelema]], founded the new religious movement [[Scientology]]. In the late 1960s,  Hubbard began to secretly teach of [[Xenu]], an extraterrestrial who conspired to turn ancient Earth into a prison for immortal souls.<ref name="Robertson 2021"/>   In the 1970s, UFO religion [[Raëlism]] formed;  In 2002 the group achieved notoriety for its unverified [[Clonaid#Alleged clone baby Eve|claims to have performed human cloning]].

In 1997, rumors spread that a spaceship was trailing the Hale-Bopp comet.<ref name="Gulyas2016"/>{{rp|132|quote=Art Bell came under fire for creating an environment in which the assertion of an extraterrestrial craft accompanying the comet was presented as scientific fact rather than conjecture... Bell denied any responsibility... saying, "I'm not going to stop presenting my material because there are unstable people."}}  On March 26, 1997, law enforcement discovered the bodies of the 39 active members of [[Heaven's Gate (religious group)|Heaven's Gate]] religious group. They had participated in a coordinated series of ritual suicides, coinciding with the closest approach of Comet Hale–Bopp.<ref name="Gulyas2016"/>  From 1994 to 1997, UFO religion [[Order of the Solar Temple]] was responsible for 74 deaths in a series of mass murder-suicides.