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The UK's leading expert claims that the unidentified anomalies of the nineties were not properly investigated due to fears that they were caused by "demonic forces".
Nick Pope, who headed the Department of Defence's Office of UFOs between 1991 and 1994, said the then Chief of Defence Staff, Lord Hill Norton, halted the investigation into the sightings after being influenced by a controversial priest.
He added that the United States** shared a similar belief that politicians and ** often obeyed the Bible when the issue of UFOs (now officially known as UAP) arose.
"Some official resistance to taking UAP seriously comes not from shrewd scientific skeptics who see studying UAP as a waste of time and money, but from a faction that believes UAP is real – but demonic," Pope said in an interview. ”。
This stems in part from the Bible's description of Satan as "the prince of the power of the air" – quoting Ephesians. ”
The notion that flying objects in the sky may have religious origins is a long-standing theory among UFO enthusiasts – explored in a new documentary, God and UFOs – but has not been publicly acknowledged at the ** level.
However, Mr. Pope stated that the private belief that UFOs are neither a classified military operation, nor a hostile state, or even a visitor from another planet, but a demonic force, has hindered adequate research on the issue.
"The idea seems to be that if UFOs are a manifestation of some kind of demon, then contact with them will give them energy, which will feed them, so they should be avoided," he said. ”。
This is most likely a factor in the report of the Pentagon's UFO investigator Luis Elizondo. He said that when he tried to involve a senior defense officer, he was denied by the latter, who told him to read the Bible.
Mr. Pope added that the idea crossed the Atlantic and into Downing Street.
"I have seen a similar situation in England, where I have repeatedly briefed the former Chief of Defence Staff, Lord Hill Norton, who is increasingly influenced by the maverick priest Paul Inglesby, who he considers the phenomenon to be diabolical," Mr Pope said. ”。
Reverend Inglesby began his career in the military, joining the Navy and serving in World War II.
During his service, he developed a serious illness and developed extreme hallucinations, which later affected his perception of UAP. He also claimed to have made an "out-of-body trip to Mars".
After leaving the Navy to join the Church, he had a significant influence on many well-known public figures, including the Earl of Mountbatten, then Prince Philip's uncle.
"This is particularly unfortunate because Lord Hill Norton is arguably the leader of the so-called 'faction of believers' in the establishment," Mr. Pope said. ”。
He raised a number of questions about the UAP to parliament and pressured the Minister of Defense to publish information on UFO cases such as the Lundham Forest incident.
Inglesby shifted his focus from defense and *** to religious interpretations of the UAP, which was an unwelcome distraction and one that I struggled to overcome. ”
The Lundham Forest incident was the UK's most notorious UAP sighting.
For more than three days starting Boxing Day in 1980, military personnel and police witnessed lights, scorched marks and so-called "unidentified flying machines" in the forests surrounding the Bentwaters and Woodbridge military bases in Suffolk County.
The case has remained unsolved and is often referred to as the "Roswell of Britain".
It seems that it wasn't just Lord Hill Norton who was influenced by the religious views around the UAP.
"There are other clues that some of the Department of Defense in charge of the UAP have been influenced by at least one fundamentalist view," Pope said. ”。
A deputy department head who thinks we should scale back the UAP work belongs to a rather grim church. He received a pager over the weekend during one of the NATO wars we were involved in, and I commented kindly and easily that if in the church, when they sang "All Things Light and Beautiful", the pager rang, he would not have been welcome.
He stared at me defensively and retorted defensively that they didn't sing "that hymn" in his church. ”
The Defense Department closed its UFO office in 2009, saying no reports had been seen as a military threat in 50 years.
This year, however, the subject has garnered a great deal of public and political interest after a former U.S. intelligence agent claimed to have evidence of "complete and partially complete" alien vehicles.
He took an oath on the matter at a congressional hearing, adding that people were "hurt" in order to cover up the information.
Reflecting on the attitude of the British**, Mr. Pope added: "It makes one wonder that the suspicion and resistance of the UAP in other ** places of interest is driven by extreme religious views and belief in demonic reality." ”