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From: John W. Ratcliff <jratcliff@worldnet.att.net>
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 23:54:23 -0600
Fwd Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 10:50:13 -0500
Subject: Re: UFO Cults - A research question...


John W. Ratcliff <jratcliff@worldnet.att.net> stupidly wrote:

>>Perhaps the next time a group of CSETI cultists go tramping
>>about the dark....

<snip>

As soon as I hit the 'send' button on this message I thought,
boy, that's going to get me in a bunch of trouble. I need to
follow up my previous message with a tiny bit of clarification.
First, CSETI is no more or less a cult than the Roman Catholic
Church. As I said before, either call them all cults or none of
them. Unfortunately I usually call them all cults since I can
rarely see much of a distinction; and the mainstream cults love
to use that term for the newcomers.

Let me clarify. I have the utmost respect for Steven Greer in
his efforts to bring about a more open dialogue on the subject
of the UFO phenomenon, and end the culture of secrecy in the
USAF regarding this topic. I fully support his efforts and
respect him as a compassionate and driven man. Where I differ
with Greer is on his methods to contact these
'extraterrestrials' and his assumptions about benign space
brothers. I believe that trust is earned, and in no way, shape,
or form has any aspect of the UFO phenomenon engendered a sense
of trust. The UFO phenomenon has appeared hostile, subversive,
sometimes benign, always secretive and has never been an open,
honest, or equal exchange between two species. Even if you don't
accept evidence of hostility, _common sense_ suggests an air of
great caution.

Regarding my classification of CSETI's contact protocol as a
cult, let me clarify.

There is absolutely no objective distinction between a group of
people attending a Virgin Mary apparition and the CSETI
protocols.

Catholics attending a Virgin Mary apparition utilize meditation
techniques, chanting, deep focused thought, musical tones, all
in an effort to contact a higher spiritual being.

CSETI protocol uses mediation, musical tones, and deep focused
thought to contact higher spiritual beings.

That one group believes their apparition to be the mother of
Jesus Christ and the other group believes their apparition to be
benign space brothers in UFOs is a hair split so fine that to
the outside objective observer appears to be irrelevant.

The actual work which has been done by Steven Greer to open up a
dialogue in government on the UFO subject is to be commended.
However, it is my humble opinion that his stated belief in
benign aliens, his lack of critical assessment of their motives
or criticism of _their_ cover-up (meaning the space brothers),
his blind view of the negative interactions between some aspects
of this phenomenon, his lack of historical perspective of the
amorphous nature of the phenomenon, and his ritualistic contact
protocols goes a long way towards destroying his credibility in
his other more worthwhile efforts.

Just this author's humble opinion of course.

John W. Ratcliff