SUBJECT: UFOs COULD ESTABLISH SCIENTIFIC BASIS, BIBLE        FILE: UFO1287


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DATE OF ARTICLE:  April 22, 1989
SOURCE OF ARTICLE:  Post
LOCATION:  Palm Beach, Florida
BYLINE:  George W. Cornell
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PASTOR:   UFOS  COULD  ESTABLISH  SCIENTIFIC BASIS  FOR  BIBLICAL
EVENTS

By George W. Cornell
The Associated Press

Credit:  B. Pratt

     NEW YORK--Smile indulgently about it if so inclined.  That's
OK with the Rev.  Barry H. Downing.  But he firmly maintains that
UFOs are real and that they have key religious significance.
     He  says  recognizing the existence and operations of  these
unidentified flying objects could do much to strengthen faith and
renew confidence in biblical accounts.
     "It  would establish scientific plausibility for  the  whole
biblical field," he says.   "It would reinforce faith and make it
possible in a scientific context."

THE GOVERNMENT'S EFFECT
     Downing,  a Presbyterian pastor with a scientific bent, says
government  equivocation has caused skepticism about UFOs and  so
he expects some scoffing at his views.
     "You  have  to  have a good humor about it," he said  in  an
interview.   "I  can't  prove  I'm right,  but  there's  lots  of
evidence  for it,  and until it wins out,  some people  are  just
going to have to laugh."
     He theorizes that activities of UFO borne "higher beings" or
"angels,"   likely  from  another  dimension  rather  than  other
planets,  are  indicated in biblical events ranging from  guiding
the Israelites from Egypt to Christ's ascension.

A MIDDLE GROUND
     He  said  postulating  such activities in  forming  biblical
faith   would  open  a  middle  ground   between   fundamentalist
literalism    and   liberal   theology's   "demythologizing"   of
supernatural events as only symbolic.
     "It  would  cut  down  the  distance  between  liberals  and
fundamentalists,  and serve as a mediating force between the  two
extremes," he said.
     "The  mythological  concepts  would have to  be  reexamined,
which would be important for the liberal wing.   The conservative
wing,  which  stresses certainty and wants everything  locked  up
tight, also would be impacted.
     "This would mean unlocking things."

DETAILING HIS IDEAS
     Downing,  50,  an Endwell,  N.Y.,  pastor,  has a bachelor's
degree  in  physics  and,   after  having  completed  studies  at
Princeton Theological Seminary, got a doctorate at the University
of  Edinburgh  in  Scotland  on  relations  between  science  and
religion.
     He  details  his  ideas about UFOs and about eternity  as  a
coexisting universe,  based on Einstein's relativity theory, in a
new paperback edition of his book,  The Bible and Flying Saucers,
issued by Berkely Books.
     "What  is clear through the biblical material is that  God's
will for the Jews, and eventually for all mankind, was 'revealed'
by beings from another world," he writes.
     "Usually  these beings looked very much like ordinary  human
beings  (they  almost never have wings)...Once the  'package'  of
biblical religion had been delivered,  man became responsible for
the distribution of the contents..."

BIBLICAL INCIDENTS
     Downing  said  a  hovering,  UFO like "cloud"  by  day,  and
glowing  "pillar of fire" by night guided the Israelites  out  of
Egypt,  projecting some propulsive force that parted the Red Sea,
leading them for years across the desert.
     Other events he sees as carried out by UFOs include:
     The  firelike  phenomenon  on  Mount Sinai  in  which  Moses
received the Ten Commandments, the Prophet Elijah taken to heaven
in a fiery chariot, the star of Bethlehem, the engulfing light of
Jesus'  transfiguration,  his being "lifted up" at his  ascension
and the blinding visitation of Paul en route to Damascus.
     "All these were UFO types of reports," Downing said.

GOVERNMENT 'COVER UP'
     Downing,  pastor  for  22 years  of  Endwell's  Northminster
Presbyterian Church, also is theological consultant to the Mutual
UFO Network,  based in Seguin,  Texas, and Fund for UFO Research,
based in Washington.
     Recalling  a  1969  government commission finding  that  Air
Force    observations   offered   "insufficient   evidence"    to
substantiate UFOs,  Downing said the government was "covering up"
and the full report never was released.
     He displayed a 1975 letter from then Sen.  Barry  Goldwater,
R-Ariz.,  saying  the  material was being withheld as "above  Top
Secret."
     "If the government weren't lying in denying UFOs exist, we'd
have  had a religious revolution starting 40 years ago,"  Downing
said.   "It  would  not  mean  undermining  biblical  faith,  but
reinterpreting it in light of UFO phenomena."

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