The Michael Decon Program

Episode 108: UFO’s Religion & Politics

Benjamin E. Zeller is a researcher and teacher of religion in America. He focuses on religious currents that are new or alternative, including new religions, the religious engagement with science, and the quasi-religious relationship people have with food.

Heaven’s Gate is best known as the UFO group that ended with the mass suicides in San Diego in 1997 at the time of the Hale-Bopp comet. It made the news after the movement’s 39 active members committed mass suicide, and there was a bit of a media frenzy. The group is now defunct, though ex-members maintain their website and there are still a few believers out there.