Steven Spielberg‘s new UFO blockbuster does not just ask whether aliens exist, but whether Christianity can survive disclosure.
The film Disclosure Day, which has already drawn more than two million Americans to theaters, follows the Trump administration’s drop of previously classified UFO files that offer new evidence that humanity is not alone.
In the run-up to the movie’s release, Spielberg openly grappled with one of the questions that has long haunted the UFO debate: If extraterrestrial life were confirmed, what would it mean for Christianity?
One of the film’s central characters, a former nun, fears that confirmation of extraterrestrial life could shatter the foundations of her faith.
She worries that disclosure could force believers to question everything they know about God, Jesus and the Bible.
UFO investigator Chris Ramsay told the Daily Mail that this idea reflects a very real concern among believers who worry that proof of alien life could force them to rethink their understanding of God, creation and humanity’s place in the universe.
The debate over what UFOs really are has increasingly spilled beyond science and into religion and philosophy.
The Daily Mail previously revealed details from several pastors who claimed they were part of secret meetings to prepare for UFO disclosure, warning it could be linked to a spiritual deception foretold in the Bible.
The film Disclosure Day (above), which has already drawn more than two million Americans to theaters, follows a global leak of classified UFO files that proves humanity is not alone
A scene from Disclosure Day starring Eve Hewson as a former nun who fears that confirmation of extraterrestrial life could shatter the foundations of her faith
The theory has also been embraced by some prominent political figures and commentators, including Tucker Carlson and Vice President JD Vance, who have suggested UFOs are actual demonic beings.
Disclosure Day follows a cybersecurity expert and a TV meteorologist who team up to steal classified files and broadcast decades of evidence of extraterrestrial life to the public, despite a shadowy government agency trying to stop them.
The former nun, Jane Blankenship (played by Eve Hewson), is the girlfriend of the film’s cybersecurity whistleblower, Dr Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor).
Early in the film, Jane fears that revealing the existence of highly advanced beings will cause humanity to view aliens as supreme deities, shattering foundational religious beliefs.
After she and Daniel are targeted by the WARDEX corporation for leaking classified files, Jane takes refuge at her former convent. There, she reunites with Sister Maura (Elizabeth Marvel), who encourages a more open-minded view of the universe.
As the story unfolds, Jane comes to see that the existence of alien life does not have to conflict with faith. Instead, she concludes that a vast universe can deepen belief in a creator rather than diminish it.
Ramsay – a popular Canadian magician turned UFO researcher – said Spielberg’s film stood out for the way it addressed concerns about what disclosure means for religion.
UFO investigator Chris Ramsay, who suggested the movie addressed concerns about religion that have long circulated within disclosure circles
Religious themes have long been woven into some of Hollywood’s biggest alien films.
In Contact, the discovery of extraterrestrial life becomes a debate over faith versus evidence, while Signs follows a former minister struggling to rediscover his belief in God during an alien invasion.
Arrival takes a more philosophical approach, exploring destiny, sacrifice and humanity’s place in the universe.
But Spielberg’s Disclosure Day goes a step further by directly asking what proof of alien life could mean for Christianity itself.
‘If you’re faced with this brand new truth… that here are other beings, it puts into question a lot of the things that people may have read in the Bible,’ Ramsay explained.
The UFO investigator noted that disclosure advocates have long debated the potential fallout of such a revelation.
Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett, who claimed to have seen videos of craft that ‘defy any reason,’ has suggested that government agencies are using the excuse that UFO disclosure will ‘disrupt religion’ to withhold files from the public.
Some fear the consequences would extend far beyond religion, affecting people’s sense of identity, purpose and certainty about the world around them.
Ramsay believes Spielberg deliberately included the subplot because the issue remains one of the most sensitive aspects of disclosure.
‘He obviously understands that a vast majority of the American population, specifically being Christians, might see disclosure as this existential sort of problem that they have to inevitably face,’ he said.
The film’s answer, he argued, was not to dismiss faith but to offer a path for reconciling it with the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
A scene from Disclosure Day, which Ramsay said uses animals in a way that aligns with reports of aliens portraying themselves as such to humans
‘I think that was Spielberg’s way of softening the blow,’ he continued. ‘Just because there might be life out there, or even visiting us, doesn’t mean God doesn’t exist. He would have created them too, right?
‘I thought that that was his clever way of trying to thread together the potential, hopeful, inevitable disclosure day.’
For Ramsay, however, one of the most impressive aspects of Disclosure Day was the sheer number of UFO-related topics Spielberg managed to squeeze into a single film.
‘I think it was an absolutely Herculean task which was set before him,’ the researcher said.
‘We’re talking about the phenomenon that dates all the way back to the mid-’40s, all the way up to now. It’s 80 years of secrets, of phenomena, of high strangeness… all the way to crash retrievals and contact cases with aliens.’
According to Ramsay, the director did not simply focus on extraterrestrials arriving on Earth, but incorporated some of the most controversial ideas that have circulated within the UFO community for decades.
Among them were claims involving psychic abilities, remote viewing and telepathy.
Another scene in which protagonist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) suddenly displays unusual mental abilities after an encounter
Remote viewing refers to the alleged ability to mentally perceive distant people, places or events without being physically present.
The concept became widely known through the Stargate program, a Cold War-era US government project that investigated whether psychic phenomena could be used for intelligence gathering.
Although Spielberg portrayed the abilities in a dramatic Hollywood fashion, Ramsay said he appreciated that the film acknowledged government interest in such programs.
Ramsay was also surprised by how deeply Spielberg ventured into the world of so-called UFO ‘experiencers’.
One of the movie’s most subtle details involves what researchers commonly refer to as ‘screen memories.’
One scene in the movie shows Margaret following a trail of animals when the scene suddenly shifts into a sterile room where a child lies on a floating metallic slab beneath a gray alien
The main character Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) encounters a bird early in the film and later comes across other animals, including raccoons and foxes.
Ramsay said so-called extraterrestrials are often reported to appear as animals during encounters, a phenomenon described as ‘screen memories’ where aliens are claimed to disguise themselves as animals so people forget seeing them, with owls and deer among the most common examples reported.
He pointed to author Whitley Strieber’s famous book titled Communion, in which the writer described repeatedly encountering owls during his alleged experiences.
Another scene that caught Ramsay’s attention involves Blunt’s character suddenly displaying unusual mental abilities after an encounter.
She begins speaking Russian, appears capable of reading people’s thoughts, and experiences what could be described as clairvoyant episodes.
‘That’s something that’s actually been documented quite extensively with experiencers,’ Ramsay told the Daily Mail.
A scene from the movie showing crop circles
He explained that many people who claim contact with non-human intelligence report lingering psychic effects for days to months after the experience.
Among everything he noted about the film, the sequence Ramsay praised most comes near the end.
In the scene, Margaret follows a series of animals through a snowy forest toward what appears to be a warm, inviting house.
As she approaches, the illusion falls away. The cozy setting transforms into a sterile white room where a child lies on a floating metallic slab beneath the gaze of a gray alien.
‘When that transition happened, I got the chills through my whole body,’ Ramsay said. ‘I thought that they landed that was very, very accurate [to reports].’
Still, not everything about the story worked for the UFO researcher.
He questioned the film’s depiction of extraterrestrials communicating through clicking sounds, arguing that many experiencer accounts describe telepathic communication instead.
At the end of the film, the screen flashed with media snippets of unexplained UFO sightings and conspiracy theories, leaving Ramsay to hope that something ‘real’ was coming.
‘How amazing of an opportunity would that have been for disclosure?’ he said.
‘For people gathered in the theater, eating popcorn and being told… this movie features footage from a real, live, non-human crash retrieval. For me, that would have been disclosure – and in the most American way.’
