When Prophecy Never Fails: Myth and Reality in a Flying-Saucer Group

Having read Ernest Norman's The Truth About Mars: An Eyewitness Account recently, I was interested to learn more about the Unarius Academy, an obscure 'UFO religion' founded by Norman and his wife Ruth in the 1950's. Tumminia's decade long study of Unarius is a revealing look at the founders and followers of this group of believers, led by Uriel (Ruth Norman) for nearly thirty years. This is one of the rare sociological texts on new religious movements where the author spent considerable time inside the group, understanding both the historical perspective and the mechanisms of their belief as well as their ability to deal with repeated failure of prophecy and the death of both founders. When Prophecy Never Fails is a worth modern sequel to the classic Festinger study that inspired the title, When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of A Modern Group that Predicted the Destruction of the World. One of the core Unarius beliefs is reincarnation, and Tumminia demonstrates how their group approach to recovering past lives reinforces itself with each member contributing to a shared belief system. The extent of past life activity is incredible, with the group publishing an endless stream of videos and books such as The Confessions of I, Bonaparte. Although this is an academic text, overall it is very readable. Tumminia's approach is far more sympathetic and scholarly than the style taken by Alex Heard in Apocalypse Pretty Soon: Travels In End-Time America. The tone is non-judgmental, and anti-cult activists may lump Tumminia with other sociologists considered apologists for new religious movements. Of course, none of the Unarius beliefs withstand any level of critical analysis but overall they appear to be no more harmful or credulous than mainstream religions and they certainly pale in comparison to groups that have mastered the abuse of large group psychotherapy. Unarius is yet another example of humanity's ability to believe pretty much anything, and a remnant of a gentler age when UFO's were seen as the harbingers of our benign Space Brothers. Rather than ridiculing the Unarius beliefs, this book works to reveal why people believe, a far more interesting and rewarding topic.