More people are convinced that extraterrestrials do exist.

More than half of Americans believe in God. Surprisingly, the number of people who believe in aliens is only slightly lower.

As these numbers increase, Diana Pasulka, a professor at the University of North Carolina, claims that a belief in aliens could replace religious beliefs in the near future, according to Daily Express.

This belief is expressed in her new book titled “American Cosmic.” The book addresses why humans believe in the supernatural and how she believes we use God and aliens to explain the unexplainable.

The reason she thinks the paradigm is shifting from one to another is because she claims no proof in God has been discovered in human history, while alien life could one day be confirmed.

In an interview with Vox, Pasulka talks about this in more detail.

“I’m a historian of Catholicism, for instance, and what I find when I interact with people in Catholic communities is that they have faith that Jesus walked on water and that the Virgin Mary apparitions were true,” Pasulka said.

“But there’s something different about the UFO narrative. Here we have people who are actual scientists, like Ellan Stofan, the former chief scientist of NASA, who are willing to go on TV and basically make announcements like, ‘We are going to find extraterrestrial life.’” Pasulka said. “Now, she’s not exactly talking about intelligent extraterrestrial life, but that’s not how many people interpret her.”

The belief that UFOs and aliens are potentially true and can be proven makes this a uniquely powerful narrative, Pasulka said.

“Is it fair to call this a new form of religion? I think so,” Pasulka said.

We want to know what you think.