Why is it that millions of people accept ancient religious texts — the Bible, the Qur’an, and others — sometimes literally, believing in miracles, angels, demons, and divine intervention, yet categorically reject the possibility of spirits, communication with the dead, other dimensions, or non-human intelligences?

In this episode of Talking to the Dead, I confront what may be one of the deepest contradictions at the heart of religion and modern society.

In the first half of the episode, I take a rigorous intellectual journey through psychology, cognitive science, anthropology, and religious studies to examine how belief actually works. Drawing on peer-reviewed research, I explore why people compartmentalise belief — embracing the supernatural when it is institutionally sanctioned, while dismissing similar phenomena as superstition, fantasy, or madness when they fall outside accepted doctrine. We ask uncomfortable questions about selective skepticism, cultural conditioning, and the social function of belief itself.

In the second half, I turn to a question that is no longer purely speculative: what would happen if the world were officially told that we are not alone?
What if a major world leader announced confirmed contact or historical evidence of non-human intelligence — whether biological, artificial, interdimensional, or extraterrestrial?

I examine serious research and recent warnings from economists, psychologists, and former central-bank officials who argue that such a revelation could trigger ontological shock — destabilizing financial markets, religious institutions, political systems, and everyday life itself. Would religions adapt, fracture, or collapse? Would economies panic? Would society unite — or splinter?

This episode is not about belief or disbelief.
It is about why we believe what we believe, what we refuse to see, and whether humanity is prepared — intellectually, spiritually, and psychologically — for a reality far stranger than we have been taught to accept.