Fringe Religions Call San Diego Home

KPBS | By KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 11, 2007 at 11:38 AM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

San Diego is home to some of the most famous UFO religions, Heavens Gate in Rancho Santa Fe and the Unarius Academy of Science in El Cajon. Although many dismiss these groups as crazy cults, a l

Tom Fudge: Off-beat religions are among the things that makes California California. And between Heaven’s Gate and the Unarius Academy , San Diego has been home to some of the most off-beat you could imagine. Both the past members of Heaven’s Gate and the present-day Unarians formed faiths based on belief in UFOs and extraterrestrial life. And they are described at the beginning of a new book about our nation’s edgy religions. The book is called The Devil is a Gentleman: Exploring America’s Religious Fringe . The author is J.C. Hallman and he grew up in San Diego County.

Guest

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J.C. Hallman, banister writer-in-residence at Sweet Briar College and author of the non-fiction book, The Devil Is a Gentleman: Exploring America's Religious Fringe.

Fringe Religions Call San Diego Home

San Diego is home to some of the most famous UFO religions, Heavens Gate in Rancho Santa Fe and the Unarius Academy of Science in El Cajon. Although many dismiss these groups as crazy cults, a l

San Diego is home to some of the most famous UFO religions, Heavens Gate in Rancho Santa Fe and the Unarius Academy of Science in El Cajon. Although many dismiss these groups as crazy cults, a l