Cults

You should stay away from cults like that before you turn into a moron.

Some cults practice ritual sex.

Cults isolate people from the surrounding world.

Do not trust cults!

It is not, however, all Roman gods, cults, and myths that are discussed by Plutarch: he limits himself, on the whole, to those which are purely Roman, or rather purely Italian.

A lot of cults do things like that.

The perception of extraterrestrials as gods hinges on human psychology and cultural context. Imagine a scenario: a sleek, shimmering craft descends, and beings emerge who can heal diseases with a touch, manipulate gravity, or communicate telepathically. To a medieval peasant—or even a modern person unfamiliar with advanced tech—this might scream "divine intervention." Anthropologically, we see this pattern in cargo cults of the Pacific, where isolated tribes revered WWII airmen as gods because their planes and goods defied explanation.