will eventually become a Master and will continue evolving from there." The society regards itself as a spiritual path rather than a religious movement per se. Its path contains various stages of spiritual evolution from earthly to cosmic. Karma and reincarnation are accepted by the religion as laws of nature. The society claims it is "not out to change existing religions so much as to add a cosmic dimension to them". Its religious services use both Christian prayers and Eastern mantras. Criticism Many of King's claims, particularly claims to various titles and honors, have been shown to be questionable at best. Simon Smith states that the Aetherius Society has to bridge a number of credibility gaps exacerbated by scientific and technological advances, and mentions some seemingly insurmountable problems facing its world view, such as the non-existence of life on the other planets of the Solar System, and scarce evidence of spacecraft visiting Earth. The society uses the concepts of 'higher spheres of existence' to explain life on the other planets, and the 'lowly karmic position' of mankind to explain why extraterrestrials do not land openly. Hence the movement, while failing to keep pace with science and technology, has tried to explain consequent incompatibilities. However, explanation has become increasingly unnecessary for adherents due to their growing acceptance of King's charismatic authority. Rothstein notes that while the Aetherius Society touts a television appearance of King's as a momentous event, contemporary media coverage of King was mostly negative. In 1958, the society's publication "Cosmic Voice" claimed to give details transmitted by the Cosmic Masters of an atomic accident in Russia, i.e. the Kyshtym Disaster, that was not known about in the West until 1976 when revealed by the New Scientist magazine. The magazine, after receiving a claim about the transmission from the Aetherius Society, entered a two-paragraph item under the title "Scooped by a UFO!", next to other news items intended to be humorous, such as a report of a "Dolphin Embassy." The Aetherius Society, however, interprets the New Scientist coverage as recognition of King's integrity, and admission by the magazine that they had been scooped by a UFO. The Cosmic Voice reported, early in its history, that King's mother was often a passenger in the flying saucers from various planets, was once in a Martian spaceship when she was introduced to a Venusian whom she recognized as "our dear Jesus", who solemnly