Raëlism

Raëlism is a UFO-based religious movement founded in the 1970s by French journalist Claude Vorilhon. The religion is based on Vorilhon’s claims he was visited by an advanced extraterrestrial race called the Elohim, who said that humans were the result of an alien genetic experiment. The Elohim told him to spread their message on Earth to prepare humanity for their eventual return, at which time they will create a new society without war or hardship. Vorilhon accepted the mission, changing his name to Raël and founding the Raëlism movement. Among the main tenets of Raëlism are a rejection of other religions and the acceptance of open sexuality. Raëlism also holds that to achieve immortality, humans must learn to clone new bodies into which they will transfer their minds. In 2002, a group associated with the Raëlians claimed to have successfully cloned a human child, although they failed to offer any proof of the accomplishment.

Background

Claude Vorilhon was born in France in 1946 and raised in the French countryside in the town of Ambert. In his teens, Vorilhon left home and moved to Paris, where he became a singer/songwriter. He released five albums in the late 1960s and even had a minor hit on French radio. In 1971, he founded an auto racing magazine called Autopop, where he worked as a journalist test-driving sports cars.

According to Vorilhon, on December 13, 1973, he was hiking in a remote part of France when he was contacted by an alien spaceship. He described the aliens as about four feet tall with long black hair, olive skin, and almond-shaped eyes. He said they were surrounded by a sense of harmony and peace. Vorilhon said the leader of the aliens identified himself as Yahweh and referred to his race as the Elohim. Yahweh claimed that the Elohim had been longtime visitors to Earth and had created human life through a genetic experiment about 25,000 years ago. Ancient humans were too primitive to understand what the aliens intended and looked upon them as gods. Yahweh claimed that the world’s major religions were born out of this misunderstanding. This explains why both Yahweh and Elohim are Hebrew names for God.

Overview

Yahweh said that humanity was still not ready to understand the Elohim and that he was appointing Vorilhon to be an alien ambassador and spread their message to the people of Earth. When humankind eventually learns the truth about the Elohim and achieves peace and prosperity, the aliens will return to Earth and establish a society free of hunger, war, and suffering. Vorilhon was also instructed to build an embassy in Israel to receive the aliens when they returned. After receiving Yahweh’s message, Vorilhon, now going by the alien name Raël, established an organization called the International Raëlian Movement.

By 1975, Raëlian Movement had grown to several hundred followers. Raël said Yahweh and the Elohim returned at that time to take him for a ride to their home world. Raël claimed he was shown the Elohim's process of attaining immortality by creating cloned bodies to receive their consciousness. He was also introduced to historical religious figures such as Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, and Buddha and was told they were half-alien prophets created when the Elohim mated with human women. Before being returned to Earth, Raël said he underwent a procedure to increase his intelligence. This was to prepare him to take part in a form of government called a geniocracy, a democracy in which only the intelligent are allowed to lead.

By the twenty-first century, the Raëlian Movement, or Raëlism, had a worldwide estimated membership of between 80,000 and 100,000 people and was especially popular in Japan and South Korea. These numbers may be inflated, however. Among its core beliefs is an acceptance of modern technology to improve the lives of all humans. Raëlians support genetic modification of food to reduce world hunger and believe in genetic manipulation of humans to increase lifespans. They openly support human cloning and have established a company called Clonaid to research and develop a way to clone new human bodies. In December 2002, representatives of Clonaid made headlines when they announced the birth of the first successfully cloned human, a baby girl named Eve. A few weeks later, they claimed another baby had been born via cloning. However, when pressed to provide evidence of the births, the group refused, leading many experts to believe the claims were publicity-seeking hoaxes. In the 2020s, the Raëlians maintained that Eve was healthy and living somewhere in Israel.

New members to the Raëlian Movement are expected to openly reject all other religions and undergo a baptism ceremony in which their deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is transferred so that it can be recognized by the Elohim when they return. The Raëlians are opposed to war and violence and encourage open sexuality, free love, and nudity. Followers often attend anti-war demonstrations, where they disrobe as a form of protest. Raëlian philosophy embraces the idea that members should enjoy spiritual and sexual relationships without the guilt associated with more established religions. The Raëlian religious experience involves the idea of sensual meditation, in which followers train all their senses to connect with the energy of the universe.

According to Raëlian beliefs, when the Elohim eventually return, those who have lived a good life and followed the teachings of Raëlism will be granted immortality in the form of a new cloned body. If the Elohim deem a person to have lived an evil or negative life, they would not necessarily face punishment, but they would be denied a new body. The Raëlians celebrate four annual holidays, which are the only days when the Raëlian baptism ceremony can take place. August 6 commemorates the day the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945. That date is said to have begun the Age of Apocalypse and is celebrated as the Raëlian new year. December 13 celebrates the day Raël was first contacted by the Elohim, while October 7 celebrates the day he journeyed to their home world in 1975 and met the religious figures. The last holiday is observed on the first Sunday in April to commemorate the day the Elohim genetically created Adam and Eve 25,000 years ago, as well as the first Raël baptism.

Bibliography

Ashliman, D. L. “The Creation of Life on Earth.” University of Pittsburgh, 8 Jan. 2003, www.pitt.edu/~dash/rael.html. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.

“Clonaid’s Deadline Passes with No Proof of Human Clone.” PBS News Hour, 7 Jan. 2003, www.pbs.org/newshour/science/science-jan-june03-clone‗01-07. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.

“The Day a Cult That Believes in Space Aliens Announced a Cloned Human Baby in Florida.” Miami Herald, 25 Dec. 2020, www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article223736790.html. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.

Dunning, Brian. “Who Are the Raelians, and Why Are They Naked?” Skeptoid, 4 Aug. 2007, skeptoid.com/episodes/4059. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.

Palmer, Susan J. "The Raelian Movement: A Challenge to Sexual Mores and Scientific Orthodoxy." The New Heretics of France: Minority Religions, la Republique, and the Government-Sponsored "War on Sects," Oct. 2011. Oxford Academic, doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199735211.003.0004. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.

Raël. Intelligent Design: Message from the Designers. Nova, 2005.

Redd, Wyatt. “The Bizarre Beliefs of Raelism—The Religion That Says Humanity Is An Alien Experiment.” All That’s Interesting, 18 July 2022, allthatsinteresting.com/raelism. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.

Styles, Ruth. “‘We’re Creating an Embassy to Welcome the Elohim Back to Earth!’ Inside the Wacky World of the Raëlians—A Cult Who Think Humans Are Descended From Aliens.” Daily Mail, 9 May 2014, www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2624420/Inside-wacky-world-Ra-lians-cult-believes-humans-descended-ALIENS.html. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.