Raëlian beliefs and practices
Raëlian beliefs and practices are the concepts and principles of Raëlism, a new religious movement and UFO religion founded in 1974 by Claude Vorilhon, an auto racing journalist who changed his name to "Raël".
[1][2][3][4] The followers of the International Raëlian Movement believe in an advanced species of extraterrestrial aliens called Elohim who created life on Earth.
Yahweh explained that Earth was originally void of land, but the Elohim came, broke apart the clouds, exposed the seas to sunlight, built a continent, and synthesized a global ecosystem.
Solar astronomy, terraformation, nanotechnology, and genetic engineering allowed Elohim to adapt life to Earth's thermal and chemical makeup.
[22] Yahweh gave materialistic explanations of the Garden of Eden, a large laboratory that was based on an artificially constructed continent;[23] Noah's Ark, a spaceship that preserved DNA that was used to resurrect animals through cloning;[24][25] the Tower of Babel, a rocket that was supposed to reach the creators' planet;[26] and the Great Flood, the byproduct of a nuclear missile explosion that the Elohim sent.
[26][28] According to Vorilhon, Elohim contacted about forty people to act as their prophets on Earth,[29] including Moses,[30][31][32] Elijah,[30] Ezekiel,[33] Buddha,[31][32][34] John the Baptist,[35] Jesus,[30][31][32] Muhammad,[31][32][34] and Joseph Smith.
Jean Sendy, a French writer, translator, and author of books on the esoteric and UFOs wrote several novels detailing the creation of Earth by extraterrestrials.
[36] One of the best known researchers in this field is Erich von Däniken, the 'father' of the Ancient Astronauts theory, which postulates that Earth might have been visited by extraterrestrials in the remote past.
Von Däniken argued that only extraterrestrial intervention can explain the higher technological knowledge presumed to be essential for the production of ancient artifacts such as the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge and the Moai of Easter Island.
[12] Canadian sociologist Susan J. Palmer says that in 1979, Raël introduced the "Act of Apostasy" as an obligation for people who are preparing for their Raëlian baptism.
[48] Raëlians believe that their genetic information is recorded by a remote computer, and would become recognized during their final hour, when they will be judged by the extraterrestrial Elohim.
Raëlians routinely advocate sex-positive feminism and genetically modified food and actively protest against wars in addition to the Catholic Church.
For example, a photographer of the Associated Press snapped a picture of half-naked Raëlian women wearing pasties as part of an anti-war demonstration in Seoul, Korea.
[54] In July 2001, Raëlians on the streets attracted Italians and Swiss people as they gave leaflets in protest to over a hundred child molesters in existence among Roman Catholic clergy in France.
They were invited to burn the crosses in a park not far from Montreal's Mount Royal and to sign letters of apostasy from the Roman Catholic Church.
The Quebec Association of Bishops called this "incitement to hatred", and several school boards attempted to prevent their students from meeting Raëlians.
[57] Several Raëlian groups in the United States have organized annual protests, based upon their claim that women should have the same legal right to go topless in public, which men can do without fear of arrest for indecent exposure.
The embassy building, along with the swimming pool, would be in the center of a large park and protected from trespassing by a wall−a maximum of two stories-to surround the entire complex's circumference.
[71] According to the book Geniocracy, creating a peaceful worldwide political union requires a form of government that favors intelligence over mediocrity.
[74] By balancing inheritances, children would be born with enough financial means to forsake menial tasks for endeavors that may benefit the whole of humanity.
[78] According to Vorilhon's book Sensual Meditation, one should develop the ability to break free of habitual thoughts that prevent one from appreciating everyday phenomena.
[79] The book describes in detail six different meditations involving making full use of the lungs' capacity to expand and contract, oxygenating the blood and the cells within, imagining heat travelling upwards from toe to the head, allowing the skin to feel under itself, and experiencing touch with another person's body and examining their figure.
[80] According to the book Maitreya by Vorilhon, love involves experiencing different varieties and possibilities that allow one to break habits in order to make life more pleasant and interesting[81] and that it is the only thing that can stop war and injustice that persists in today's world.
[85] However, government authorities such as those in Switzerland fear that Raëlians are a threat to public morals for supporting liberalized sex education for children.
Raëlian bishop and Clonaid CEO Brigitte Boisselier claimed that an American woman underwent a cloning procedure of this type that led to the birth of a girl named Eve on 26 December 2002.
Vorilhon told lawmakers that banning the development of human cloning was comparable to outlawing medical advances such as "antibiotics, blood transfusions, and vaccines.
[90] In the final stages of development, hitherto unknown information contained within undamaged DNA would be enough to bring others back from the dead[92] including their memories and personality.
[9] Brigitte Boisselier, a Raëlian and chief executive of Clonaid, made a controversial and unverified claim that a human baby was conceived through cloning technology.
[95] Around this time, Clonaid's subsidiary BioFusion Tech claimed to have in possession a cell fusion device that assisted the cloning of human embryos.
[98] In response, the leader of the Raëlian Church dismissed the Pope's ethical concerns, calling them an "accumulation of religious prejudices.
