Raëlian Movement

The Raëlian Movement was started in 1973 following an alleged contact between the French race car driver and sports journalist Claude Vorilhon and an alien at an extinct volcano in France known as Puy De Lassolas. According to Claude, the alien landed in a flying saucer and introduced himself as Yahweh Elohim. The alien was reported to be about 4 feet tall with pale green skin, almond-shaped eyes and long dark hair. Claude maintains that he and the alien met six mornings in a row between December 13 and December 18, 1973 during which time the alien commented on various misinterpretations of the bible, gave Claude the title Raël ( allegedly meaning "messenger of the elohim" ) and assigned him the task of spreading the revised information by writing a book.

The core of the Raëlian religion is the belief that aliens designed humans and other life on Earth using genetic engineering and that humans mistook them for Gods. Although this theory was not new, by molding it into an organizational structure made up of attractive young free thinkers, Raëlianism became increasingly popular. While many still consider it a cult, membership eventually exceeded over 40,000 members worldwide and it became officially recognized in Canada as a religion. Raëlianism has a six tier hierarchy consisting of "levels of responsibility". The sixth and highest level, is occupied by Raël their "Guide of Guides."

The flying saucer that the alien was traveling in was reported to be about 7 meters wide, 2.5 meters high, dull metallic silver with a red flashing light underneath and a bright white light on the top. Because of its small size, this corresponds to the type of UFO generally considered by ufologists to be a shuttle craft. On October 7, 1975 Raël also claims to have been taken to the alien's home world where he met a number of religious icons and interacted with androids.

The early Raëlian insignia was designed around a central swastika and bears a noteworthy resemblance to the original emblem of the Theosophical Society. Later, two more arms were added to the swastika which was then merged with the Star of David, a prominent symbol of the Zionist Movement. Raël says the aliens would like to establish contact through an embassy in Israel. Since 1991, the Raëlians have been requesting that the Israeli government and the Chief Rabbi in Jerusalem grant them territory upon which to build an embassy. By 1997 about 7 million dollars toward embassy construction had been raised, but no territory had yet been granted. During 2005 the Lebanese government entertained the idea of allowing the embassy to built in their country. However that did not materialize due to the continued prevalence of the swastika in the Raëlian star. Consequently the swastika has been further obscured within the design, and the most recent versions of the Raëlian star appear in a variety of colors and materials including jewelry.

During June of 1997, the Raëlian Movement formed Valiant Venture Limited, a company aiming to offer a range of cloning services from pets to humans. They claim that cloning not only offers those incapable of having children the opportunity to do so, but that it will lead to eternal life through a combination of cloning and memory downloading. The company operates its cloning activities under the banners Clonaid, Insuraclone, Ovulaid and Clonapet.

In 2002, Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, a Raëlian Bishop was Managing Director of Clonaid. The Clonaid website maintained that she also founded a secret company to carry out Clonaid projects. In mid December, 2002 the Raëlians made news headlines by claiming that they were expecting one of their members to give birth to the first human clone. On December 26th there were unconfirmed reports that the baby had been born and a press release was scheduled for December 27th.

On December 27th, 2002, Dr. Boisselier told reporters that at 11:55 am on December 26th a healthy 7 pound girl named Eve was born to a 31 year old American woman who is part of an infertile couple. Eve was created using DNA from the mother's skin cells and is a twin of her mother. The claim was met with immediate scientific skepticism, administrative action by the FDA and condemnation from traditional religious institutions. However the Raëlians countered by stating that freelance journalist and physicist Dr. Michael Guillen had accepted the task of verification. His acceptance was made on the condition that there would be no strings attached and that the tests would be conducted by a group of independent world class experts. Results of the tests were anticipated by early January 2003.

While awaiting the test results, the cloning issue ignited worldwide debate on the ethics of human cloning. Skeptics proposed that it was highly unlikely that the Raëlian claim was legitimate. Most ufologists anticipated that the skeptics were probably right and that the resulting fallout would spill over into the ufology community. Either way, the credibility of both science and ufology was being undermined by what the media was portraying as a UFO sex cult. Then in the first week of January, Florida attorney Bernard Siegel filed a lawsuit asking the state to appoint a legal guardian for the baby and a hearing date was set in Broward County Circuit Court for January 22, 2003. The threat of legal proceedings frightened the parents and consequently Raël spoke with Boisselier and told her: "If there is any risk that this baby is taken away from the family, it is better to lose your credibility, don't do the testing."

Skeptics immediately made accusations of a cover up while conspiracy theorists outlined the possibility that the legal proceedings were a plot by the government or rival companies to legally steal the child for their own research purposes. These theories proved moot because the Siegel lawsuit was dismissed by the Judge who said he had no jurisdiction in the case. Since then, no known testing was resumed to authenticate the cloning claim and Michael Guillen reported that his team of scientists has had no access to the alleged family and, therefore, cannot verify the claim.

On January 4, 2003 a second healthy baby girl clone was reportedly delivered to a Dutch lesbian couple and the Raëlians have since claimed the births of three more clones. However because no verification has been forthcoming on the authenticity of any of the claims, public opinion and press coverage has waned and the general consensus is that the whole Raëlian cloning issue is nothing more than a publicity stunt.

Although the Raëlians endorse freedom of sexual expression and equality of the sexes, they do not consider themselves to be a cult and are a recognized religion in Canada. Claiming over 55,000 members in 84 countries, the Raëlians say they are made up of "free thinkers" and "non-conformists" who are working towards personal and social change and the welcoming of the aliens that they believe are our "parents from space". According to the membership form posted on the Raëlian website, membership in the Canadian Raëlian Movement for year 2002 required an agreement to contribute 3% of a member's annual net income or a minimum fee of $100 for low income applicants and the International Raëlian Movement required a 7% contribution of annual net income or a payment of $200 for low income applicants.

The Ufology Perspective:

Generally speaking, the roots of the Raëlian Movement are no different than a classic contactee scenario. An alien allegedly contacts a "chosen" individual to reveal a variety of revelations and then leaves without providing a shred of tangible proof. Vorilhon's ( Raël's ) story also has a number of logical inconsistencies and the so called revelations lack originality. The Raëlians themselves admit as much by maintaining that they find their evidence on Earth within humanity and in scientific progress. What they fail to recognize is that these claims do not qualify as evidence for any of their claims. For example, even if it were proved that aliens visited the Earth in ancient times, it would not prove that Vorilhon had any contact with them. Vorilhon could just as easily have obtained his basic premise from author Erich Von Däniken's classic book Chariots Of The Gods which was copyrighted five years prior to Vorilhon's alleged contact. The same logic can be applied to the cloning issue. Even if the Raëlians are able to clone humans, it still doesn't mean they ever had any contact with aliens. Terrestrial science has been advancing cloning technology without alien assistance, and Dr. Boisselier, head of the Raëlian cloning project gave no indication that her work was advanced in any way by alien technology.

It should also be pointed out that if an advanced alien race wanted to share information, they could simply broadcast it from celestial coordinates which correspond to no known terrestrial source. This would instantly verify its authenticity and from that point it would be easy to establish risk free diplomatic relations. Furthermore, this would also meet all of the alleged conditions Vorilhon claims the aliens need in order to proceed with contact. For example, a space based broadcast would eliminate geographic and cultural favoritism while at the same time ensuring that only those who are scientifically capable would actually receive it. Another unanswered question is why our advanced space brothers need to panhandle from low income earthlings in order to maintain their infrastructure. Surely they must have knowledge that could bring wealth to their followers. These realities put the Raëlian movement under a high level of suspicion.

Something else that is all too often forgotten is that even if contact with an alien does take place, it should not be assumed that the information provided is accurate. The overwhelming nature of such an experience could easily cloud one's judgment. An objective point of view would maintain that if these aliens are in fact the ones who created life on Earth, they owe humanity a first hand open pubic explanation. Questionable third-party human representatives with no proof are simply unacceptable.

Of peripheral interest are the earmarks of Illuminati and Nazi mysticism, including the swastika, six pointed star, sexual recruiting tactics, belief in an alien super race, and the historical curiosities suggestive of early Illuminati mysticism in the region of Puy de Lassolas France. The town where Raël was born was also the seat of a French Government that collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.

In closing, the available information on the Raëlians suggests that the greater portion of its membership are attracted to the group by its racy social structure and that the religious and contactee aspects are of secondary concern. Scientists, politicians and ufologists do not take the group seriously, however their corporate activities involving human cloning have attracted worldwide attention resulting in heated debate over the ethics and legalities of practicing such science. There are also concerns over the legitimacy of their claims and the possible exploitation of those desperately seeking to have children of their own. Apart from these isolated issues, the majority of Raëlians appear to be a peaceful fun-loving bunch who respect freedom of individuality and bear no ill intent toward anyone.