The Raelians and the Aliens

I haven't touched this blog for ages. With the project at work all done and dusted, I've run out of excuses. It's high time for a new post. So let me tell you about the Raelians.

I only found out about them a few days ago, watching one of those TV programs that actually teach you something new (just in case you were wondering, it wasn't Desperate Housewives.)Apparently there is this religious movement called the International Raelian Movement, founded in 1973 by French journalist Claude Vorilhon, now known as Rael. Rael claims that on 13th December 1973, he was contacted by a human-like extra-terrestrial being over 4 feet tall with olive skin, almond-shaped eyes, long dark hair, and exuding humour and harmony. This alien told him that all life on Earth is not a result of evolution, nor the work of God, but rather a deliberate creation by the extra-terrestrials, using DNA cloning. In short, we were created by them, in their own image. The being then asked Rael to establish an embassy to welcome these beings, our 'Fathers from Outer Space', back to Earth. And that's what led to the Raelian religion or movement.

Since 1973, the religion has apparently grown to include around 40,000 people worldwide, and is strongest in France, Canada and also Japan (possibly due the large number of short humans in the local population with almond-shaped eyes, exuding harmony and humour. But thats just my opinion.) More recently, it is spreading in the USA, Australia, Britain, South-East Asia and Latin America.

I find it all very fascinating, not least because of the coincidence in the name. (If you want to know the origin of the name of the blog, see 'What's with the name?'. It has nothing to do with this religion.)

The Raelian movement has an official website, if you're interested in more information. As with most other things in life, I view it with a healthy dose of skepticism. But some of the more interesting facets about the religion (apart from the obvious one, that we were created by aliens from outer space) are -

• Its scientific translations of the Bible (for example, according to the Raelians, the word 'Elohim' used in the Book of Genesis has been wrongly translated into the word 'God'. Instead, it translates into 'those who came from the sky' and represents our extra-terrestrial creators.)
• The advocation of a political system called geniocracy, that only allows the most intelligent people (geniuses) to govern (I really dig this concept. You have to pass an IQ test and everything. Wonder what Bush will think of this?)
• The unification of all nations in the world to form a single government, run by these self same geniuses, who impose a system of government called humanitarianism.
• The religion's belief in infinite levels of life - The belief is that the Earth is but a miniscule atom existing in the body of a gigantic person, who in turn is living in another planet, which is in turn another atom in an even bigger person, and so on. And conversely, we all have really small planets in our bodies which harbour life. ( I just hope there are no planets in my liver. If so, they had better move quickly. Rough times lie ahead.)
• The original symbol of the Raelian religion was the Star of David with a Swastika inserted in its centre. The Star of David represents infinite space, and the Swastika represents infinite time. The Swastika traces its origins to the Sanskrit symbol, and also to the Chinese character for temple. But it left the Jews less than amused, and so the symbol was changed in 1991 to a swirling galaxy surrounded by the Star of David.
• The advocation of Sensual Meditation (I'm not very clear what this is, but hey, it sure sounds like fun.)
• The Raelians believe Eternal Life is possible only through the recreation of the individual through DNA, i.e, cloning. Their support of human cloning has caused a lot of controversy because many people believe cloning is unethical. In 1997, The religion formed a company called Valiant Venture Ltd. to promote research on human cloning. This company also offers a service called Clonaid to help homosexual or infertile couples the opportunity to clone a child from one partner's DNA.

All this certainly makes you wonder just what the truth really is. Where do we come from? Why are we here? What happens when we die? Maybe these guys have found the answer. Or maybe you think they've been smoking too much and want to know where you can get your hands on some of this stuff. Either way, it's quite interesting.

And that, as they say, is that.