The Raelians are a pseudo-religious cult founded in 1974 by Frenchman, Claude Vorilhon, who changed his name to Rael meaning “messenger of the Elohim”. They believe that all life on Earth was engineered by extraterrestrial beings known as the Elohim who took on human appearance when interacting with Homo Sapiens. Thus was apparently born the myth of angels and gods. Rael is of the opinion that he, and he alone, received the final message of the Elohim, and it is his duty to inform the rest of humanity of the potential of bringing the Elohim back to us when we have achieved global peace and understanding.
In the Raelian bible called (in English translation) The Book Which Tells The Truth (gotta love the imagination used in that title), Vorilhon claims to have had an encounter with aliens in 1973, in an extinct French volcanic crater which is always the best place to meet aliens; just ask the Scientologists. They arrived in their very own spaceship, registration AL13N, and promptly told him in French that he was being tasked with passing their message on to the people of Earth.
The Raelian bible states that advanced human type scientists with 25,000 years of advanced education were the ones who created all life on Earth via genetic programs. These alien geeks were the Elohim. Vorilhon claims that approximately 40 prophets throughout Earth’s history were sent by the Elohim, their messages being distorted over time.
Vorilhon, or Rael if you please, is intent on building an embassy to welcome the Elohim when they finally make it back here. Their most desired site was just outside Jerusalem (just another bunch of European colonials stealing Palestinian land…?) but this was stymied due to the Raelian use of the swastika on their flag – well that was a non-starter; gotta wonder about the judgement of Rael.
We have strange explanations for everything in Raelism. The Garden of Eden was apparently a large laboratory. Noah’s Ark was a spaceship that used DNA samples to recreate all life after the Flood. The Flood itself was as a result of a nuclear explosion after the Elohim detonated a missile on Earth, and the Tower of Babel was a rocket designed to take the Elohim home. Presumably the Ark of the Covenant was a hi-tech genetic blender that also made the best coffee in the universe.
Here’s one more factoid about Rael. He claims that he was granted insight into certain mysteries which are evident in holy books such as the Bible, as described above. But, to this end, he was contacted on 7th October, 1975, by a member of the Elohim – who no doubt reversed the charges costing Vorilhon a small fortune – and was eventually taken to a distant planet to… are you ready for this…? meet with Jesus, Moses, Buddha, Joseph Smith and Mohammad. Rebel Voice appreciates the manner in which Rael had tried to be all-inclusive in his ideology. Gotta cover all those bases folks. Oh yeah, and Rael is convinced that his biological father is Yahweh. Ahem…
The following videos allows us to delve further into the wonderful and wacky world of the Raelians. We even get to meet one of them, a hippy chick. Where do we sign up?
Rebel Voice 