Human beings have a unique trait that differentiates us from the rest of the animal kingdom, we fear death.

This fear along with our insatiable need to explain where we came from and where we go after death may have created the worlds religions. It has been hypothesized that there is an evolutionary advantage to the belief in god, such as in the 2008 book The God Part of The Brain by Matthew Alper. However, Gobekli Tepe, a 10,000 year old archaeological structure recently discovery in Turkey suggests that the human desire to worship gave rise to civilization, not the other way around (nationalgeographic.com). Regardless of why we tend to believe in a higher power, history shows that

these beliefs are not about to go away any time soon. It is then reasonable to suggest that the recent rise of alternative religions is an occurrence that is here to stay as well. A new type of religion has developed in the 20th century. One that replaces god with alien life forms from another planet. Scientology is rumored to have aliens in their beliefs, but the Scientology web site states Scientology holds no such belief. One religion that has no problem publicly announcing their belief in aliens is the Ralian Movement or Ralism. Here I will be exploring who the Raelians are, what their beliefs are, are and the controversy that surrounds them. The Ralian Movement has some unconventional beliefs. Their core belief is that the human race was created by an alien race from another star system. Theses aliens created humans, a new species, by mixing primate D.N.A. with their own D.N.A., creating us in their own image. Ralians claim that this provides the missing link that Darwinism has failed to adequately provide thus far. They call this race of aliens the Elohim, which means God in the Hebrew Bible (merriam-webster.com). These Elohim were very human looking, but were often mistaken for demons, gods, or angels. According to the Ralians, the advanced technology that the Elohim possessed was misinterpreted as magic or divine power from the supernatural. They believe that the great religious profits throughout history such as Jesus, Buddha and Mohammad were messengers of the Elohim. Ralians believe that immortality or the afterlife can only be reached by scientific means. This can be achieved through human cloning and artificial intelligence (robots). The body can be continually renewed by cloning and the mind or spirit can be transferred or downloaded into these new bodies. Once this technology is achieved humans will only die in rare accidents. Ralians have a strong ethical belief system. They believe that there should not be a great discrepancy between the wealthy and the poor and the rich should give to the underprivileged. Ralians

Hunt 2 believe in non-violence, strive for world peace and believe in democracy (rael.org). People in the Ralian Movement have liberal views on sexuality. They believe that sex is natural and that sexuality is a gift from the Elohim and should be enjoyed. Ralians accept people of all sexual orientations. Gays, lesbians, and bisexuals are all welcome to join the Ralian Movement. People in the Ralian Movement, say stories in the Bible support their beliefs and offer technological explanations, for biblical stories such as: The Tower of Babel was a rocket ship created to reach the home planet of the Elohim, the Garden of Eden was a large laboratory that was based on an artificially constructed continent, Noah's Ark was a spaceship that preserved D.N.A. that was used to resurrect animals through cloning, the great flood in the story of Noah was the byproduct of a nuclear missile explosion that the Elohim sent, and after floods following the explosions receded, the Elohim scattered the Israelites and had them speak the language of other tribes (Vorilhon). The Ralian Movement was founded in 1974 by Claude Vorilhon. He was born in September 1946 in Vichy Allier, France, and was a sports car journalist and test driver for his own car-racing magazine, Auto Pop (princeton.edu). He claims that in December 1973 he had an alien visitation. According to Vorilhon, in a secluded area within a French volcanic crater, an extraterrestrial being came out of a craft that had descended gently from the sky, and told him, in French, that he had come for the sole purpose of meeting with him. Vorilhon said that he was given a message by this alien and told that it was his mission to pass this message on to the people of Earth. He stated that certain mysteries were explained to him based on new interpretations of sacred texts such as the Bible. He said that, on 7 October 1975, he was contacted by one of the Elohim, who took him to another planet to meet Buddha, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. He stated that his second book, Extraterrestrials Took Me to Their Planet, relates the teaching he received from these people. In this book, Vorhilhon describes harmonious and peaceable beings, who are free of money, sickness, and war. In his 2001 book, Yes to Human Cloning, he supported human genetic engineering in order to avoid genetically inherited diseases and to reduce the economic burden on society. Elsewhere in the book, he stated that nanotechnology will make it possible to have micro-distributive power generation, and he expects that meat and salads will someday be grown in a machine via molecular construction. Vorhilhon seems to have an optimistic outlook for humanity, and has some grandiose plans for future technology, but try explaining the internet 100 years ago. The Ralian religion like most alternative religions is controversial. In December 2002, Ralian leader and founder Claude Vorilhon claimed that he has successfully created the worlds first cloned human being. Vorihon said that on Thursday December 26, 2002 a healthy, seven pound baby girl was born and that she was the product of genetic manipulation (cnn.com). He named her Eve, and said she was the first to be born of mankinds next evolutionary stage. This claim was met with skepticism.

Hunt 3 Scientists had created the first cloned animal just eight years prior, when Dolly the sheep was born in July of 1996. It is much more difficult to clone a human then it is to clone a sheep. Dolly was born with many health issues, stemming from her unusual creation. So Vorihons claim was dismissed as fiction, by most serious scientists. Others called Vorihon a criminal since human cloning was illegal in many jurisdictions in 2002. Some view the Ralians as a sex cult, due to their liberal views on sexuality and their tendency to mount demonstrations in the nude. It's been reported that at some Ralian conferences, attendees wear colored wristbands indicating what gender or genders they'd like to have sex with tonight. Nudity is the de facto uniform at many Ralian retreats. I have heard from more than one source that sexual tourists to Asia are catching onto the Ralian movement. Show up in Japan or Korea, find a local Ralian chapter and pretend to be a fellow Ralian, and you get all the sex you want; plus it's free and much cleaner and safer than what you get from the back alley brothels (Dunning). It seems that Ralianism may not be a sex cult; this is most likely just a case of people taking advantage of their philosophy and attitude towards sex. Susan J. Palmer, a sociologist from Canada, has studied the movement since 1987. In her book, Aliens Adored, she says the movement intentionally stirs a moderate level of controversy to maintain membership While the Ralian Movement may seem odd, and practitioners of main stream religions may even find it offensive, I find it neither dangerous nor inharmonious to human progress. However, it is hard to accept the fact that aliens came here, picked up a race car driver, and took him for a ride in their spaceship. The human psyche is quit fallible. He may very well believe what he is saying and have the greatest intentions, but thinking that aliens have given me a special message smells an awful lot like a delusion. I am not saying he is delusional its just that such an extraordinary claim needs extraordinary evidence to support it. Humans need to have an explanation for the mysteries of life. Perhaps some things will never have any evidence, and cold hard facts and logic may ultimately fail us. I guess this is where faith has its purpose, but blind faith can be a dangerous thing. In 1997 thirty-nine people committed suicide believing they would be transported into a spaceship as part of the Heaven's Gate religious group. Therefore, believing Vorihons claims at face value without any doubts is irresponsible. Religion can be a very useful thing, but it can also be dangerous. It can impede human progress or it can help promote peace, forgiveness and understanding. With newly created technologies astronomers are now discovering, more and more planets that could be habitable. Therefore I feel these new alien based religions are a phenomenon that is here to stay. Let us hope they promote progress and peace and are not used as a conduit to propagate fear, hate and ignorance.

Hunt 4

Works Cited
cnn.com. Raelian leader says cloning first step to immortality. 28 December 2002. 2 December 2012 <http://articles.cnn.com/2002-1227/health/human.cloning_1_first-human-clone-brigitte-boisselier-claudevorilhon?_s=PM:HEALTH>. Dunning, Brian. Who Are the Raelians, and Why Are They Naked? . 7 Augest 2007. 3 December 2012 <http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4059>. merriam-webster.com. n.d. 1 December 2012 <http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/elohim>. nationalgeographic.com. June 2011. 1 December 2012 <http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/gobekli-tepe/mann-text>. princeton.edu. Ralian Movement. n.d. 2 December 2012 <http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Ra %C3%ABlism.html>. rael.org. n.d. 2 December 2012 <http://www.rael.org>. Vorilhon, Claude. The Message Given to Me by Extra Terrestrials. W Foulsham & Co Ltd, 1993.