Raelism: Claude Vorilhon Part II

 

Seminars

The Raëlian Church holds week-long summer seminars called "Stages of Awakening.” These involve daily lectures by Raël, sensual meditation sessions, periods of fasting and feasting, testimonials, and various alternative therapies. Activities that have attracted press attention have include dressing in the clothes of the opposite gender as part of an exercise to play with the fluidity of gender expression, and observing one's own genitals and masturbating.

Raëlians use these seminars as an opportunity to form friendships or sexual relationships. Attendees wear white togas with name tags; they have also used colored bracelets to indicate whether they wanted to be alone, be in a couple, or simply meet people. In 1991, a French journalist attended a seminar and taped couples having sexual intercourse in tents, something then much-publicized. Following these seminars, a second seminar, this time restricted to members of the Structure, takes place.

History

Origins

Claude Vorilhon was born in Ambert, France on 30 September 1946. He was the illegitimate son of a 15-year-old mother; his father had been a Sephardi Jew then in hiding from the Nazi authorities. Vorilhon later recounted being raised as an atheist by his grandmother and aunt, although for a time attended a Roman Catholic boarding school. As a teenager, Vorilhon hitch-hiked to Paris where he pursued a career as a singer, having several successful[dubious – discuss singles using the name "Claude Celler." He then married a nurse and had two children with her. In 1973, he founded the racing car magazine Auto Pop and also worked as a test driver for such vehicles. In November 1973, a new law was introduced in France banning speeding on the highway, ending his work as a test driver. Auto Pop ceased publication in September 1974.

There had been a range of reported UFO sightings in 1970s France, and the ancient astronaut theory was "very much in vogue" in the country by the middle of that decade. In early 1974, Vorilhon announced that in December 1973 he had been contacted by the Elohim while walking along the Puy Lassolas mountain. He began promoting these ideas in interviews on French television and radio. He began lecturing on his alleged experiences in Paris, where he attracted a group of followers, many of whom were science-fiction fans or amateur ufologists. In December 1974 an organization based on his ideas, the Mouvement pour l'accueil des Elohims créateurs de l'humanité (MADECH; "Movement for the Welcoming of the Elohim, Creators of Humanity"), was launched. Vorilhon began referring to himself as "Raël." A newsletter, Apocalypse, began publication in October 1974. MADECH began raising money for the self-publication of Vorilhon's first book, which appeared as Le livre qui dit la verité that year. Raëlians treat his first book with reverence, often referring to it simple as Le livre ("the book").

Some members of MADECH wanted the organisation to take a broader interest in Ufology beyond Raël's own claims and also desired to restrict his authority within the group. Amid an internal power struggle, Raël called an emergency meeting in April 1975; the feud continued and in July he dismissed MADECH's executives and replaced them with seven of his own supporters. Raël also announced that he had been contacted by the Elohim for a second time and that on this occasion they had taken him to visit their planet. He outlined these claims in his 1975 book Les Extra-Terrestres M'ont Emmené sur Leur Planète. Opposition to Raël remained evident in MADECH and in 1976 he disbanded the group, beginning the Raëlian Movement as a replacement in February 1976. It operated along a strict hierarchy, with Raël as its director, referred to as the "Guide of Guides." Unlike MADECH, it promoted a broader religious structure, including ritual practices. It continued publication of Apocalypse to spread its message.

In 1976, the Raëlians sent a mission to the Canadian province of Quebec to attract converts in the Francophone region. The next year a Quebecois branch of the Movement was established. Raël's first two books were then published in a single English edition, titled Space Aliens Took Me to Their Planet in 1978 and republished as The Message Given To Me By Extra-Terrestrials: They Took Me to their Planet in 1986 and, in a new translation, as The Final Message in 1998. He expanded on his ideas with several additional books: Accueiller Les Extra-Terrestes in 1979 (translated as Let's Welcome Our Fathers from Space in 1986), La Méditation Sensuelle in 1980 (translated as Sensual Meditation in 1986), and Geniocracy.

Later development

In 1980, the Raëlians sent a mission to Japan, followed by another to Africa in 1982 and to Australia in 1990. In the early 1980s the Movement bought a campground near Albi in southern France, which they named Eden. In 1984, Raël underwent a year's retreat in which he avoided public appearance. The following year, his first wife left both him and the movement; he subsequently began a relationship with a Japanese Raëlian, Lisa Sunagawa, for several years. During the mid-1990s, Raël returned to his hobby of motor racing, competing in the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix and the 1998 Motorola Cup in Miami before retiring from the sport in 2001. In 1992, a schism appeared in the religion as a group of about forty practitioners were expelled. They formed a rival, smaller group, the Apostles of the Last Days, espousing the belief that Raël had been the original spokesman of the Elohim but had been taken over by Satan.

In 1992, the Raëlian Movement bought 115 hectares near Valcourt in Quebec, naming this property Le Jardin du Prophète ("the Garden of the Prophet"). It was here in 1997 that the organisation opened UFOLand, a museum about ufology. Its purpose was to raise money for the Elohim Embassy, but in 2001 it closed to the public, having proved financially unviable. It was also during 1997, a month after Ian Wilmut announced the birth of Dolly the Sheep, a successful clone, that Raël established the company Valiant Venture to explore the commercial applications of cloning. Through it came Clonaid, of which the Raëlian Bishop Brigitte Boisselier was co-founder, director, and spokesperson. The initiation of this group and its promotion of human cloning incited much debate among other religious figures, scientists, and ethicists. Raël and Boisselier both spoke before US President Bill Clinton's Congress hearing on human cloning in March 2001.

At the July 1998 training camp in the Jardins des Prophètes, Raël announced that in December 1997 he had received another revelation from the Elohim, commanding him to form a new grouping within the Raëlian Movement, the Order of Raël's Angels. This was to be a secret society, open only to women who would become the consorts of the Elohim after their arrival on Earth. A newsletter, Plumes d'Anges (Angel Feathers), was issued containing information about the Order. Palmer noted that by emphasizing the unique qualities of women, this group challenged the established Raëlian doctrine that men and women are wholly equal and interchangeable.

In 2001, Raël toured Asia, giving seminars. That year he married for a second time, to a 16-year-old ballet student. Raëlism discourages marriage, and this instance was done for expediency, because he had been questioned by customs officials when traveling with her across borders. They subsequently divorced but remained a couple. In November 2002, a local man vandalized the group's Jardins des Prophètes property, causing significant damage. Raël stated that this had been a preliminary test of the "Abraham Project," a joint operation between the Central Intelligence Agency and the French intelligence agencies to assassinate him using schizophrenics directed through mind control.

In December 2002, Boisselier announced that Clonaid's work had resulted in the birth of a baby, Eve, which she claimed was the world's first human clone. The child was not presented for scrutiny by scientists; the IRM's allegations regarding Baby Eve were never substantiated by the scientific community. Many commentators believed the announcement had been a hoax. In January 2003 the Raëlians declared that Eve's parents had hidden themselves to evade attention. Baby Eve's appearance gained the Raëlians much international press coverage, and also much ridicule. The group claimed this publicity generated around 5000 new members. Boisellier announced periodically that further clone infants had been born, in the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, and Australia, although the press increasingly deemed these hoaxes and stopped attending Raëlian press conferences.

In January 2003, Raël announced Boisellier as his appointed successor, and also published The Maitreya, in which he identified himself with the eponymous figure from Buddhist prophecy. In response to Raël's association with Clonaid, South Korean immigration authorities denied him entry to their country in 2003. The group then protested near South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare that ordered him to leave. Raël appeared alongside a group of women, "Raël's Girls", in the October 2004 issue of Playboy. In 2005, two amateur documentary makers, Abdullah Hashem and Joseph McGowen, attended and filmed a Raëlian seminar in Las Vegas, claiming that they were making a student film. They then used the footage as the basis of a documentary, which they presented as an exposé of the group. A court case followed in 2008, initiated by the IRM, which claimed the filmmakers had gained entry through misrepresentation. A default judgment was made against Hashem in 2011, and he was ordered to return his footage to the IRM. In 2009, the Church announced plans for a new UFOLand in Las Vegas.

Organization and structure

A strictly hierarchical organization, there are two levels of membership. The majority of members are referred to simply as "Raëlians", while those who are in the higher levels controlling the Movement are referred to as the "Structure."

Member hierarchy

The Structure is divided along a six-tiered system. Raël is at the top of the Raëlian Church, being referred to as the "Guide of Guides." Senior members of the Structure re-elect him to that position each seven years. Below Raël are the "Bishop Guides", then the "Priest Guides", then the "Animators", then the "Assistant Animators", and finally the "Probationers". Those characterized as "Guides" are expected to be exemplars for the rest of the movement, for instance by strictly adhering to the avoidance of alcohol, caffeine, and recreational drugs. Race, gender, and sexual orientation are no barrier to rising through the ranks of the group's leadership structure. However, Palmer noted that by the mid-1990s there were few women in leadership positions within the organisation.

Members of the Raëlian structure begin as level 0 "trainees" during annual seminars. The Raelian structure said in 2007 to have about 2,300 members, 170 "Raëlian guides", and 41 bishops.

Three Raëlian Bishops sit on a "Council of the Wise" which monitors heresy and arranges punishment for transgressors. When they seek to punish an individual it is usually for a seven-year "excommunication"; it lasts seven years because Raëlians believe that it takes this long for every cell in the human body to be replaced. In more severe cases, the council can oversee a "demarking", by which they cancel the transmission of the cellular code, believing that this revokes the individual's hope for immortality through cloning.

Members pay an annual membership fee to the Raëlian Movement. Full members of the Movement are encouraged to tithe 10% of their income to the organisation. This tithe is then divided up, with 3% going to the national branch and 7% to the International Movement's central administration. An additional 1% may go to Raël himself. Tithing is however not enforced. In her research, Palmer found many practitioners who admitted to not paying the tithe; a 1991 survey of Raëlians found that a third of respondents did not pay, while in an interview, Raël suggested that over 60 percent do not. It is these tithes and membership fees, coupled with the sales of Raël's books, that represent the International Raëlian Movement's main income. This money is then saved toward the construction of the Elohim Embassy or spent on the production of flyers, books, videos, and other material used to disseminate the Raëlian message.

The group initially owned a country estate in Albi, France, before later obtaining one in Valcourt, Quebec.

Order of Angels

In 1998, Raël established an internal all-female group, the Order of Raël's Angels, whose members are trained to become the consorts of the Elohim. He stated that these women would be the only humans permitted contact with the Elohim after the latter arrive on Earth. He further claimed that they will serve as the Elohim's liaisons with human politicians, scientists, and journalists. Raël stated that it was only women who could be Angels because men were not feminine enough for the extremely gentle, delicate, and sensitive Elohim. Trans women were permitted entry; Raël praised one transgender member for "choosing to be a woman".

The Angels are meant to cultivate their feminine and nurturing side. They are tasked with pursuing self-transformation, striving to please the Elohim and to resemble them more closely by cultivating discipline, serenity, harmony, purity, humility, charisma, and both internal and external beauty. The Angels are instructed to regularly pray to the Elohim and regularly meditate. They are encouraged to limit their meat consumption and to avoid carbohydrates and sugar so as to maintain their physical beauty. They have proved useful for the group's public relations and have also provided volunteers for its human cloning experiments. The Order has also engaged in the selling of human ova on the internet, launching a website to do so in 1999. Raël stated that this would help the Angels achieve financial independence.

The Order of Raël's Angels has a six-tiered structure, symmetrical with the six-tiered structure of the Raëlian Movement as a whole. Raël divides the Angels into three groups: the White, Pink, and Golden Ribbon Angels. White Angels wear white feathers on a necklace, can choose human lovers, and are tasked with operating in the world to attract more women into the Raëlian movement. Pink Angels wear a pink feather on a necklace and are considered by Raël to be the "Chosen Ones" who will become the consorts of the Elohim. They are expected to live a sequestered life, initially in the Jardins des Prophètes community, and are expected to reserve their sexual activity for the extraterrestrials. The Gold Ribbon Angels are characterized by a gold cord worn around the neck. They are handpicked by Raël for their physical beauty, and are described as being the first humans who will approach the Elohim on the latter's arrival on Earth. The Pink and Gold Ribbon Angels are expected to abstain from sexual activity with most other humans but should receive instruction in alien lovemaking from Raël himself as well as engaging in sexual acts alone or with other Angels.

The Order was insulated from the rest of the religion, with the Angels' living quarters for instance being off-limits to non-Angels. Access to the Angels is strictly limited for both journalists and scholars. Gold Ribbon Angels have been demoted from this status as they have aged, on the explanation that as their physical beauty has deteriorated they are no longer suited to greeting the Elohim. These demoted individuals are then tasked with training younger replacements. Other individuals have been deprived of their status as Angels altogether, when they are perceived to have acted in contravention of the group's ethos.

The initiation rites include declaring an oath or making a contract in which one agrees to become defender of the Raëlian ideology and its founder Raël. A few days later, Time magazine wrote that French chemist Brigitte Boisselier was an Order of Angels member. Around this time, cult specialist Mike Kropveld termed the Order of Angels "one of the most transparent movements" he had witnessed, though he was alarmed by the women's promise to defend Raël's life with their own bodies.

Raël has instructed some women members to play a pro-sex feminist role in the Raëlian Church. "Rael's Girls" is another group of women in the religion which are against the suppression of feminine acts of pleasure, including sexual intercourse with men or women. Rael's Girls consists solely of women who work in the sex industry. The women of Rael's Girls say there is not any reason to repent for performing striptease or being a prostitute. This organization was established "to support the choice of the women who are working in the sex industry".

Outreach and advocacy

The International Raëlian Movement has established various projects through which to promote its ideology. In 1997 it created Clonaid, a company devoted to human cloning. Clients can bank a sample of their DNA with the group, which offers to then produce a single clone of the individual after they die. Another Raëlian company, Ovulaid, seeks to provide ovaries for individuals and couples who cannot biologically produce their offspring. It expresses its intention to develop technologies that can create "designer babies" to the desired specification of their client. An additional project, Insuraclone, is designed to clone organs for an individual in the event of future organ failure, while Clonapet intended to clone people's pets after the latter died.

The Raëlians are known for their socio-political activism, specifically for women's rights, gay rights, opposition to racism, banning nuclear testing, and promoting genetically-modified foods. Throughout the history of Raëlism, members of the Raëlian Church have toured public settings advocating masturbation, condoms, and birth control. Through its activities, Palmer stated that the Raëlian Movement was involved in "concocting, then carefully monitoring, a mild level of cultural conflict" to generate publicity for the group, something coupled with "blatant courtship of the media". She compared these tactics to those of Anton LaVey's Church of Satan in the 1960s and 1970s. When media has adopted a mocking tone toward the religion, Raël has urged its followers to defend their beliefs, resulting in letter-writing campaigns and sometimes lawsuits.

In 1992, the IRM launched protests against the Montreal Catholic School Commission's decision to veto the addition of condom machines to the bathrooms of Roman Catholic high schools in Quebec. The Raëlians parked a "condom-mobile" outside Roman Catholic high schools in Quebec and Ontario from which they dispensed contraceptives to the pupils. In 1993, the Raëlians organized a conference on masturbation in Quebec, at which speeches were given by Raël and Betty Dodson. Advertising this cause, Raëlians handed out badges with "Oui à la masturbation (Yes to masturbation)" on them at the Montreal Jazz Festival.

In 2000, the Raëlians launched NOPEDO, a group to combat paedophilia. In 2001, they publicly distributed leaflets in Italy and Switzerland protesting the existence of over a hundred child molesters among Roman Catholic clergy in France. Geneva's Episcopal vicar sued the Raëlian Church for libel but the judge dismissed the charges as the Raëlian accusation was deemed to only target convicted priests and not the Roman Catholic Church as a whole. In 2002, Raëlians held an anti-clerical parade in Montreal, where they gave high school students Christian crosses and invited the students to both burn them and sign letters of apostasy to 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.

The movement supports genetically-modified foods.[108] In 2003, naked members arranged themselves into the shape of the phrases "J'aime OGM" and "I love GM" in a Quebec field. In 2006, about 30 Raëlians, some of them topless, took part in an anti-war demonstration in Seoul, South Korea. In 2003, Raëlians in white alien costumes bore signs bearing the message "NO WAR ... ET wants Peace, too!" to protest the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. In 2009 it launched its "Adopt a Clitoris" project to raise money to create a hospital in Africa to reverse damage caused by female genital mutilation (FGM); it has also established Clitoraid, an organization whose mission is to oppose FGM. Another of the groups established by the Raëlian Church is ARAMIS(Active Raelian Association for Multiplicity In Sexuality), which is the Raëlian Association of Sexual Minorities and an LGBT rights group.

Several Raëlian groups in the United States have organized annual protests, claiming that women should have the same legal right to go topless in public that men enjoy without fear of arrest for indecent exposure. Some people have called this a publicity stunt designed to recruit members. Go Topless Day is their annual event, with women protesting topless except for nipple pasties to avoid arrest. It is held near 26 August, the anniversary of Women's Equality Day.

The book Yes to Human Cloning (2001) attracted media attention after its release, including segments on 20/20 and 60 Minutes. Biophysicist Gregory Stock described the Raëlian Clonaid project as "sufficiently quirky to command instant media attention."  It has been estimated that the group received free publicity worth US$500 million as a result of the Clonaid announcement. Mark Hunt, a lawyer and politician who wished to clone his dead son with the help of the Clonaid services, was overwhelmed by the volume of media attention and in an interview said that Clonaid's chief executive had become a "press hog".

Demographics

Established in France, Raëlism initially spread in Francophone areas of Europe, Africa, and North America. As of the mid-1990s, membership clustered predominantly in France, Quebec, and Japan. Palmer noted that in Canada, Raëlism had faced difficulty spreading from Quebec and into the country's Anglophone provinces. In 1999, Bozeman said that the Movement had around 35,000 members, while in 2003 Chryssides said it had about 55,000 members worldwide. By the early 2010s, the group was claiming 60,000 members internationally, a number Palmer and Sentes thought was "probably inflated". In Britain, the sociologist Eileen Barker said that there were "only a dozen or so" committed members of the religion in 1989. By 2001, the sociologist David V. Barrett suggested that there were around 40 to 50 committed members in the country and around 500 sympathizers; two years later, Chryssides thought there were about 40 members and 200 sympathizers in Britain.

An internal survey of the group's members in 1988 found that there were almost double as many men as women in the Movement. Similarly, based on her attendance at Raëlian events in Quebec, Palmer noted that men usually outnumbered women. She observed that many of the men acted in an effeminate fashion, and were often attracted to other men. Palmer also observed several transvestites at the meetings, and found that a significant number of the women present worked as strippers. On these grounds, she suggested that Raëlism had a particular appeal for "people who define themselves as sexually marginal". Palmer also suggested that Raëlism had an appeal for "committed atheists who are hopelessly secularized yet suffering from the existential angst of living in a world devoid of order and higher values".

Conversion

Raëlians engage in missionary activities to attract converts. Members buy Raël's books to sell on the street, hoping to recoup their original costs. They often encounter much resistance to their attempts to convert others; Raël explains that this is to be expected, for the Elohim told him that only 4% of humanity is intelligent enough to be receptive to the Raëlian message. Any Raëlian found trying to force someone to convert is banned from the organisation for seven years, the period which Raëlians believe it takes for every cell in the body to be replaced.

Since 1979, new members of the Raëlian Movement have been expected to sign an "Act of Apostasy," and send a letter of apostasy to any religious organisation that they were previously involved with. They also sign a contract permitting a mortician to cut a piece of bone from their forehead after death, which they understand as the "Third Eye." This specimen will be stored in ice at a Swiss facility until the Elohim return, at which time it may be used to clone the deceased individual. This process is known as the "lifting of the frontal bone." In addition, those joining are expected to bequeath their assets to the local Raëlian group, although this is not obligatory.

Some former Christian clergy have joined the Raëlians, sometimes being swiftly promoted to the level of Priest or Bishop due to the skills brought with them from their previous religious organization. In 2004, for example, Ron Boston, a former bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, joined the Raëlian Movement, stating that doing so would allow him to embrace his homosexuality.

Reception

According to sociologist Susan J. Palmer, in society, Raëlism is "universally mocked", and even at conferences of scholars of religion, where individuals are accustomed to studying a diverse range of belief systems, attendees have treated Raëlian beliefs with "incredulity or even mirth". Non-members often regard Raël's claims as a deliberate forgery to fool his followers. An especially critical reception has come from ex-Raëlians and the anti-cult movement. Jean-Denis Saint-Cyr, a high-ranking member of the Raëlian movement, for instance accused Raël of plagiarizing the earlier writings of Sendy in creating his religion. Another prominent apostate, the Quebecois Erick Lamarche – who calls himself Exraël – quit while claiming that too much money was being donated to Raël and the senior members so that they could have luxurious lifestyles. Critics repeatedly drew comparisons between Raëlism and Nazism, for instance for its promotion of a governance system where people are graded by their intelligence, its emphasis on genetic engineering, and its use of the swastika.

Raëlism has undergone academic research from scholars of religion, especially from Palmer, who first encountered the religion in Montreal in 1987. She initially thought that she "had never encountered an NRM that was so cooperative, that actually liked being studied." Between 2002 and 2003, Palmer was blacklisted by the group; they banned her from their meetings and told her she had lost the opportunity to meet the Elohim on their arrival. Palmer then drew upon both her interviews with active members and Raël's publications for her 2004 book on Raëlism, Aliens Adored.

Palmer related that journalists she had encountered were often "fishing" for "bad things" to say about the Raëlians. Many journalists sought to portray Raël as a danger to his followers, akin to David Koresh or Jim Jones, although Palmer thought this "ludicrous", stating that Raël was "not prone to violence". Journalists also sought to present him as someone who sexually exploited his female members, which again Palmer found no evidence for. Following statements that the Order of Raël's Angels would do anything for Raël, there was also press speculation that the group would engage in mass suicide akin to that of the Order of the Solar Temple. Palmer argued that the Raëlians lacked the paranoid mentality and demonization of the outside world that had been common to new religious movements that resorted to violence.