177-549: Raëlian beliefs and practices are the concepts and principles of Raëlism , a new religious movement and UFO religion founded in 1974 by Claude Vorilhon , an auto racing journalist who changed his name to "Raël". The followers of the International Raëlian Movement believe in an advanced species of extraterrestrial aliens called Elohim who created life on Earth. Raëlians are individualists who believe in sexual self-determination . As advocates of
354-479: A world government is only possible through establishing a global currency, a common language, and a transformation of militaries of the world into civil police. In Raël's book, Extraterrestrials took me to their Planet , Raël claims that an extraterrestrial gave him the idea of Humanitarianism . Under the establishment of Humanitarianism , people would not have ownership of businesses or exploitable goods created by others. Instead, people would rent each of them for
531-470: A "conditional immortality", with immortality for a minority and oblivion for the majority. The resurrection of Jesus, as recounted in the Gospels, is for instance explained as an example of Elohim cloning. Raëlists advocate for the development of human cloning technology on Earth. Raëlians also believe that deceased individuals can be cloned so that they could be tried and punished for their crimes. After
708-462: A French journalist went to a Raëlian Seminar and taped couples having sexual intercourse in tents. These tapes gained widespread publicity—with news stories describing these practices as perverted and a form of brainwashing . Since 1991, Raël 's teachings on sexual intercourse have caused controversy among other religious groups. The next year, Catholic schools in Montreal , Canada objected to
885-464: A Japanese Raëlian, Lisa Sunagawa, for several years. During the mid-1990s, Raël returned to his hobby of motor racing, competing in rounds two and three of the 1995 Magna Enduro Racing Championship 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,
1062-567: A better chance of both surviving as well as having the potential to understand its creators. Research on how globalization would occur on another planet would allow scientists to decide what traces of their origin should be left behind so that their role in life creation would someday be revealed. The progress achieved by the science teams would ultimately sustain a perpetual chain of life. Raëlians do not believe in reincarnation as dictated by mystical writings because they do not believe that an ethereal soul exists free of physical confinement. Instead
1239-612: A broadly physicalist or scientific materialist framework, producing rival accounts of how best to accommodate the mind , including functionalism , anomalous monism , and identity theory . Scientific materialism is often synonymous with, and has typically been described as, a reductive materialism . In the early 21st century, Paul and Patricia Churchland advocated a radically contrasting position (at least in regard to certain hypotheses): eliminative materialism . Eliminative materialism holds that some mental phenomena simply do not exist at all, and that talk of such phenomena reflects
1416-437: A controversial and unverified claim that a human baby was conceived through cloning technology. Around this time, Clonaid's subsidiary BioFusion Tech claimed to have in possession a cell fusion device that assisted the cloning of human embryos. The Vatican , however, says that experimenters expressed "brutal mentality" for attempting to clone human beings. Pope John Paul II criticized the experiment which he believed threatened
1593-409: A critical theoretical fold dominated by poststructuralist theories of language and discourse. Scholars such as Mel Y. Chen and Zakiyyah Iman Jackson have critiqued this body of new materialist literature for neglecting to consider the materiality of race and gender in particular. Métis scholar Zoe Todd , as well as Mohawk (Bear Clan, Six Nations) and Anishinaabe scholar Vanessa Watts, query
1770-425: A fear that Raëlians are a threat to public morals for supporting liberalized sex education for children. They argue that such liberalized sex education that teaches children how to obtain sexual gratification would encourage sexual abuse of underage children. The symbol initially used to signify Raëlism was a six-pointed star with a swastika in the centre. Raël stated that this was the symbol he originally saw on
1947-419: A form of the ancient astronauts theory which was well known at the time that the religion was formed. Several French authors, such as Jean Sendy , Serge Hutin , and Jacques Bergier , had already published books during the late 1960s and early 1970s stating that Earth was the outpost of an ancient extraterrestrial society. Swiss writer Erich von Däniken presented the same idea in his 1968 book Chariots of
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#17328022183312124-659: A group of followers, many of whom were science-fiction fans or amateur ufologists. In December 1974 an organisation 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
2301-452: A landing pad for their spaceship. He stated that it needed to be located on internationally recognised neutral territory so as not to indicate favour towards any one particular nation-state. Initially, Raël sought permission to build it in Israel, explaining this by reference to how the ancient Israelites were once in contact with the Elohim. He also stated that this embassy would constitute
2478-401: A living thing's memories or experiences, for example. However, in discussions of Raëlianism, cloning sometimes seems to refer not only to reproductive cloning, but also reproductive human cloning plus mind and/or brain transfer , or to a process of making adult clones. Raëlians take this even further and say that humanity can attain eternal life through the science of cloning. According to
2655-408: A man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of
2832-650: A monist ontology, instead espousing the ontological separation of matter and space (i.e. that space is "another kind" of being). Wang Chong (27 – c. 100 AD) was a Chinese thinker of the early Common Era said to be a materialist. Later Indian materialist Jayaraashi Bhatta (6th century) in his work Tattvopaplavasimha ( The Upsetting of All Principles ) refuted the Nyāya Sūtra epistemology. The materialistic Cārvāka philosophy appears to have died out some time after 1400; when Madhavacharya compiled Sarva-darśana-samgraha ( A Digest of All Philosophies ) in
3009-593: A new revelation from the Elohim stating that this location would be acceptable. Chryssides noted that should the Elohim not arrive in 2035, the Raëlians will have to adapt to the new circumstance in which their eschatology remains unfulfilled. On 16 April 1987, the Chicago Sun-Times estimated the funding for the "cosmic kibbutz " at $ 1 million. In 1997–1998, the funding had risen to $ 7 million. In 2001, group members claimed they had saved $ 9 million for
3186-426: A new turn in materialism in his 1841 book The Essence of Christianity , which presented a humanist account of religion as the outward projection of man's inward nature. Feuerbach introduced anthropological materialism , a version of materialism that views materialist anthropology as the universal science . Feuerbach's variety of materialism heavily influenced Karl Marx , who in the late 19th century elaborated
3363-551: A northern and southern entrance. The landing pad for the embassy should be able to fit a spaceship of twelve meters of diameter or 39'4" on its terrace. The terrace is to be above the rooms in the torus, which are for extraterrestrials only. The seven rooms directly underneath the landing pad would be protected from occupants of other rooms with a thick metal door. Finally, the International Raëlian Movement wants to avoid military and radar surveillance of
3540-424: A peaceful worldwide political union requires a form of government that favors intelligence over mediocrity. While having a democratic electoral apparatus, it differs from traditional liberal democracy by requiring members of the electorate to meet a minimum standard of intelligence. The thresholds proposed by the Raëlians are 50% above average for a candidate and 10% above average for a voter. Raëlians believe that
3717-541: A period of 49 years. The founders would be able to receive the rents for up to 49 years or when they die, whichever is later. Any rents not inherited by relatives after 49 years would go to the State. By balancing inheritances, children would be born with enough financial means to forsake menial tasks for endeavors that may benefit the whole of humanity. Family houses could be inherited from generation to generation, free of rent. In his much later book, Maitreya , Raël says that
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#17328022183313894-470: A person can have. Palmer quoted one senior Raëlian as describing the "cosmic orgasm" as "the sensual experience of the unity between the self and the universe". 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
4071-575: A proposed condom vending machine as contrary to their mission. In response, Raëlian guides gave the Catholic students ten thousand condoms. The Commissioner of Catholic schools for Montreal said they could do nothing to stop them. Around this time, Raëlians dubbed the event "Operation Condom". In the scientific community, reproductive cloning refers only to the creation of a genetically identical living thing. "Genetically identical" does not mean altogether identical; this kind of cloning does not reproduce
4248-595: A second seminar, this time restricted to members of the Structure, takes place. 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
4425-597: A series of monthly meetings, initiations, and meditation rituals. Where possible, Raëlians congregate with fellow practitioners on the third Sunday of the month. It is the group's policy that these events occur in rented rooms rather than property that the Raëlian Movement itself has purchased. At the monthly meetings in Montreal, Raël himself often appeared. The main ritual in Raëlism is the "transmission of
4602-444: A small sample from someone's body and preserving it at the time when the level of the brain's efficiency and knowledge is highest. On the day of death, a cell would be taken from the sample for the cloning to take place, and the memories and personality would be restored to their peak level. The Raëlian Church has close links with the controversial company Clonaid . Brigitte Boisselier , a Raëlian and chief executive of Clonaid , made
4779-446: A spurious " folk psychology " and introspection illusion . A materialist of this variety might believe that a concept like "belief" has no basis in fact (e.g. the way folk science speaks of demon-caused illnesses). With reductive materialism at one end of a continuum (our theories will reduce to facts) and eliminative materialism at the other (certain theories will need to be eliminated in light of new facts), revisionary materialism
4956-745: A strict ethical code for its followers. Members are expected to take responsibility for their own actions, respect cultural and racial difference, promote non-violence, strive for world peace, and share wealth and resources. They are also encouraged to uphold democracy, in the belief that humanity will ultimately make a democratic choice to introduce geniocracy . The Raëlian opinion is that everything should be permitted so long as it harms no one and does not impede scientific and technological advance. Members are nevertheless advised against using recreational drugs or stimulants so as not to harm their health, although some practitioners have acknowledged that they use alcohol and cigarettes. John M. Bozeman characterized
5133-475: A strong taboo on incest , rape , and sexual activities involving children. Anyone involved in the Movement who is found to have been involved in these latter activities is excommunicated, while Raël has recommended that paedophiles be castrated or placed in mental institutions. Those believed to have forced unwelcome sexual attention upon another person are excommunicated from the Movement for seven years–
5310-455: A teenager, Vorilhon hitch-hiked to Paris where he pursued a career as a singer, releasing 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
5487-756: 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
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5664-424: A threat to public morals for supporting liberalized sex education for children. The authorities believe that such liberalized sex education teaches youth how to obtain sexual gratification which would encourage sexual abuse of underage children. The Raëlians disagree with those fears and stated that sex education done properly would involve educating parents as well as children. Susan J. Palmer writes that in 1991,
5841-401: A unified world calendar will also be adopted. Raëlians reject the existence of the ethereal soul that survives physical death, and instead argue that the only hope for immortality is through scientific means. The Raëlians claim that the Elohim will clone and thus recreate dead individuals, but only those particular individuals who they deem merit this recreation. In this, they believe in
6018-415: Is "oxygenation", which entails deep breathing. Practitioners are taught to relax and then envision themselves expanding their frame of reference until the self becomes only a tiny speck within the universe. They are then tasked with visualising the bones and organs of the body, and ultimately the atoms within the body itself. The guided meditation then encourages the meditators to imagine themselves being on
6195-470: Is "sensual meditation", something that Raël outlined in his 1980 book La méditation sensuelle . Raëlians are encouraged to take part in this guided meditation or visualisation on a daily basis, with the intent of transmitting love and telepathic links to the Elohim and achieving harmony with infinity. In this, practitioners are often assisted in this meditation through listening to an instruction tape. Sensual meditation sessions also take place communally at
6372-425: Is a "world-affirming" religion, using the typology established by Roy Wallis . Raël considered gender as an artificial construct and emphasized its fluidity. Raël avoided a macho persona and is instead often described by his followers as being "gentle" and "feminine". Palmer suggested that Raël regarded women as being superior to men because they were described as being more like the Elohim. In Raël's account,
6549-524: Is a form of philosophical monism which holds that matter is the fundamental substance in nature , and that all things, including mental states and consciousness , are results of material interactions of material things. According to philosophical materialism, mind and consciousness are caused by physical processes, such as the neurochemistry of the human brain and nervous system , without which they cannot exist. Materialism directly contrasts with monistic idealism , according to which consciousness
6726-525: Is a philosophy of materialism from classical antiquity that was a major forerunner of modern science. Though ostensibly a deist , Epicurus affirmed the literal existence of the Greek gods in either some type of celestial "heaven" cognate from which they ruled the universe (if not on a literal Mount Olympus), and his philosophy promulgated atomism , while Platonism taught roughly the opposite, despite Plato's teaching of Zeus as God . Materialism belongs to
6903-574: Is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else." Werner Heisenberg wrote: "The ontology of materialism rested upon the illusion that the kind of existence, the direct 'actuality' of the world around us, can be extrapolated into the atomic range. This extrapolation, however, is impossible ... Atoms are not things." Some 20th-century physicists (e.g., Eugene Wigner and Henry Stapp ), and some modern physicists and science writers (e.g., Stephen Barr , Paul Davies , and John Gribbin ) have argued that materialism
7080-657: Is anything particularly "new" about "new materialism", as Indigenous and other animist ontologies have attested to what might be called the "vibrancy of matter" for centuries. Others, such as Thomas Nail , have critiqued "vitalist" versions of new materialism for depoliticizing "flat ontology" and being ahistorical. Quentin Meillassoux proposed speculative materialism , a post-Kantian return to David Hume also based on materialist ideas. The nature and definition of matter —like other key concepts in science and philosophy—have occasioned much debate: One challenge to
7257-413: Is causing the clone to mature faster than normal. Raël says that in the future, scientists will discover an "accelerated-growth process" in which a process like guided self-assembly of rapidly expanded cells or even nanotechnological assembly of a whole human body can form in a very short time. The third stage is the transfer of memory and personality from the original person to the mature clone. For
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7434-425: Is distributed and society divided into classes or orders is dependent upon what is produced, how it is produced, and how the products are exchanged. From this point of view, the final causes of all social changes and political revolutions are to be sought, not in men's brains, not in men's better insights into eternal truth and justice, but in changes in the modes of production and exchange. They are to be sought, not in
7611-471: Is flawed due to certain recent findings in physics, such as quantum mechanics and chaos theory . According to Gribbin and Davies (1991): Then came our Quantum theory, which totally transformed our image of matter. The old assumption that the microscopic world of atoms was simply a scaled-down version of the everyday world had to be abandoned. Newton's deterministic machine was replaced by a shadowy and paradoxical conjunction of waves and particles, governed by
7788-581: Is formalised as the International Raëlian Movement ( IRM ) or Raëlian Church , a hierarchical organisation under Raël's leadership. Raëlism teaches that an extraterrestrial species known as the Elohim created humanity using their advanced technology. An atheistic religion, it holds that the Elohim have historically been mistaken for gods. It claims that throughout history the Elohim have created 40 Elohim/human hybrids who have served as prophets preparing humanity for news about their origins. Among them are The Buddha , Jesus , and Muhammad , with Raël himself
7965-413: Is frequently assimilated to one variety of physicalism or another. Modern philosophical materialists extend the definition of other scientifically observable entities such as energy , forces , and the spacetime continuum ; some philosophers, such as Mary Midgley , suggest that the concept of "matter" is elusive and poorly defined. During the 19th century, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels extended
8142-523: Is held near August 26th, which is the anniversary of the day that women were given the right to vote in the USA. Raëlians believe that life on earth—as well as many religions of the world—was the work of extraterrestrial influence. They believe these were scientists and that ancient people saw them as "gods" and gave the name " Elohim ". Raëlians believe that the Embassy for Extraterrestrials or " Third Temple "
8319-457: Is known as "transmission of the cellular plan", where "cellular" refers to the organic cells of the body, and the "plan" refers to the genetic makeup of the individual. That Raëlian baptism involves a guide member laying water onto the forehead of the new member. That practice began on "the first Sunday in April" of 1976, when Raël baptized 40 Raëlians. Raëlians believe that their genetic information
8496-460: Is matter and void, and all phenomena result from different motions and conglomerations of base material particles called atoms (literally "indivisibles"). De Rerum Natura provides mechanistic explanations for phenomena such as erosion, evaporation, wind, and sound. Famous principles like "nothing can touch body but body" first appeared in Lucretius's work. Democritus and Epicurus did not espouse
8673-399: Is missing from the mathematical formalism of our best description of the world. "Materialist" physicalists also believe that the formalism describes fields of insentience. In other words, the intrinsic nature of the physical is non-experiential. Most Hindus and transcendentalists regard all matter as an illusion, or maya , blinding humans from the truth. Transcendental experiences like
8850-410: Is often associated with reductionism , according to which the objects or phenomena individuated at one level of description, if they are genuine, must be explicable in terms of the objects or phenomena at some other level of description—typically, at a more reduced level. Non-reductive materialism explicitly rejects this notion, taking the material constitution of all particulars to be consistent with
9027-502: Is only 10% as feminine as the Elohim." They are not allowed to procreate, and many undergo a sterilisation operation to ensure this. Raël also reports that the Elohim can communicate with humans because they understand all human languages. Raëlism teaches that about 25,000 years ago the Elohim arrived at the Earth and transformed it so that life could develop. It states that the Elohim used their advanced technology to establish all life on
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#17328022183319204-447: Is our religion; religion is our science." The religion emphasizes the use of science to solve the world's problems, and practitioners regard Raël as a pioneer of science who will one day be regarded as a peer of Galileo and Copernicus . Many of its members call it an "atheistic religion" and compare it to Buddhism , some branches of which similarly do not promote belief in gods (especially Theravāda Buddhism ). Along with science,
9381-651: Is peaceful enough to stop war. In that case, humanity could travel the distances between stars and create life on another planet. Progress in terraforming , molecular biology, and cloning would enable these teams to create continents and life from scratch. Progress in social engineering would ensure that this creation would have a better chance of both surviving and having the potential to understand its creators. Research on how civilization would occur on another planet would allow scientists to decide what traces of their origin should be left behind so that their role in life creation would someday be revealed. The progress achieved by
9558-534: Is recorded by a remote computer, and would become recognized during their final hour, when they will be judged by the extraterrestrial Elohim . There is continuing debate on whether Raëlians can be identified as a cult. The government of France classifies the Raelian Movement as a " secte " (French word for cult ). However, according to Glenn McGee , the associate director of the Center for Bioethics at
9735-617: Is somewhere in the middle. Contemporary continental philosopher Gilles Deleuze has attempted to rework and strengthen classical materialist ideas. Contemporary theorists such as Manuel DeLanda , working with this reinvigorated materialism, have come to be classified as new materialists . New materialism has become its own subfield, with courses on it at major universities, as well as numerous conferences, edited collections and monographs devoted to it. Jane Bennett 's 2010 book Vibrant Matter has been particularly instrumental in bringing theories of monist ontology and vitalism back into
9912-584: Is the International Raëlian Movement (IRM), or the Raëlian Church. In France, where the religion originated, the government's Parliamentary Commission on Cults labels it a " secte ", a French term with negative connotations similar to the English word " cult ". In 1997, a parliamentary inquiry commission issued a report through the Belgian Chamber of Representatives that also categorized
10089-401: Is the fundamental substance of nature. Materialism is closely related to physicalism —the view that all that exists is ultimately physical. Philosophical physicalism has evolved from materialism with the theories of the physical sciences to incorporate forms of physicality in addition to ordinary matter (e.g. spacetime , physical energies and forces , and exotic matter ). Thus, some prefer
10266-611: Is the only thing that can stop war and injustice that persists in today's world. Raëlians believe in the right to form new religions or new political parties as long as they do not promote violence. As individualists, Raëlians believe that the one who gives the order to harm others is less at fault than the one who executes it. Raëlians say they encourage adult homosexual, bisexual, and heterosexual relationships and that society should recognize them legally. However, government authorities such as those in Switzerland fear that Raëlians are
10443-498: Is the theory of chaos, which has recently gained widespread attention. The objections of Davies and Gribbin are shared by proponents of digital physics , who view information rather than matter as fundamental. The physicist and proponent of digital physics John Archibald Wheeler wrote, "all matter and all things physical are information-theoretic in origin and this is a participatory universe." Some founders of quantum theory, such as Max Planck , shared their objections. He wrote: As
10620-399: Is to support an official contact with Extraterrestrial Elohim and their messengers of the main religions at the " New Jerusalem ". Writers who have influenced Raëlian beliefs include Zechariah Sitchin and Erich von Däniken . The International Raëlian Movement envisions having an entrance with an aseptic chamber leading to a conference room for twenty-one people as well as a dining room of
10797-565: The Garden of Eden , a large laboratory that was based on an artificially constructed continent; Noah's Ark , a spaceship that preserved DNA that was used to resurrect animals through cloning; the Tower of Babel , a rocket that was supposed to reach the creators' planet; and the Great Flood , the byproduct of a nuclear missile explosion that the Elohim sent. After tidal wave floods following
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#173280221833110974-558: The USA Today newspaper mentions an "unlikely ally" of the Monsanto Company , the Raëlian Movement of Brazil . The movement gave vocal support in response to the company's support for genetically modified organisms particularly in their country. Brazilian farmers have been using Monsanto's genetically engineered soy plant as well as the glyphosate herbicide to which it was artificially adapted. The Raëlians spoke against
11151-570: The Axial Age ( c. 800–200 BC). In ancient Indian philosophy , materialism developed around 600 BC with the works of Ajita Kesakambali , Payasi , Kanada and the proponents of the Cārvāka school of philosophy. Kanada became one of the early proponents of atomism . The Nyaya – Vaisesika school (c. 600–100 BC) developed one of the earliest forms of atomism (although their proofs of God and their positing that consciousness
11328-461: The universal ethic and world peace, they believe the world would be better if geniuses had an exclusive right to govern in what Rael terms Geniocracy . As believers of life in outer space, they hope that human scientists will follow the path of the Elohim by achieving space travel through the cosmos and creating life on other planets. As believers in the resurrection of Jesus through a scientific cloning process (which includes memory transfer) by
11505-557: The " Third Temple " referred to in Jewish prophecy. Receiving little help for this venture from the Israeli government, Raël instead suggested that a neighbouring country might be suitable, proposing Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt as possible locations. None of the governments of these countries were favorable. Senior people of the Raëlian Movement suggested Hawaii as a possible alternative, and in 1998 Raël stated that he had received
11682-476: The "Act of Apostasy" as an obligation for people who are preparing for their Raëlian baptism. CTV Television Network states that apostasy from other religions is required for new Raëlian members. Joining the Raëlian Church through transmission of the cellular plan happens only on certain days of the year. There are four of such days, all of which mark anniversaries in the Raëlian calendar. The Raëlian baptism
11859-412: The "Third Temple of Israel". The official reason given was a telepathic request from extraterrestrials called Elohim to change the symbol in order to help in negotiations with Israel for the building of a Raëlian "embassy" or "third temple of Israel" to greet the anticipated coming of extraterrestrials and founders of past religions, although the country still denies their request. On 13 December 1997,
12036-765: The "classic UFO contactees" of the 1950s and 1960s. The Elohim are described as physically smaller than humans, with pale green skin and almond-shaped eyes, and divide into seven different races. Raëlians are forbidden from painting or sketching them. According to Raël, their planet is outside the Solar System but within the Milky Way . Raël says there are 90,000 Elohim on their planet, that they are all quasi-immortal, and that they do not wear clothes. All are permitted to engage in free love with one another, and sexual jealousy has been eliminated. All are regarded as feminine in manner; "the most feminine woman on Earth
12213-454: The "very early developmental stage". The religion is based on the teachings of Raël. Raël's claims are taken literally by practitioners of Raëlism, who regard his writings as scripture . From Palmer's extensive study of the philosophy and Raël himself, she thought that he genuinely believed his claims. The sociologist of religion Christopher Partridge noted that Raëlianism exhibits "a strong physicalist belief system". Raëlism presents
12390-439: The 14th century, he had no Cārvāka (or Lokāyata) text to quote from or refer to. In early 12th-century al-Andalus , Arabian philosopher Ibn Tufail ( a.k.a. Abubacer) discussed materialism in his philosophical novel , Hayy ibn Yaqdhan ( Philosophus Autodidactus ), while vaguely foreshadowing historical materialism . In France, Pierre Gassendi (1592–1665) represented the materialist tradition in opposition to
12567-511: The 40th and final prophet. Raëlists believe that since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, humanity has entered an Age of Apocalypse in which it threatens itself with nuclear annihilation. Raëlism holds that humanity must find a way to harness new scientific and technological development for peaceful purposes, and that when this has been achieved the Elohim will return to Earth to share their technology with humanity and establish an utopia. To this end, Raëlians have sought to build an embassy for
12744-687: 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
12921-527: The Belgian Raelian Movement ( Mouvement Raëlien Belge ) as a secte . Raëlism is possibly the largest UFO religion in existence, and in the mid-2000s, the scholar of religion Andreas Grünschloß called it "one of the most consolidated UFO groups internationally active today." In its beliefs, Raëlism differs from many other UFO-based philosophies, with the scholar of religion James R. Lewis terming it "the most thoroughly secular of all
13098-486: The Brazilian government's ban on GMOs. In July 2001, Raëlians on the streets attracted Italians and Swiss people as they gave leaflets in protest to over a hundred child molesters in existence among Roman Catholic clergy in France. They recommended that parents should not send their children to Catholic confession. The Episcopal vicar of Geneva sued the Raëlian Church for libel but did not win. The judge did not accept
13275-596: The Catholic Church. For example, a photographer of the Associated Press snapped a picture of half-naked Raëlian women wearing pasties as part of an anti-war demonstration in Seoul , Korea . A snapshot by Agence France-Presse revealed Raëlians in white alien costumes with signs bearing the message "NO WAR ... ET wants Peace, too!". On 6 August 2003, the first day of Raëlian year 58 AH, a tech article on
13452-413: The Earth to colonise other planets. He claims that robots will assume menial tasks, allowing humans to devote their time to pleasurable pursuits. He also argued that there would be biological robots which would serve as sex slaves, akin to those which Raël states he encountered on his visit to the Elohim planet. A single world currency will be introduced, as a prelude to the total abolition of money, while
13629-985: 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. Materialism Materialism
13806-653: The Elohim but that only Raël is permitted to meet with them physically or receive their revelations. Raëlism is a millenarian philosophy. Raël claims that since the U.S. military's use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, humanity have been living in the "Age of Apocalypse" or "Revelation". It states that the human species must now choose whether to use science and technology to enhance life or to use it to bring about nuclear annihilation. It claims that if humans successfully get through this present age, they will live in an era of advanced technology in which society will be tolerant and sexually liberated. Raël claimed that he
13983-479: The Elohim cloned Jesus to restore him to life after death. References to Satan are interpreted as referring to the chief of a group on the Elohim's planet who were opposed to genetic experiments on Earth and who argued that humanity should be destroyed as a potential threat. According to the Raëlians, the Great Flood narrative recounts an attempt by the anti-human aliens to wipe out humanity, but that humanity
14160-556: The Elohim that incorporates a landing pad for their spaceship. Raëlians engage in daily meditation, hope for physical immortality through human cloning , and promote a liberal ethical system with a strong emphasis on sexual experimentation. Raël first published his claims to have been contacted by the Elohim in his 1974 book Le Livre Qui Dit La Verité (The Book that Tells the Truth). He subsequently established an organisation devoted to promoting his ideas, MADECH, which in 1976 disbanded and
14337-429: The Elohim were also created by an earlier species, and they before them, ad infinitum . They believe that the cosmos expands indefinitely, both in time and space; infinity is an important concept for them. Raëlians believe that accounts of gods in various mythologies around the world are misinterpretations of memories about the Elohim. The philosophy states that the sacred scriptures of many other religions describe
14514-453: The Elohim would return at the age of Apocalypse or Revelation (unveiling of the truth). Humans from another world would appear to drop down from the sky, and meet in the embassy that they have asked Raël to build for them, and share their advanced scientific knowledge with humanity. Thus, one of the stated main goals of the Raëlian movement is to inform as many people as possible about this extraterrestrial race. The controversy surrounding
14691-517: The Elohim's consorts. In 1997 Raël initiated Clonaid , an organisation engaged in research in human cloning directed by senior Raëlian Brigitte Boisselier . In 2002, the company claimed to have produced a human clone , a baby named Eve, bringing much critical scrutiny and media attention. The Movement has attracted further attention through its public protests endorsing causes such as women's and gay rights and against nuclear testing. The International Raëlian Movement claims tens of thousands of members,
14868-419: The Elohim's planet and communicating telepathically with these aliens. Palmer found that Raëlians varyingly described a sense of physical well-being, psychic abilities, or sexual arousal during these meditations and interpreted these as evidence that they were in telepathic contact with the Elohim. The goal of sensual meditation is to achieve a "cosmic orgasm", which is characterised as the ultimate experience
15045-406: The Elohim's primordial genetic programming and are something to be celebrated. Researching about the Raëlians of Quebec, Palmer found that many of them avoided categorizing themselves by using terms like " heterosexual ", " homosexual ", or " bisexual ", finding those labels to be too limiting. The Raëlians have stressed the need for respect and mutual consent in sexual behaviour. The group places
15222-444: The Elohim, hearing Yahweh's voice guiding him in making decisions affecting Raëlianism. The religion also teaches that the Elohim continue to monitor every human individual on Earth, remotely, from their planet. This is done so that the Elohim can decide which individuals merit being offered the opportunity of eternal life. It argues that the Elohim continue to visit the Earth, as evidenced by crop circles , which adherents regard as
15399-477: The Elohim, they encourage scientific research to extend life through cloning; however, critics outside are doubtful of its possibility. Active followers of Raëlianism have exhibited their sex-positive feminism and pacifism through outdoor contacts such as parades. The major initiation rite in the Raëlian Church is the baptism or Transmission of the Cellular Plan and is enacted by upper-level members in
15576-444: The Elohim. These are the first Sunday in April, which is the date on which Raëlians believe the Elohim created the first humans; August 6th, which marks the day of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima in 1945; October 7th, which is the day in which Raël claims that he encountered the Elohim for the second time, in 1974; and December 13th, which is the day that Raël allegedly first encountered the Elohim in 1973. A major practice in Raëlism
15753-714: 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 . In 1980,
15930-459: The Gods? Similar ideas had also been put forward in science fiction, such as the U.S. television series Star Trek . Raëlians often deny the effect of von Däniken on the philosophy, instead believing that it derives entirely from Raël's revelations. Raëlism teaches that there exists an extraterrestrial species known as the Elohim. Raël has said that the word "Elohim", which is used for God in
16107-531: The Lebanese government was discussing proposals by the Raëlian movement to build their "interplanetary embassy" in Lebanon. However, one condition was that the Raëlians did not display their logo on top of the building because it mixes a swastika and a Star of David. According to Drori, the Raëlians involved declined this offer, as they wished to keep the symbol as is. According to the book Geniocracy , creating
16284-463: The Montreal anti-cult organization Info-Cult that the Raëlians promoted fascism and racism . Outside Info-Cult's office, Raëlians spoke against the act of discriminating against a religious minority. On 2 January 1992, a dozen people protested against the use of the swastika in the Raëlian logo in Miami's Eden Roc Hotel. The use of the swastika and other Raëlian practices has resulted in criticism from
16461-423: The Movement. Those in the Movement who hold the rank of bishop and priest are permitted to conduct these initiation ceremonies. In some instances, when the necessary individuals are present, Raël touches the head of a Raëlian bishop, who in turn touches that of a Raëlian priest, who touches the head of the initiate to ensure the "transmission". These "transmissions" are permitted to take place on one of four days in
16638-544: The Old Testament, is actually a plural term which he translates as "those who came from the sky." Raël calls individual members of the Elohim "Eloha". He claims that the Elohim gave him the honorific name "Raël", a term deriving from "Israel", which he translates as "the messenger of those who come from the sky." In his first book, Le Livre Qui Dit La Verité , published in 1974, Raël claimed that he initially encountered these alien beings on 13 December 1973, when he
16815-418: The Raëlian clergy known as guides . Raël says that "everything is in everything". He says that, inside the atoms of living things, are living things that are made of atoms, which themselves contain living things that are made of atoms, and so on, to the infinitely small. The universe itself is contained in an atom inside of another universe, and so on, to the infinitely large. Because of the difference of mass,
16992-410: The Raëlians as feminists, although Raël criticized mainstream feminism, arguing that it "copied the shortcomings of men". Generally adopting the belief that the human body is malleable, Raëlism has a positive opinion of plastic surgery to improve physical appearance. Raëlism teaches that the Elohim created humanity to feel sexual desire as a panacea for their violent impulses. It states that through
17169-399: 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
17346-550: The Raëlians think that advanced supercomputers of the Elohim are right now recording the memories and DNA of human beings. When Elohim release this information for the coming resurrection, people would be brought back from the dead and the judgments upon them would be realized based on actions in their past life. People excluded from physical recreation would include those who achieved nothing positive but were not evil. Vorilhon expressed an interest in cloning Hitler for war trials and retroactive punishment. Raël also mentioned cloning as
17523-633: The September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, in which the attackers killed themselves , the Raëlists proposed that they could be resurrected through cloning to be tried for their actions. Due to its emphasis upon attaining immortality, Raëlism deplores suicide; after the Heaven's Gate group engaged in a mass suicide in 1997, the Raëlian Church was among the new religions that issued press releases condemning suicide. As opposed to
17700-516: The UFO religions." Most other UFO religions, such as the Aetherius Society , Ashtar Command , and Heaven's Gate , use many of the beliefs of the late-19th-century religion Theosophy ; Raëlism does not. Raëlists have also been characterised as having a "belief in ufology", but Raëlians often stress that they do not regard themselves as ufologists . Raëlism is materialistic and rejects
17877-439: The United States and consistently held that mental states are brain states and that mental terms have the same referent as physical terms. The twentieth century has witnessed many materialist theories of the mental, and much debate surrounding them. But not all conceptions of physicalism are tied to verificationist theories of meaning or direct realist accounts of perception. Rather, physicalists believe that no "element of reality"
18054-419: The United States have organized annual protests, based upon their claim that women should have the same legal right to go topless in public, which men can do without fear of arrest for indecent exposure. Some people have called that a publicity stunt that serves to recruit new members. "Go Topless Day" is their annual event, in which women protest while topless, except for nipple pasties to avoid arrest. That event
18231-647: The University of Virginia, part of the sect is a cult, while the other part is a commercial website that collects large sums of money from people who are interested in human cloning. The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the United States Department of State , and sociologist Susan J. Palmer , have classified the International Raëlian Movement as a religion. Raëlians routinely advocate sex-positive feminism and genetically modified food and actively protest against wars in addition to
18408-541: The act of conception can affect any child resulting. The Raëlists also believe that once human cloning has been developed, biological reproduction will be obsolete. As well as endorsing the use of birth control and contraceptives , Raëlists endorse the use of abortion to terminate unwanted pregnancies. Raël has also argued that if a woman does not want a child who has been born then she should give it up to be raised by society. Some Swiss government authorities responded to Raëlians' opinions about Sensual Meditation with
18585-520: The activity of life inside of a living thing's atoms would undergo many millennia before enough time passes for that living thing to take a single step. Raëlians believe that the universe is infinite, and thus lacks a center. Because of this, one could not imagine where an ethereal soul would go, due to the universe's infinite nature. They believe that infinity exists in time as well as in space, for all levels of life. Raëlians believe that humanity would be able to create life on other planets only if humanity
18762-506: The airspace above the embassy. Buildings for administration, food and water provisions, and state-of-the-art sanitation and communication systems are part of this vision. A nearby replica of the Raëlian Embassy for Extraterrestrials open to the public is expected to show visitors what it is like inside the real one. In February 1991, the Raëlian Church modified their symbol to remove the swastika to help in negotiations with building
18939-565: The amount of time Raëlians believe it takes for all of a person's biological cells to be regenerated. The Raëlists reject both enforced monogamy and marriage, regarding these as institutions that have been enforced to enslave women and suppress sexual expression. The religion discourages its members from marrying. Members are also discouraged from contributing to global overpopulation ; members are urged not to have more than two children, and ideally none at all. Raël states that should two individuals wish to procreate, their psychic control during
19116-543: The attempts of René Descartes (1596–1650) to provide the natural sciences with dualist foundations. There followed the materialist and atheist abbé Jean Meslier (1664–1729), along with the French materialists : Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709–1751), Denis Diderot (1713–1784), Étienne Bonnot de Condillac (1714–1780), Claude Adrien Helvétius (1715–1771), German-French Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789), and other French Enlightenment thinkers. In England, materialism
19293-469: The average person will be permitted to rule. Raël's proposed geniocratic system bears similarities with the style of governance that Plato promoted in his work Republic . Raëlians thus reject democracy , believing that it fails to ensure that society has the best leadership. Raël claims that this future society will have no war, and crime will have been ended through genetic engineering. In this future, Raël states, humanity will be able to travel beyond
19470-413: The blood and the cells within, imagining heat travelling upwards from toe to the head, allowing the skin to feel under itself, and experiencing touch with another person's body and examining their figure. According to the book Maitreya by Vorilhon, love involves experiencing different varieties and possibilities that allow one to break habits in order to make life more pleasant and interesting and that it
19647-550: The book Yes to Human Cloning , the first stage of this extended cloning process is creating a human embryo through human cloning . Raëlian bishop and Clonaid CEO Brigitte Boisselier claimed that an American woman underwent a cloning procedure of this type that led to the birth of a girl named Eve on 26 December 2002. Vorilhon told lawmakers that banning the development of human cloning was comparable to outlawing medical advances such as "antibiotics, blood transfusions, and vaccines." The second stage of cloning, according to Raëlians,
19824-553: The building because it mixes a swastika and a Star of David . According to Drori, the Raëlians involved refused this offer, as they wished to keep the symbol as it was. From 1991 to 2007, the official Raëlian symbol in Europe and America did not have the original swastika, but Raël decided to make the original symbol, the Star of David intertwined with a swastika, the only official symbol of the Raëlian Movement worldwide. Raëlism involves
20001-458: The cellular plan", in which a Raëlian Guide placed their hands upon another individual's head, through which the Guide is believed to receive the individual's cellular code and then telepathically transmit it to the Elohim. Doing so denotes the initiate's formal recognition of the Elohim as the creators of humanity. This is used as part of the "baptism", or initiation ceremony for new members joining
20178-557: The change was made to show respect to the victims of the Holocaust . The newly added swirling shape was explained as a depiction of a swirling galaxy. In 2005, the Israeli Raëlian Guide Kobi Drori stated that the Lebanese government was discussing proposals by the Raëlian movement to build their interplanetary embassy in Lebanon. However, one condition was that the Raëlians not display their logo on top of
20355-627: The charges for the reason that the Raëlians were not attacking the whole of the Catholic Church. In October 2002, Raëlians in a Canadian anti-clerical parade held handed out Christian crosses to high school students. They were invited to burn the crosses in a park not far from Montreal's Mount Royal and to sign letters of apostasy from 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. Several Raëlian groups in
20532-460: The class of monist ontology , and is thus different from ontological theories based on dualism or pluralism . For singular explanations of the phenomenal reality, materialism is in contrast to idealism , neutral monism , and spiritualism . It can also contrast with phenomenalism , vitalism , and dual-aspect monism . Its materiality can, in some ways, be linked to the concept of determinism , as espoused by Enlightenment thinkers. Despite
20709-458: 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. In 1991, a French journalist attended a seminar and taped couples having sexual intercourse in tents, something then much-publicised. Following these seminars,
20886-407: The colonial orientation of the race for a "new" materialism. Watts in particular describes the tendency to regard matter as a subject of feminist or philosophical care as a tendency too invested in the reanimation of a Eurocentric tradition of inquiry at the expense of an Indigenous ethic of responsibility. Other scholars, such as Helene Vosters, echo their concerns and have questioned whether there
21063-422: The concept of historical materialism —the basis for what Marx and Friedrich Engels outlined as scientific socialism : The materialist conception of history starts from the proposition that the production of the means to support human life and, next to production, the exchange of things produced, is the basis of all social structure; that in every society that has appeared in history, the manner in which wealth
21240-436: The concept of materialism to elaborate a materialist conception of history centered on the roughly empirical world of human activity (practice, including labor) and the institutions created, reproduced or destroyed by that activity. They also developed dialectical materialism , by taking Hegelian dialectics , stripping them of their idealist aspects, and fusing them with materialism (see Modern philosophy ). Materialism
21417-522: The concept of matter had merely changed, while others believed the conventional position could no longer be maintained. Werner Heisenberg said: "The ontology of materialism rested upon the illusion that the kind of existence, the direct 'actuality' of the world around us, can be extrapolated into the atomic range. This extrapolation, however, is impossible...atoms are not things." The concept of matter has changed in response to new scientific discoveries. Thus materialism has no definite content independent of
21594-569: The conventional concept of matter as tangible "stuff" came with the rise of field physics in the 19th century. Relativity shows that matter and energy (including the spatially distributed energy of fields) are interchangeable. This enables the ontological view that energy is prima materia and matter is one of its forms. In contrast, the Standard Model of particle physics uses quantum field theory to describe all interactions. On this view it could be said that fields are prima materia and
21771-464: The dialectical form of materialism. George Stack distinguishes between materialism and physicalism: In the twentieth century, physicalism has emerged out of positivism. Physicalism restricts meaningful statements to physical bodies or processes that are verifiable or in principle verifiable. It is an empirical hypothesis that is subject to revision and, hence, lacks the dogmatic stance of classical materialism. Herbert Feigl defended physicalism in
21948-454: The dignity of human life. In response, the leader of the Raëlian Church dismissed the Pope's ethical concerns, calling them an "accumulation of religious prejudices." Ra%C3%ABlism Raëlism , also known as Raëlianism , is a UFO religion founded in 1970s France by Claude Vorilhon , now known as Raël. Scholars of religion classify Raëlism as a new religious movement . The group
22125-564: The embassy; and in October 2001, the funding had reached $ 20 million. Once on Earth, Raël claims, the Elohim will share their advanced technology and scientific understanding with humanity and will help to usher in a utopia. Raël teaches that the Elohim's arrival will herald a new and improved political system on Earth. This will be a single world government that Raël terms a "geniocracy," or "rule of geniuses," and which he discusses in his fifth book, Geniocracy . According to this system, only those who are fifty percent more intelligent that
22302-543: The energy is a property of the field. According to the dominant cosmological model, the Lambda-CDM model , less than 5% of the universe's energy density is made up of the "matter" the Standard Model describes, and most of the universe is composed of dark matter and dark energy , with little agreement among scientists about what these are made of. With the advent of quantum physics, some scientists believed
22479-492: The event erased. In his 1979 book, Let's Welcome Our Fathers from Space , Raël added that he was the biological son of the Eloha whom he first encountered, Yahweh. He noted that Yahweh was also the father of Jesus, making the latter Raël's half-brother. In 2003, Raël publicly identified himself as Maitreya , the prophesied future bodhisattva of Mahayana Buddhism . He maintains that he continues to be in telepathic contact with
22656-460: The existence of real objects, properties or phenomena not explicable in the terms canonically used for the basic material constituents. Jerry Fodor held this view, according to which empirical laws and explanations in "special sciences" like psychology or geology are invisible from the perspective of basic physics. Materialism developed, possibly independently, in several geographically separated regions of Eurasia during what Karl Jaspers termed
22833-405: The existence of the supernatural , endorsing atheism and rejecting the idea that gods exist. The religion's founder, Raël, characterises traditional religion as irrational and unscientific, presenting his alternative as a philosophy free from "obscurantism and mysticism". Raëlians call their belief system a "scientific religion", with the International Raëlian Movement using the motto "Science
23010-612: The explosions receded, Elohim scattered the Israelites and had them speak the language of other tribes. According to Vorilhon, Elohim contacted about forty people to act as their prophets on Earth, including Moses , Elijah , Ezekiel , Buddha , John the Baptist , Jesus , Muhammad , and Joseph Smith . The religions thought to be from Elohimic origins include Judaism , Buddhism , Christianity , Islam , and Mormonism . According to Vorilhon, multiple religious texts indicate that
23187-535: 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
23364-435: The first two humans to be created were named Adam and Eve . Raëlians believe that there were originally seven human races, modelling the seven Elohim races, but that the purple, blue, and green races have died out. In believing humanity was created by the Elohim, Raëlians reject Darwinian evolution and espouse creationism and intelligent design ; Raëlians term their beliefs "scientific creationism." Raëlians believe that
23541-426: The given time, and Raëlism, therefore, emphasises the idea of progressive truth. Raël claims that he is the fortieth and final prophet of the Elohim, sent because humanity is now sufficiently developed to understand the truth about the Elohim. He initially claimed that he was chosen for this role because he had a Roman Catholic mother and a Jewish father and was thus "an ideal link between two very important peoples in
23718-505: The group Hineni of Florida, an Orthodox Jewish organization. In 1992, the Raëlian Movement altered their symbol, replacing the central swastika with a swirling shape. They explained that this was due to a request from the Elohim to change the symbol in order to help in negotiations with Israel for the building of the Extraterrestrial Embassy, although the country continued to deny their request. Raël also stated that
23895-407: The group's monthly meetings, during which the assembled adherents sit or lie on the floor in a dimly lit room. They are then guided through it by a Raëlian Guide speaking through a microphone; the meditation may be accompanied by New Age music . Sensual meditation begins with a relaxation exercise known as harmonisation avec l'infini ("harmonization with the infinite"). One stage of this process
24072-542: 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
24249-462: The history of the world." He added that he was also selected because he lived in France, which the Elohim considered a more open-minded country than most others. Raël subsequently stated that these prophets are themselves the result of a human mother breeding with an Eloha father, with the human mothers having been chosen for the purity of their genetic code, beamed onto an Elohim spacecraft, impregnated, and then returned to Earth with their memory of
24426-419: The hull of the Elohim's spaceship. Raëlians regard this as a symbol of infinity. Practitioners also believe that this symbol helps facilitate their own telepathic contact with the Elohim. Raëlists typically wear a medallion of the symbol around their neck. The Raëlian use of the swastika, a symbol that had been prominently used by Germany's Nazi Party during the 1930s and 1940s, resulted in accusations from
24603-413: The inhabitants of the Elohim planet "have 10 percent of masculinity and 90 percent of femininity." Raël also proposed that if women were in positions of political power across the world, there would be no war. The Raëlians have participated with public protests for women's rights. At its June 2003 "Joy of Being Woman" demonstration, Raëlian women danced naked through the streets of Paris. Palmer described
24780-556: The landing spaces of the Elohim's spacecraft. Raëlians generally understand sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) as confirmation of their belief in the Elohim, although their opinion of Ufology is ambiguous. Raëlians also consider the appearance of " angel hair " as evidence of the Elohim's presence, stating that it has appeared at various Raëlian summer gatherings. They typically express scepticism regarding claims by alleged alien contactees other than Raël. Raëlians believe that they are all capable of linking telepathically with
24957-443: The large number of philosophical schools and their nuances, all philosophies are said to fall into one of two primary categories, defined in contrast to each other: idealism and materialism . The basic proposition of these two categories pertains to the nature of reality: the primary difference between them is how they answer two fundamental questions—what reality consists of, and how it originated. To idealists, spirit or mind or
25134-488: The laws of chance, rather than the rigid rules of causality. An extension of the quantum theory goes beyond even this; it paints a picture in which solid matter dissolves away, to be replaced by weird excitations and vibrations of invisible field energy. Quantum physics undermines materialism because it reveals that matter has far less "substance" than we might believe. But another development goes even further by demolishing Newton's image of matter as inert lumps. This development
25311-426: The leader of the International Raëlian Movement had decided to extend the possibility of building the embassy outside of Jerusalem and also allow that a significant portion of the embassy property be covered with water. The area of the proposed embassy property is still envisioned at a minimum of 3.47 square kilometers, with a radius of at least 1.05 kilometers. In 2005, the Israeli Raëlian Guide Kobi Drori stated that
25488-479: The majority in Francophone areas of Western Europe and North America and parts of East Asia. Criticism of the philosophy has come from journalists, ex-Raëlians, and anti-cultists , while it has also been studied by scholars of religion. Raëlism is classified as a new religious movement by scholars of religion . It has also been described as a UFO religion, a UFO movement, and an ETI ( extra-terrestrial intelligence ) religion. The organization promoting Raëlianism
25665-493: The mid-19th century was German materialism , which included Ludwig Büchner (1824–1899), the Dutch-born Jacob Moleschott (1822–1893), and Carl Vogt (1817–1895), even though they had different views on core issues such as the evolution and the origins of life. Contemporary analytic philosophers (e.g. Daniel Dennett , Willard Van Orman Quine , Donald Davidson , and Jerry Fodor ) operate within
25842-454: The objects of mind ( ideas ) are primary, and matter secondary. To materialists, matter is primary, and mind or spirit or ideas are secondary—the product of matter acting upon matter. The materialist view is perhaps best understood in its opposition to the doctrines of immaterial substance applied to the mind historically by René Descartes ; by itself, materialism says nothing about how material substance should be characterized. In practice, it
26019-571: The ongoing activities of the Elohim on Earth. The tale of Adam and Eve 's expulsion from the Garden of Eden , recounted in Genesis, is, for instance, interpreted as representing humanity's difficult transition from the Elohim's laboratories to life on Earth, where they had to become self-sufficient. The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth , as presented in the Gospels , is described as representing how
26196-519: The origins of Raelian beliefs centers on the writings of several authors in the late 1960s. Jean Sendy , a French writer, translator, and author of books on the esoteric and UFOs wrote several novels detailing the creation of Earth by extraterrestrials. One of the best known researchers in this field is Erich von Däniken , the 'father' of the Ancient Astronauts theory, which postulates that Earth might have been visited by extraterrestrials in
26373-553: The other main basis of Raël's ideas is the Bible . Noting the "central role" of the Bible in Raëlism, the scholar of religion Eugene V. Gallagher suggested that it was a "thoroughly biblical and thoroughly Christian" philosophy. Similarly, the sociologist of religion Susan J. Palmer characterised Raëlism as both fundamentalist and Abrahamic in its reliance on the Bible. Raël nevertheless criticised Christianity for what he believed
26550-480: The particular theory of matter on which it is based. According to Noam Chomsky , any property can be considered material, if one defines matter such that it has that property. The philosophical materialist Gustavo Bueno uses a more precise term than matter , the stroma. In Materialism and Empirio-Criticism , Lenin argues that the truth of dialectical materialism is unrelated to any particular understanding of matter. To him, such changes actually confirm
26727-596: The perception of Brahman are considered to destroy the illusion. Rudolf Peierls , a physicist who played a major role in the Manhattan Project , rejected materialism: "The premise that you can describe in terms of physics the whole function of a human being ... including knowledge and consciousness, is untenable. There is still something missing." Erwin Schrödinger said, "Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness
26904-618: The philosophy, but in the economics of each particular epoch. Through his Dialectics of Nature (1883), Engels later developed a "materialist dialectic" philosophy of nature , a worldview that Georgi Plekhanov , the father of Russian Marxism , called dialectical materialism . In early 20th-century Russian philosophy , Vladimir Lenin further developed dialectical materialism in his 1909 book Materialism and Empirio-criticism , which connects his opponents' political conceptions to their anti-materialist philosophies. A more naturalist -oriented materialist school of thought that developed in
27081-410: The planet. Raël characterises humans as "biological robots" that have been created and programmed by the Elohim. Raëlism teaches that humanity is modelled physically on the Elohim; for practitioners, this is indicated by the passage at Genesis 1:26. Also representing his own interpretation of Genesis, Raël teaches that the Elohim scientist responsible for creating humanity was named Yahweh and that
27258-459: The process to maintain one branch for personality and memory, as opposed to two, a recording of the individual's mind would be required before the time of death, and would be transferred to an adult clone body after the original has died. In the final stages of development, hitherto unknown information contained within undamaged DNA would be enough to bring others back from the dead including their memories and personality. This would be done by taking
27435-594: The production of ancient artifacts such as the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge and the Moai of Easter Island. Humans in ancient times considered this extraterrestrial high-tech to be supernatural and the aliens themselves to be 'gods'. One can find direct parallels to the messages that Vorilhon claimed to have received and written about in his books. Marie-Hélène Parent, ex-guide Raëlian priest, describes Sendy and Vorilhon meeting several times for drinks and conversation throughout
27612-489: The pursuit of sexual pleasure, new pathways between the neurons in the brain are forged, thus enhancing an individual's intelligence. Raëlism encourages its members to explore their sexuality; while Raël is often photographed with beautiful women and appears to be heterosexual, he encourages homosexual experimentation. Adopting an accepting attitude towards different forms of sexual orientation and expression, Raëlism teaches that differences in sexual orientation are rooted in
27789-400: The religion's morality as "progressive," while Palmer referred to the group's "liberal social values", and Chryssides called Raëlist values "worldly and hedonistic". The scholar of religion Paul Oliver said that the philosophy's ethics are "relativistic" in that practitioners are encouraged to act in a manner that they feel appropriate to the context. Several scholars have also argued that it
27966-420: The remote past. With the publication of Chariots of the Gods? in 1968, Erich von Däniken introduced the intervention theory to the general public. Von Däniken wrote that the technologies and religions of ancient civilizations were granted by extraterrestrials worshiped as gods. Von Däniken argued that only extraterrestrial intervention can explain the higher technological knowledge presumed to be essential for
28143-494: The road to a world without money is capitalism and globalization, as opposed to communism. Capitalism would allow people who contribute much to society to also contribute to its scientific and technological development. Under capitalism, society would produce as much money as it can. The money would become important in the short run, as nanotechnology quickly lowers the cost of goods while putting many people out of work. An anti-cult organization called Info-Cult argued that Geniocracy
28320-408: The same capacity. In the plan are seven rooms for the purpose of receiving human guests into the embassy. The embassy building, along with the swimming pool, would be in the center of a large park and protected from trespassing by a wall−a maximum of two stories-to surround the entire complex's circumference. Trees and bushes are to be planted in the outskirts of the wall's area. The walls are to have
28497-527: The science teams would ultimately sustain a perpetual chain of life. In his book The Message Given to me by Extraterrestrials (now republished as Intelligent Design: Message from the Designers 2006 ISBN 2-940252-20-3 ), Vorilhon claims that on 13 December 1973, he found a spacecraft shaped like a flattened bell that landed inside Puy de Lassolas , a volcano near the capital city of Auvergne . A 25,000-year-old human-like extraterrestrial inside
28674-516: The scientific definition of reproductive cloning , which is simply the creation of a genetically identical living organism, Raëlians seek to both genetically clone individuals, rapidly accelerate growth of the clone to adulthood through a process like guided self-assembly of rapidly expanded cells or even nanotechnology . Raël told lawmakers that banning the development of human cloning was comparable to outlawing medical advances such "antibiotics, blood transfusions, and vaccines". Raëlism insists on
28851-520: 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;
29028-452: The solution to terrorism by suicide attacks , as the perpetrators would not be able to escape punishment by killing themselves if the Elohim recreated them after their attacks. The major initiation rite in the Raëlian Church is the "baptism" or "transmission of the cellular plan". That rite is enacted by upper-level members of the Raëlian clergy who are called "guides". Canadian sociologist Susan J. Palmer says that in 1979, Raël introduced
29205-568: The spacecraft named Yahweh said that Elohim was the name that primitive people of Earth called members of his extraterrestrial race, who were seen as "those who came from the sky". Yahweh explained that Earth was originally void ow seas, but the Elohim came, broke apart the clouds, exposed the seas to sunlight, built a continent, and synthesized a global ecosystem. Solar astronomy , terraformation , nanotechnology , and genetic engineering allowed Elohim to adapt life to Earth's thermal and chemical makeup. Yahweh gave materialistic explanations of
29382-515: The term physicalism to materialism , while others use the terms as if they were synonymous . Discoveries of neural correlates between consciousness and the brain are taken as empirical support for materialism, but some philosophers of mind find that association fallacious or consider it compatible with non-materialist ideas. Alternative philosophies opposed or alternative to materialism or physicalism include idealism, pluralism , dualism , panpsychism , and other forms of monism . Epicureanism
29559-542: The year that play a prominent role in the Raëlian calendar. The first examples took place in April 1976, when Raël carried out the "transmission" ceremonies of forty initiates on the Roc Plat . The Raëlian calendar begins with the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Each year after this date is referred to as "AH" or "après Hiroshima" ("after Hiroshima"). The Raëlians celebrate four religious festivals each year, two of which mark Raël's claimed encounters with
29736-503: The years of 1973 and 1974, prior to Vorilhon's claimed extraterrestrial encounter. Raëlians believe that humanity would be able to create life on other planets only if it is peaceful enough to stop war. If done, humanity could travel the distances between stars and create life on another planet. Progress in terraformation, molecular biology, and cloning would enable these teams to create continents and life from scratch. Progress in social engineering would ensure that this creation would have
29913-657: Was 27 years old. He wrote that he was walking along the Puy de Lassolas volcanic crater in the Clermont-Ferrand mountains when one of their spaceships appeared and an Eloha emerged, who asked him to return the next day and bring a Bible . Raël did so, and the over six days Eloha explained to him the true meaning of its contents, revealing more about the Elohim's involvement in human history. In his 1976 book Les Extra-Terrestres M'ont Emmené sur Leur Planète ( The Extraterrestrials Took Me to Their Planet ), Raël added that he
30090-429: Was a fascist ideology. However, Geniocracy is not a political party, because it allows for differing ideologies. According to Vorilhon's book Sensual Meditation , one should develop the ability to break free of habitual thoughts that prevent one from appreciating everyday phenomena. The book describes in detail six different meditations involving making full use of the lungs' capacity to expand and contract, oxygenating
30267-409: Was contacted by the Elohim again on 7 October 1975, when they took him aboard their spaceship and transported him to their home planet. Here he was offered six biological robot women with which to have sex, saw the Elohim create his clone, and taught the techniques of sensual meditation. The scholar of religion James R. Lewis noted that Raël's account of encountering the Elohim was similar to those of
30444-400: Was destined to help lead humanity away from its path of destruction. According to Raël, beginning a peaceful age will cause the return of the Elohim to Earth. He added that they will bring with them the 39 immortal prophets whom they had previously sent to guide humanity. Raël stated that humanity has to build an embassy for the Elohim prior to their arrival on Earth and that it must include
30621-528: Was developed in the philosophies of Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), and John Locke (1632–1704). Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume (1711–1776) became one of the most important materialist philosophers in the 18th century. John "Walking" Stewart (1747–1822) believed matter has a moral dimension, which had a major impact on the philosophical poetry of William Wordsworth (1770–1850). In late modern philosophy , German atheist anthropologist Ludwig Feuerbach signaled
30798-481: Was its role in perverting the Bible's message, presenting himself as an opponent of the Roman Catholic Church . Raëlism is not inclusive of other religions, with new members expected to formally renounce any previous religious affiliations. During the early 2000s, the scholar of religion George D. Chryssides said that Raëlism exhibits "a coherent worldview", but added that the movement remained in
30975-482: Was not material precludes labelling them as materialists). Buddhist atomism and the Jaina school continued the atomic tradition. Ancient Greek atomists like Leucippus , Democritus and Epicurus prefigure later materialists. The Latin poem De Rerum Natura by Lucretius (99 – c. 55 BC) reflects the mechanistic philosophy of Democritus and Epicurus. According to this view, all that exists
31152-476: Was replaced by the Raëlian Church. Raël headed the new organisation, which was structured around a hierarchy of seven levels. Attracting more followers, the group obtained a country estate in France before relocating its operations to Quebec . In 1998, Raël established the Order of Angels, an internal all-female group whose members are largely sequestered from wider society and tasked with training themselves to become
31329-526: Was rescued by an alien spacecraft which provided the basis for the story of Noah's Ark . Various figures who established or inspired religions throughout human history, including Jesus, the Buddha , Muhammad , and Joseph Smith , are portrayed by the Raëlians as having been guided by the Elohim. These are characterised as being 39 prophets sent to humanity at various times. Each is believed to have revealed information to humanity that they could comprehend at
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