"If you're a racist, I'm a black man. If you’re homophobic, I’m a homosexual." I was sitting in my car on the shores of the sea whilst interviewing Glenn, the President of the UK Raelian Movement when I realised what this was all about.
The hostility in his voice and the passion in his message, the Raelian Movement are a group of people searching to find an answer to a question that we all ask ourselves. Why are we here? This was when I realised that the words of Glenn, would never resonate as powerful with the rest of the world as they did right now.
In 1974 French journalist, Claude Vorilhon, founded the Raelian Movement after what he claims to have been an extraterrestrial experience. Whilst driving to work one morning through France's volcanic Puy de Lassolas, he had his first encounter with E.Ts and after several more visits from our alien creators, Vorilhon gave in to their persistence and accepted his role as what he claims to be earth's final living prophet. Soon after, he declared himself "Rael" and announced he was not in fact his fathers son, but that his biological father was 'Yahweh' (an alien based on the Iron Age god) and established the Global Raelian Movement.
For Raelians, life on Earth didn’t start with a big bang - nor did it evolve from bacteria into man over millions of years. To Rael and his devout following, life on Earth was designed from our extraterrestrial creators called the Elohim. Their beliefs, outlined in Rael’s book: Intelligent Design: Message from the Designers, depicts "scientific" explanations as to why all other religions are essentially wrong and that this is the only real, correct belief. The Raelian philosophy claims that all religions are linked and goes on to add that previous prophets such as Christ, Buddha and Moses were too carrying out the message of the Elohim. As each attempt failed, a new religion formed thus allowing for the message of our “forefathers” to become lost in translation.
This was explained to me in great depth by the Glenn, who is ranked at level 5 out of 6 (the sixth being Rael). He told me: “The term Elohim, isn’t exclusive to Raelians. The word Elohim is actually Jewish, meaning, ‘those who came from the sky’. However, the first Jewish Law was never to translate the term ‘Elohim’.” (Yes - Glenn has just broke the first rule of Fight Club).
“It’s present in folklore and religions throughout the ages.” Glenn added: “Think back to the ages of vikings, they worshipped plural gods - they didn’t know who or why but they knew they were there."
"Think of us as the citizens advice bureau, of the world."
As the only living prophet to grace our Earth for some time, Rael is the only human to have had contact with our Elohim forefathers. Speaking to Brent, a Raelian Guide who sneered at my lack of knowledge about our ET creators, he said: "well they're only 25,000 years ahead of us! Listen, they can manipulate atoms on any scale!"
If the Elohim are our creators and Rael is the only human able to communicate, what role do Raelians played here on earth? “Think of us as a citizens advice bureau of the world.” Glenn added.
They’re testing us. As a civilisation we’re being treat as an experiment and Raelians believe that epidemics such as global warming show that we’re failing. I asked Suzy, a level 3 media contact for the UK movement, why she thought that the Elohim would allow us to make such destructive acts to our environment and specifically about the death of the Great Barrier Reef if they created our civilisation and Earths animal kingdom? To which I was told: “What would we learn by them stopping the great barrier reef? They have to let us grow as humans and learn by our mistakes.
“They won’t come here until we mature because they’re afraid of mankind and the attacks.”
A fellow level 3 member, Sandra added: "To them, we're a baby humanity. With so much suffering in the world, they’ve left us to it and with us the last prophet of Rael to get our act together or they won’t return."
"We're campaigning for a third temple to return."
For the Elohim to be able to return, the Raelian Movement are campaigning for one nation on Earth to build an embassy with extraterrestrial rights for the Elohim to live in harmony, and in return, they will provide protection and security for this nation for the millennia to come.
Brent told me: "We're campaigning for a third temple to return. A country that will allow them rights.
"They want extraterrestrial rights to share teachings."
On their website, the movement claims that preliminary discussions are already underway with several nations. They have also called upon Israel to step forward as the host nation so that the third temple can stand in one of Earths most holy lands (to not disrespect those who created us):
"Just because we get our bums and tits out, people think we're a sex cult."
Another aspect of the movement's work is its global Happiness Academy. These are seminars which are known to take place anywhere in the world. Glenn told me: "They're all about accepting yourself. If you’re a homosexual and your background says otherwise, the only way to true happiness is through accepting yourself.
“The academies are run by psychologists, neurologists, philosophers and even Rael himself gives talks."
Across the years there have been many speculations as to the nature of these academies. Some publications have even claimed that the movement is a front for an operating sex cult.
The members openly discuss their liberal attitudes regarding sexuality. They argue that a small section of their policy, which promotes being natural and free, has been entirely misinterpreted in previous articles.
Brent told me: “just because we get our bums and tits out, people think we’re a sex cult.” Glenn later attempted to clarify that Brent meant nothing by these comments and is merely a “fun guy”. As well as this, Sandra also mentioned how the group believes in “free sex” at one point in the interview. Again, this was corrected by Glenn, who counter claimed that this statement was: “Not true. We don’t promote that, we practice respect.”
However, Rael has also published numerous sensual meditation guides - which Raelians claim to be a deeply entrenched aspect to their freedom of will, within their religious scripture. The track below is one you can find on Spotify titled: "Meditation 6 - Eroticism and Mutual Excitement".
Rael seems to be comfortable leading a religion as a cult of personality figure. No one in the movement questions his teachings, and when I asked why, Glenn told me: "If you're in the pub, and a man tells you to bet on a specific horse for the 12:15 Epsom. You don't, it comes off. Pure chance, right? Well, what if he told you time and time again and every time he was right. At what point do you start to believe it?"
Whether or not the Raelian Movement is a sex cult or an alternative religion is a debate that may well continue for years to come. It seems that those who are involved however, are happy not to question the teachings of Rael but to instead - take his teachings and apply them to their own lives whichever way works best. Unlike other religions, for Raelains, "The Message" can mean whatever you want it to - and they're OK with that. They're free.
