Raelianism 101

Emile Durkheim writes that religions separate the world into that which is sacred and that which is profane. What happens, then, when the sacred is eradicated? For Raëlians have no supernatural deity, no "mana" to be acquired. Their "deities" are fallible beings, powerful yet not omnipotent, relatively omniscient (with the aid of technology), yet not omnipresent. Others have suggested that the minimal definition of religion is a belief in spirits. Yet in Raëlianism we find no immaterial substances, and no spiritual immortality. Indeed, it is corporeal immortality, the immortality of the body itself, that Raëlianism promises to its faithful, not in heaven, but in outer space, at an undisclosed location from which one can, with proper technology, come and go as one pleases.

Neither monotheistic nor polytheistic, the Raëlian religion does not adopt the idea of the existence of a god or gods, but rather of powerful, technological human-like beings who, through scientific cloning experiments, first created humanity in their own image approximately 25,000 years ago. In the same way, they themselves were once created by a similar species, who were, in turn, also created by another species, and so on ad infinitum. These creators of humanity, the Elohim, are mortals just like us, yet they have, through technological means, found ways of greatly increasing their life spans. They do not demand worship or sacrifices, yet, like any caring parents, enjoy a "phone call" home now and then, and Raëlians comply with frequent telepathic communications, which are enjoyable conversations for both parties.

It was the year of the American attack on Hiroshima that these Elohim decided that their "children" had sufficiently matured to be capable of understanding their true origins. To this ends, a French woman was impregnated with the child who would one day receive direct contact with the Elohim, indeed with the head scientist, Yahweh himself. Twenty-seven years later, this child, Claude Vorilhon, later to be known as simply "Raël", was visited by these creators who, piece by piece, revealed to him "the Message" of humanity's true origins in the laboratories of the Elohim.

What is written in our modern Biblical scriptures is in fact, misinterpretation they told him. Ancient humanity did not have the vocabulary or epistemological ability to accurately transcribe what they witnessed, and, through errors of translation, the ancient Hebrew word "elohim", meaning "those who came from the sky" has been apotheosized and singularized (devotees cite the Australian cargo cults as a contemporary parallel to this tendency for "primitive" people to apotheosize). It is this epiphany which Raël would later share with the world in his first book, The Book Which Tells the Truth, and the Raëlian Religion was officially founded in 1973.

Raëlians, those who believe this message of extra-terrestrial creation, have renounced traditional ethical systems, and instead of "thou shalt nots" and "do unto others", they defer to the goals of increasing humanity's consciousness and scientific awareness, so that more people will come to understand and believe the Message, and focus on meditation and telepathic communication with the Elohim.

As a scholar of religion, the Raelian religion fascinates me, as it challenges our traditional ideas of what constitutes a religion. Since there is no "god", Raelians are atheists, in the traditional sense of the word, yet they also clearly adopt a powerful and comprehensive world-view which excludes the possibility of other religions. So, does religion need God? Do we, as human beings, need God? Have the Raelians have somehow managed to find a way to answer life's existential questions and look optimistically towards the future without a the crutch of a possible "deus ex machina"?

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