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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 is formalised as the International Raëlian Movement (IRM) or Raëlian Church, a hierarchical organisation under Raël's leadership. It is considered a cult by French and Belgian authorities.
Black supremacy or black supremacism is a racial supremacist belief which maintains that black people are inherently superior to people of other races.
Millenarianism or millenarism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenarianism exists in various cultures and religions worldwide, with various interpretations of what constitutes a transformation.
A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin, or they can be part of a wider religion, in which case they are distinct from pre-existing denominations. Some NRMs deal with the challenges that the modernizing world poses to them by embracing individualism, while other NRMs deal with them by embracing tightly knit collective means. Scholars have estimated that NRMs number in the tens of thousands worldwide. Most NRMs only have a few members, some of them have thousands of members, and a few of them have more than a million members.
Raël is a French journalist who founded and leads the Raëlian Movement, an international UFO religion.
Massimo Introvigne is an Italian Roman Catholic sociologist of religion, author, and intellectual property attorney. He is a founder and the managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), a Turin-based organization which has been described as "the highest profile lobbying and information group for controversial religions".
Dwight D. York, also known as Malachi Z. York, Issa al-Haadi al-Mahdi, et alii, is an American criminal, black supremacist, pedophile, and convicted child molester, best known as the founding leader of several black Muslim groups in New York, most notably the Nuwaubian Nation, a black supremacist, new religious movement that has existed in some form since the 1960s.
Alain Vivien is a French Socialist Party (PS) politician, best known for chairing (1998–2002) the French Mission Interministérielle pour la Lutte contre les Sectes, MILS, a ministerial organization designed to observe the activities of various religious organizations defined as "Sectes" (cults).
The Nuwaubian Nation, Nuwaubian movement, or United Nuwaubian Nation is an American new religious and black supremacist movement founded and led by Dwight York, also known as Malachi Z. York. York began founding several black Muslim groups in New York in 1967. He changed his teachings and the names of his groups many times, incorporating concepts from Judaism, Christianity, UFO religions, New Age, and many esoteric beliefs.
Jean-Marie Abgrall is a French psychiatrist, criminologist, specialist in forensic medicine, cult consultant, graduate in criminal law and anti-cultist. He has been an expert witness and has been consulted in the investigations of cults. Abgrall is known as a proponent of brainwashing theories.
Throughout the history of Raëlism, members of the Raëlian Movement have advocated the use of sex-positive feminism, condoms, birth control, masturbation, meditation, genetically modified organisms, and human cloning. In the past, projects such as Clonaid, for human cloning, and Clitoraid, for repairing genitally mutilated clitorises, have been founded. Raëlians are also believers of the Raëlian movement's version of its history as described in the books written by Claude Vorilhon.
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 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 by the Elohim, they encourage scientific research to extend life through cloning; however, critics outside are doubtful of its possibility.
FECRIS – (in French)European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism, a French non-profit association and anti-cult organization, serves as an umbrella organization for groups which investigate the activities of groups considered cults in Europe.
INFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements) is an independent registered charity located in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King's College, London; from 1988-2018 it was based at the London School of Economics. It was founded by the sociologist of religion, Eileen Barker, with start-up funding from the British Home Office and Britain's mainstream churches. Its stated aims are to "prevent harm based on misinformation about minority religions and sects by bringing the insights and methods of academic research into the public domain" and to provide "information about minority religions and sects which is as accurate, up-to-date and as evidence-based as possible."
Andreas Gruenschloss is a German scholar and was Professor of Religious Studies at University of Göttingen from 2002 to 2023. An ordained Protestant pastor, he is the author of books and scholarly articles about interfaith matters and new religious movements. He publishes both in German and in English and is a co-editor of the Marburg Journal of Religion.
Jean Sendy (1910–1978) was a French writer and translator, author of works on esoterica and UFO phenomena. He was also an early proponent of the ancient astronaut hypothesis.
Raëlism is a UFO religion established in France during the 1970s. It soon spread to Quebec and then on to other parts of the world. There have been various attempts to estimate the number of Raëlians at different points.
Aliens Adored: Raël's UFO Religion is a book by Susan J. Palmer, published in 2004 by Rutgers University Press. The book is an ethnography of Raëlism, a UFO religion that gained notoriety in the year 2000 for its claims that it had cloned a human being. Palmer, a sociologist of religion, had studied the Raëlians for over a decade, and had personally interviewed both members of the group and its founder, Raël. The book analyzes many aspects of the organization, including its leader, members, ethics and theology.
References
- ↑ Alaton, Salem (1 January 2004). "It's the Rael thing" . The Globe and Mail . Archived from the original on 6 June 2024. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
- ↑ "Dr. Susan Jean Palmer". Concordia University . Retrieved 14 August 2024.
- ↑ Riess, Jana (15 November 2004). "Aliens Adored: Raël's UFO Religion (Book)". Publishers Weekly . Vol. 251, no. 46. p. 17. ISSN 0000-0019 . Retrieved 14 August 2024.
- ↑ Palmer, Susan J. (2001). "Caught Up in the Cult Wars: Confessions of a Canadian Researcher". In Zablocki, Benjamin; Robbins, Thomas (eds.). Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field. University of Toronto Press. pp. 99–122. ISBN 978-0-8020-8188-9.
- ↑ von Heyking, John (2005). "Groovy Cloned-Baby: Yah!". The Review of Politics . 67 (3): 565–567. ISSN 0034-6705. JSTOR 25046453.
- ↑ Stebbins, Robert A. (2006). "Review of Aliens Adored: Raël's UFO Religion". Canadian Journal of Sociology . 31 (3): 391–392. doi:10.2307/20058722. ISSN 0318-6431.
- ↑ de Borde, Melchior Pelleterat (2012). "Review of The New Heretics of France: Minority Religions, la République, and the Government-Sponsored "War on Sects"". Sociology of Religion . 73 (3): 346–348. ISSN 1069-4404. JSTOR 41679711.
- ↑ Adams, George (2014). "The New Heretics of France: Minority Religions, la Republique, and the Government-Sponsored "War on Sects."". Nova Religio . 17 (3): 119–120. doi:10.1525/nr.2014.17.3.119. ISSN 1092-6690.
- ↑ Possamai, Adam (2011). "Political Culture, the Nation of Islam, the Nuwaubian Nation and the Muslim Brotherhood: A Review Article". Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review. 2 (2): 355–367. doi:10.5840/asrr2011227. ISSN 1946-0538.
- ↑ Pace, Enzo (2011). "Review of The Nuwaubian Nation. Black Spirituality and State Control". Archives de sciences sociales des religions (in French). 56 (156): 243–245. ISSN 0335-5985. JSTOR 41336177.
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