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Raëlism is a UFO religion that was founded in 1974 by Claude Vorilhon, now known as Raël. Raëlism has been described as "the largest UFO religion in the world". In academic circles, the religion is also known as the Raëlian Church.

The Raelian Movement teaches that life on Earth was scientifically created by a species of extraterrestrials, which they call the Elohim. Members of this species appeared human and when having personal contacts with the descendants of the humans they made, they were mistaken for angels, cherubim or gods. Raëlians believe messengers, or prophets, of the Elohim include Buddha, Jesus, and many others who informed humans of each era. The founder of Raëlism, members claim, received the final message of the Elohim and that its purpose is to pacify and inform the world about Elohim and that if humans become peaceful enough, they wish to be welcome by them.

Within the Raëlian Church, there is a quasi-clerical structure with a height of seven levels (Vorilhon is at the highest level). Joining the movement involves a transmission ceremony as well as an official apostasy from other religions in recognition of Elohim, as the creators of life from the heavens.

Members are asked to follow the Raëlian ideals that speak against the use of recreational drugs, tobacco, coffee and limit alcohol to moderation, if at all. Sexuality is an important part of the Raëlian doctrine, though Raëlians recommend a non-contractual agreement between mature sexual partners. The Raëlian Church has attracted some of its priests and bishops from other religions despite having liberal views of sexuality. These views are shared by women who make up a significant minority in Raëlian Church. Some of these women are strong advocates of refinement and erotic sensualism and participate in groups within such as "Rael's Girls" and the "Order of Angels".

Raël founded Clonaid (originally Valiant Venture Ltd Corporation) in 1997, but then handed it over to a Raëlian bishop, Brigitte Boisselier in 2000. In 2002 the company claimed that an American woman underwent a standard cloning procedure that led to the birth of a daughter, Eve (b. December 26, 2002). Although few believe the claim, it nonetheless attracted national authorities, mainstream media, and young adults to look further into the Raëlians' cult status.

The use of the swastika in its original logo halted Raëlian requests for territory in Israel, and later Lebanon, for establishing an embassy for extraterrestrials. The Raëlians have officially revived the logo with its original meaning as a symbol of peace.

Beliefs
George D. Chryssides described the Raëlian Church as being in an "early developmental stage" and that their beliefs distance it from a "dominant intellectual climate". Contrary to traditional theology, Raëlism claims that all life on Earth, humans included, was created scientifically by Elohim, members of an extraterrestrial race who appeared similar to small humans and so were often depicted as angels, cherubs,  or gods. Raëlians, who are not monotheists, believe the correct historical meaning of the word Elohim is the plural sense, "those who came from the sky".

Chryssides states that Raëlism is discernible from other UFO religions for its heavy support for physicalism and repudiation of supernaturalism. Susan J. Palmer, a social scholar who had historically long contacts with Raëlians, associated epiphenomenalism with the belief in Raëlism that mind transfer coupled with human cloning can implant mind and personality into a new and disease free body. Raëlians publicly deny the existence of the ethereal soul and a supernatural god, but they believe that humanity for many generations past will be resurrected, albeit in a scientific way.

Raëlians believe that throughout the ages, members of the Elohim civilization sent different prophets, including Moses, Jesus, Buddha and many others whose role was guide humanity and to prepare humans for the future, all of whom were created as a result of a sexual union between a human woman and one of the Elohim. To Raëlians, this was possible because the Elohim had advanced DNA synthesis and genetic engineering. The Elohim later reduced the frequent visits so that humans were largely left to progress on their own, until the time of the Apocalypse/Revelation when they would send their final messenger and disclose themselves at an extraterrestrial embassy, establishing political and economic ties.

Raëlians believe that sex is a normal, natural and healthy part of life and encourages people to be true to their natural sexuality. They promote healing from damaging messages from strict puritanical belief systems and social stigmas that stifle one's natural sexuality. Acceptance of masturbation, homosexuality, bisexuality, pansexuality, naturism and any legal, safe and consensual adult activity is promoted as part of a healthy and long life, and this is used to attract young converts to the religion. Raelians believe that sexuality is a gift of pleasure to mankind from the Elohim. The Raëlian book Let's Welcome our Fathers From Space says that new advanced extraterrestrial civilizations will ultimately practice a final religion or "religion of the infinite" that involves ubiquitous practice of Sensual Meditation.

According to Giancarlo Genta and Jason Colavito, writers who have influenced Raëlian beliefs include Zechariah Sitchin and Erich von Däniken.

Voluntarism
Raëlians are encouraged to do as they feel right, whether that matches the rules of the culture in which they live or not. According to Susan J. Palmer, a majority of loosely affiliated Raëlian Movement members have often strayed from following rules concerning "diet, drugs, and sexual activity" as described in the Raëlian books. Sometimes, they will not attend monthly meetings or pay a tithe in proportion to their income. Only the more committed members who do follow such rules can remain in the movement's structure.

According to Michel Beluet, the former director of a Raëlian-built museum called UFOland, the only pressure exerted on members is to attend annual Raëlian seminars, which allows members convinced of Raël's enthusiasm to voluntarily tithe. However, Palmer cited Raël, who claimed that more than 60% of the Raëlian Movement's members do not tithe. Dawson College students conducted a survey of the membership in Canada 1991 which found that only one-third of respondents tithed.

History


The beginnings of Raëlism are rooted in the claims of a former French automobile journalist and race car driver Claude Vorilhon. In his books The Book Which Tells the Truth (1974) and Extraterrestrials Took Me to their Planet (1975), Vorilhon alleges that he had alien encounters with beings who gave him knowledge of the origins of all major religions.

The movement traces its beginnings to a conference in Paris, France of two thousand people in 1974. From there, the MADECH organization was born. The name MADECH is a double acronym in the French language. The first stands for "Movement for the welcoming of the Elohim, creators of humanity" (Mouvement pour l‘accueil des Elohim, créateurs de l'humanité) while the second stands for "Moses preceded Elijah and the Christ" (Moise a devancé Élie et le Christ). By 1976, Raël transformed MADECH into the International Raelian Movement.

Various news media have reported Raëlian Church membership estimates, and these statistics, often provided to the news outlets by the Church itself (see the sources below), claims a long-term term trend of past growth. However, despite the media's efforts to provide coverage on the Raëlians, the estimates taken within a given year can vary by tens of thousands. Outliers appear when charting the dates of membership estimates.

In addition to the media, Susan J. Palmer, a Canadian sociologist who has studied new religious movements has given several estimates of the size of the movement in different years, and a member of the University of Virginia has given estimates as well. Claude Vorilhon the founder of the Raëlian Church gave the earliest estimates of the movement's size in his 1970's Raëlian books. Most, if not all of the estimates below originate from numbers given to journalists by representatives of the Raëlian Movement during media interviews etc. Occasionally journalists will quote outdated information which would account for what appears to be a decline of thousands of members in a short period of time.

From 1980 to 1992 Raël and his movement became increasingly global. In 1980 Claude Raël's fifth Raëlian book Sensual Meditation was published and formal publication of the Raëlian Messages in the Japanese language began as part of the Raëlian mission to Japan. Two years later, Africa became another target area in the mission to spread the Raëlian messages.

On December 26, 2002, Brigitte Boisselier, a Raëlian Bishop and CEO of a biotechnology company called Clonaid, announced the birth of baby Eve, supposedly the first-ever human clone, which at that point ignited much media attention, ethical debate, doubt, critics, and claims of a hoax. Spokespeople for the movement, such as Claude Vorilhon, have suggested that this is only first step in achieving a more important agenda, claiming that accelerated growth process and mind transfer, in combination with cloning are mechanisms by which eternal life may be achieved.

Member hierarchy
The structure of the Raëlian Church is hierarchical, with seven levels ascending from level 0 to level 6. The top four levels consist of "Guides". The level 6 guide, known as the "Guide of Guides", has the final say on who becomes a level 5 "Bishop Guide" or a level 4 "Priest Guide". Bishops and priests promote lower-level members one level at a time during annual seminars. Each bishop or priest can propose a new guide as long as the candidate is from a level below his or her own. Guides can assist "Regional Guides"—level 3 and above —in their assigning of non-guide members to levels 3 ("Assistant Priests"), 2 ("Organizers") and 1 ("Assistant Organizers").

Members of the Raëlian structure begin as level 0 "trainees" during annual seminars. Structure membership counts by third parties are missing or nonexistent, but figures by the movement itself suggest that the size of the structure is small in relation of the size of the whole movement. Issue 331 of Raelian Contact Newsletter suggests that the structure in 2007 had about 2,300 members, The Raëlian Press Release Site claims that 170 members are "Raëlian guides", and an article on Raelianews.org says there are 41 bishops. After completing three 7-year terms, Claude Vorilhon holds the highest position.

Women-only groups
Women are a minority in the Raëlian Church. However, two anecdotes in the Raëlian Contact newsletter report female majorities joining the movement's Asian Mongolian chapter. Women such as Brigitte Boisselier, the Chief Executive Officer of Clonaid, play a powerful role in the Raëlian Church. There are two major groups of women in the Raëlian Church.

The Order of Angels, founded in the 1990s, consists of over a hundred Raëlian women who call for femininity and refinement for all of humanity. The initiation rites include declaring an oath or making a contract in which one agrees to become defender of the Raëlian ideology and its founder Raël. The Order of Angels has its own hierarchy of "rose angels" and "white angels" which, as of 2003, are six and 160 women, respectively. After the Clonaid human cloning claim made the headlines, the Daily Telegraph wrote that members of the order not only provided sexual pleasure for Raël, but also helped donate eggs for efforts towards human cloning. A few days later, Time magazine wrote that French chemist Brigitte Boisselier was an Order of Angels member. Around this time, cult specialist Mike Kropveld called the Order of Angels "one of the most transparent movements" he had witnessed. However, he was alarmed by the women's promise to defend Raël's life with their own bodies.

Raël has instructed some women members to play a pro-sex feminist role in the Raëlian Church. "Rael's Girls" is another group of women in the movement which are against the suppression of feminine acts of pleasure, including sexual intercourse with men or women. Rael's Girls solely consists of women who work in the sex industry. In contrast to the teachings of the world's major religions, the women of Rael's Girls say there is no reason to repent for performing striptease or being a prostitute. This organization was set up to counteract the influence of the "JC's girls" mission of the Christian ex-stripper Heather Veitch. Rael's Girls and its founder Raël were featured in a pictorial in the October 2004 issue of Playboy.

Organized activity
Throughout the history of Raëlism, members of the Raëlian Church have toured public settings advocating masturbation, condoms and birth control. Raëlians hope that genetically modified food and nanotechnology  will allow humankind to eliminate the obligation to work, in a world that embraces science and technology.

Raëlians have founded Clonaid, a company that envisions that someday human beings can be scientifically recreated though a process of human cloning, and Clitoraid, an organization whose mission is to oppose female genital mutilation.

UFO exhibits
Raëlian structure members have set up exhibitions about their beliefs of extraterrestrial intelligent designers sending crop circles, UFOs, and spaceships for their arrival at an embassy. While there have been smaller meetings of Raëlians and non-Raëlians, annual Raëlian seminars have been typically larger.

Seminars
Raëlian structure members who run the seminars have organized group exercises involving meditation with the senses. James R. Lewis, an authority on fringe religious movements, spoke of Raëlians who practiced a Raëlian exercise called Sensual Meditation and discovered "playing fields" where "radical self-reconstruction," "new forms of authority," and "new modes of self-relating" were encouraged.

Music has been a feature of large gatherings, where at night, Raëlians have had multiethnic cabaret performances. Seminarists have used colored bracelets to indicate whether they wanted to be alone, be in a couple, or simply meet people.

On a yearly basis, Raëlian members organize seminars that are often attractive to the sexually adventurous. News KNBC called the annual Raëlian seminars "a cross between a nudist camp and new-age retreat."

A Spanish television agency reported Raëlian men and women in cross-dressing plays. Not all Raëlian gatherings are exclusive to seminar locations. 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.



Activism
Raëlians routinely advocate sex-positive feminism and genetically modified food. They also have protested against wars and the Catholic Church.

Pro-GMO: In August 6, 2003, the first day of Raëlian year 58 AH, a tech article on 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 Roundup herbicide to which it was artificially adapted. The Raëlians spoke against the Brazilian government's ban on GMOs.

Anti-war: 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!".

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

Anti-Vatican: 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 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.

Ceremony
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 the Raëlian clergy known as guides. Canadian sociologist Susan J. Palmer says that in 1979, Raël introduced the "Act of Apostasy" as an obligation for those preparing for their Raëlian baptism. CTV Television Network states that apostasy from other religions is required for new Raëlian members.

The Raëlian baptism 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. This Raëlian baptism involves a guide member laying water onto the forehead of the new member. The practice began on "the first Sunday in April" of 1976 when Raël baptised 40 Raëlians. Raëlians believe that their genetic information is recorded by a remote computer and would become recognized during their final hour when they will be judged by the extraterrestrial Elohim.

Ceremonial dates
Joining the Raëlian Church through transmission of the cellular plan happens only in certain days of the year. There are four such days—marking anniversaries in the Raëlian calendar.

The first ceremonial date is August 6, which marks the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. This is not to be confused with a celebration of the bombing, since Raëlians view events like Hiroshima as events common to socially primitive but intellectually developed societies in the universe. They believe societies that find enough energy to reproduce across star systems, will guarantee their own self-destruction if they become too violent—without ever being able to reach planets in other star systems. The second date is December 13, 1973, the day that Raël says he had his first personal encounter with one of the extraterrestrial Elohim. The third is October 7, 1975, in which the Elohim, Raël says, took him up in a spacecraft and the following day had meals with Jesus, Buddha, and other past religious figures. The last anniversary that Palmer gives is the first Sunday in April, which Raëlians believe is the date when dark-skinned extraterrestrials created Adam and Eve.

Converts from other religions
Vorilhon, other Raëlians, and their critics have characterized Raëlianism as an atheist religion that believes, not in God, but in extraterrestrials. Although it holds an irreverent position, there remain multiple accounts of former clergy of mainstream religions joining the Raëlian Church, especially in Quebec. The structure of the movement had promoted some of them to the level of Priest or Bishop due to "extensive Bible training and teaching skills".

Two ex-Roman Catholic Priests, Victor Legendre and Charles-Yvan Giroux wrote testimonials regarding their change of faith to Raëlianism. According to one article, a former bishop of the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints) joined the Raelian Movement in order to express his homosexuality. In the same article, a quote from a Raëlian, Mark Woodgate, states that 8% of Raëlians worldwide are former Mormons. Religiously mixed couples are common, especially with spouses who are Christians or Buddhists.

Controversy
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 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 those 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.

In 2005, a Wired News report said that two young adults named Abdullah Hashem and Joseph McGowen were welcomed into a Raëlian seminar and had permission to videotape it. They believe the footage they took makes it clear that the Raelian Movement is a cult which should disband. However, a Raëlian guide said in a Wired interview that he is not ashamed of what is shown and that he has no concerns about this incident.

His estranged former wife claims that the group leader, Vorilhon was routinely unfaithful to her, bringing groups of female Raëlians home and holding orgies which affected the children from an early age. Vorilhon's former wife said, "No child should be expected to witness adult nudity and exist in an environment so close to people having orgies."

Views
Raëlian beliefs and practices concern the concepts and principles of the Raëlian Church, the religious mission of Claude Vorilhon, a former French auto racing journalist. Followers of Raëlism are believers in the Elohim, an advanced race of extraterrestrials 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. 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 Christ through a scientific cloning process (which includes memory transfer) by 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 anti-war views 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 the Raëlian clergy known as guides.

Intended controversy
Susan J. Palmer, a sociologist from Canada, has studied the movement since 1987 and says the movement intentionally stirs a moderate level of controversy to maintain membership. For example, Rael and the group attempt to tie their views with topical matters, ranging from Tiger Woods' promiscuity to strained relations in the Middle East, in regular online postings and press releases. This view is shared by Mike Kropveld—the executive director of an anti-cult organization with the name Info-Cult—who says the controversy leads to criticism by both religious and non-religious people.

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



Cloning human beings
The Raëlian Church has close links with the controversial company Clonaid. Brigitte Boisselier, a Raëlian and chief executive of Clonaid, made 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 believes threatens 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."

In response to Raël's association with Clonaid, South Korean immigration authorities at the airport denied him entry into their country in 2003. This decision led to the quick cancellation of the planned Raëlian seminar which seven hundred registered for. Raëlians of South Korea were instructed by Raël to protest near the center of the country of Ministry of Health and Welfare that ordered him to leave. Officials detained Raël for nine hours at Incheon International Airport before he and his wife Sophie de Niverville left for Tokyo from where they would take another plane on their way back to Canada. Raël responded by saying that Korean officials treated him like a "North Korean" and that he would wait for an apology before coming back to Korea.

Definition of cloning
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 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 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 in December 26, 2002. Claude Vorilhon told lawmakers that banning the development of human cloning was comparable to outlawing medical advances such "antibiotics, blood transfusions, and vaccines."

The second stage of cloning, according to Raëlians, 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 the process to maintain one branch one 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 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.



Sensuality and pleasure
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 make full use of the lungs capacity to expand and contract, oxygenating the blood and the cells within, imagining heat travelling upwards from toe 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 Claude 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 is the only thing which 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 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.



Sensual Meditation
Sensual Meditation is the set of exercises made public by Claude Vorilhon in his book La méditation sensuelle. It is practiced by members of International Raelian Movement (IRM). The first of these exercises is usually taught in Raëlian Seminars.

Raëlian structure members who run the seminars have organized group exercises involving meditation with the senses. James R. Lewis—an authority on fringe religious movements—spoke of Raëlians who practiced sensual meditation and discovered "playing fields" where "radical self-reconstruction," "new forms of authority," and "new modes of self-relating" were encouraged.

The seminars have attracted a diverse mix of sexually adventurous people. KNBC called the annual Raëlian seminars "a cross between a nudist camp and new-age retreat." Activities such as observations of one's own private parts and masturbation with them disturbed Brigitte McCann, a Calgary Sun reporter who entered one of the Raëlian seminars. A Spanish television reporter saw Raëlian men and women in crossdressing plays. Susan J. Palmer said a French journalist went to a Raëlian Seminar in 1991 and taped couples having sexual intercourse in tents. These tapes gained widespread negative publicity—with news stories that described these practices as perverted and a form of brainwashing.

Six meditations are explained under six subheadings in Chapter 6 of Raël's book Sensual Meditation.

First Activity: Harmonization with Infinity The first step is to arrange a setting in which to meditate. Harmonious settings are preferred such as laying beneath a star-lit night sky, under good weather conditions. Or, prepare a room, decorated with pleasurable sights, textures, and smells. During the program of sensual meditation, being undressed or wearing soft silky material is preferable. Work clothes which are subject to pollutants and material which constrict blood flow and compress the sexual organs are not recommended.

The goal of a breathing exercise is to improve the oxygenation of the cells within one's organism in order to balance the chemical secretions within the body. This involves a few to several minutes of deep regulated breathing and increasing of one's mental and physical awareness of the introduction of oxygen inside the many kinds of organs within the human body. Conscious awareness of these effects is important for a process of bodily feedback.

The next step is to feel, from within oneself, all the cells and tissues one is made of, and to consciously link them through our central and peripheral nervous systems. After this feeling is felt throughout the body, one begins feeling the vibrations and pulses of musical sounds not only by the ears but through the pores and within the body itself.

In the following step, one feels the animate external environment through the many penetrating vibrations animating ones body from all angles and radial distances. This attentive awareness develops the sense of feeling harmony that surround one's organism. Lastly, one uses this feeling to become aware of the humanity he or she is a part of.

Second Activity: Becoming Aware of Our Life Breathing begins again in a more physically arousing way by feeling the exchange of air inside the whole respiratory apparatus including the bronchial tubes inside the lungs, nasal cavity, and mouth. As the oxygenation is increasingly felt within, one then begins to feel the heart pulsating and pumping blood within one's chest. While being highly oxygenated and having the tactile sensuality developed in the previous exercise, the calming pulse of this blood is felt spreading from the heart and into the rest of the body.

Third Activity: Body Awareness After having sensually connected the many cells and tissues in the body by developed the tactile sense of touch from within the body itself and feeling the pulsing phenomena within the body itself, the sensuality of external senses is developed. As one closes his or her eyes one begins to develop the sense of touch and does so intensely by feeling the parts of oneself by enjoying being the touched and toucher while feeling more intensely with the fingertips. The taste of one's own skin is then explored. The feeling of oneself talking is then guided by a hand touching the parts of the head which vibrate during speech. Then the eyes are opened to discover oneself by appreciating the moving of one's hands, a bit like a baby, however, now one can be fully conscious of his or her animation. One looks at oneself with new eyes, looking in places where one would not normally look, as if discovering our physique for the first time and with attraction rather than aversion.

Fourth Activity: Meditation with Symbol of Infinity Decorations are placed around the room as well as posters to contemplate for their harmonious expression of various patterns and colors of lights they reflect. Among them is the symbol of infinity which in Raëlian cosmology represents the infinitely large particles and infinitely small particles that dance and intermingle among themselves as an animation which endures without beginning or end.

Fifth Activity: Another Universe - Our Partner This exercise involves a massage by a partner, not necessarily sexual, (and vice versa) the purpose of which is to become conscious of one another's shape and constitution through the sensuous touching. This exercise need not be erotic when involving gentle kneading of the individual one feels in order to become aware of their contour of flesh and bones (and vice versa). The expectation of being touched in certain places turns into pleasure improves one's unity. This meditation is the last exercise for those without sexual partners.

Sixth Activity: Eroticism and Mutual Excitement After the intense vaporous breathing exercise, which is performed at the beginning of each meditation, one lays down with their eyes closed while becoming aware and feeling another's gaze as it caresses their body which they present to the gazer. The person laying down anticipates the gaze of the other as though it were a source of a soft diffuse beam of light. Erogenous zones are later excited though a very light and delicate massage by the partner of the one lying down. Sensual feedback is expected between the massager and the massaged so that individual preferences and sensitivity are accounted for which allows both partners to receive maximum pleasure from the exchange. After seeing, touching, and hearing, the senses of taste and of smell are introduced. Breathing in with the nose enhances smell whereas breathing out through the mouth allows for exhalation on the skin of the one lying down to occur more sensually. This, as well as kissing, encourages the exchange of hormones between the caresser and the caressed. At the end of this exercise, it is repeated, where the massager now becomes the massaged and the massaged becomes the massager.

Controversy
Susan J. Palmer writes that in 1991, 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 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".

Sexual predators and guides who force missionary ideas against members are excommunicated by the Raëlian Church for a minimum of seven years—the amount of time Raëlians believe it takes for all of a person's biological cells to be regenerated. In a 2006 issue of Raëlian Contact (no. 324), a picture is included of Raëlians in Los Angeles, California expressing their condemnation of acts of pedophilia which Raelians consider a disease, particularly those associated with celibate Catholic priests. Their message is that minors and adults should not be mixed in the act of sex. On the other hand, Raëlians claim children should have "complete sexual liberty" and be provided positive and healthy messages about sexuality providing it is legal. Therefore, authorities in the Swiss canton Valais denied an application by Raël to live in their area.



Structure of the Universe
Raëlian cosmology is a cosmology proposed in 1973 by Raël, the founder of the International Raëlian Movement. This cosmology is similar to the Jain cosmology in that it proposes that the observable universe has no creator and is infinite in time and finite in size and surrounded by infinite space.

However, in Raëlian cosmology, our observable universe is an "atom" of a much larger level of matter (and possibly organism). It is also stated in Raël's books that "atoms of our atoms", or subatomic particles in our bodies, also possess universes like our own, but on a much smaller scale. This pattern, atom within universe within atom, is believed to be infinitely repetitive, from the infinitely small, to the infinitely large. The Raëlian Messages by Raël state that humanoid extraterrestrials, who were originally called under the name Elohim (singular: Eloha), verified this cosmology scientifically.

Raël says that, "Everything is in everything." Inside the atoms of living things, he says, are living things made of atoms which themselves have living things 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, the activity of life inside in a living thing's atoms would undergo many millennia before enough time passes for that living thing to take a single step. Raëlians believe the universe is infinite and thus lacks a center. Because of this, one could not imagine where an ethereal soul would go, due the universe's infinite nature. They believe that infinity exists in time as well as in space, for all levels of life.

The official cosmology of the Raëlian Messages plays a role in a series of meditations described in the Raëlian book of Sensual Meditation. During these meditations, one is encouraged to establish a link between one's anatomical features and one's central nervous system. The Raëlian Sensual Meditation emphasizes the nuances and structure that exists in the human body and it emphasizes the Raëlian cosmology to encourage the meditator, after a controlled breathing exercise, to experience the inner planets, stars, galaxies, and people within his or her constituent particles down to the infinitely small. Following this, the meditator is encouraged to experience the greater universe, or the infinitely large that we are a part of, in accordance with the teachings contained within the Raëlian books. The meditator is encouraged to mediate the consciousness of the self between the infinitely small particles and the infinitely large particles. This part of Sensual Meditation may sometimes be followed by sensual physical contact between partners.

Creation of life on Earth by extraterrestrials
In his book The Message Given to me by Extraterrestrials (now republished as Intelligent Design: Message from the Designers 2006 ISBN 2940252203), Claude Vorilhon claims that on December 13, 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 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 of life, with thick clouds and shallow 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 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 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.

From the Raëlian point of view, religious texts indicate that 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 they have asked Raël to build for them and share their advanced scientific knowledge with humanity. Thus, one of their stated main goals of the Raëlian movement is to inform as many people as possible about this extraterrestrial race.

Humanity's chance of creating life on other planets
Raëlians believe that humanity would be able to create life on other planets only if humanity 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 the science teams would ultimately sustain a perpetual chain of life.

A coming judgement
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 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 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.

Embassy for Extraterrestrials
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"  is to support an official contact with Extraterrestrial Elohim and their messengers of the main religions at the "New Jerusalem".

The Raëlian Embassy for Extraterrestrials is the vision of the International Raëlian Movement to establish an embassy, at a base cost of $20 million, with a landing pad that would serve as spaceport for extraterrestrial spaceships. The funding of the embassy has been reported over time by the media. Its location is intended to be in neutral territory, preferably Jerusalem, and would be surrounded by acres of campground capable of supporting about 144,000 people or more than twice the estimated Raëlian membership as of 2005.

In April 16, 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. By 2001, $9 million had been saved for the embassy, and in October, the funding had reached $20 million.



Proposed architecture and location
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 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 a northern and southern entrance. The landing pad for the embassy should be able 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 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 December 13, 1997, 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.

Controversy
In February 1991, the Raëlian Church modified their symbol to remove the swastika to help in negotiations with building 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.

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 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.

A form of meritocracy
According to the book Geniocracy, creating 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 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.

Geniocracy is the framework for a system of government which was first proposed by Rael (leader of the International Raëlian Movement) in 1977 and which advocates problem-solving and creative intelligence as criteria for regional governance.

The term geniocracy comes from the word 'Genius' and proposes a system that is designed to select for intelligence and compassion as the primary factor for governance. While having a democratic electoral apparatus, it differs from traditional liberal democracy by instead suggesting that candidates for office and the body electorate should meet a certain minimal criterion of problem-solving or creative intelligence. The thresholds proposed by the Raëlians are 50% above the mean for an electoral candidate and 10% above the mean for an elector.

Justifying the method of selection
This method of selectivity is deliberate so as to address what the concept considers to be flaws in the current systems of democracy. The primary object of criticism is the inability of majoritarian consensus to provide a reasonable platform for intelligent decision making for the purpose of solving problems permanently. Geniocracy's criticism of this system is that the institutions of democracy become more concerned with appealing to popular consensus through emotive issues than they are in making long-term critical decisions, especially those that may involve issues not immediately relevant to the electorate. It asserts that political mandate is something far too important to simply leave to popularity, and asserts that the critical decision making required for government, especially in a world of globalisation, cannot be based on criteria of emotive or popular decision making. In this respect, Geniocracy derides Liberal Democracy as a form of "Mediocracy". Earth would become ruled by a worldwide Geniocratic government.

Response to criticism
Part of the Geniocratic agenda is to purport the idea of a world government system, deriding the current state-system as inadequate for dealing with contemporary global issues that are typical of Globalisation, such as Environmentalism, Social Justice, Human Rights, and the current economic system. In line with this, Geniocracy proposes a different economic model called Humanitarianism.

As a response to its controversial attitudes about selectivity one of the more general responses is to point out that universal suffrage, the current system, already discriminates to some degree and varyingly in different countries, in who is allowed to vote. Primarily, this discrimination is against minors, incarcerated felons, and the mentally incapacitated. This is on the basis that their ability to contribute to the decision making process is either flawed or invalid for the purpose of the society.

Democratically defined regions
The author of Geniocracy recommends (though, does not necessitate) a world government with 12 regions. Inhabitants would vote for which region they want to be part of. After the regions are defined, they are further divided into 12 sectors after the same principle of democracy is applied. While sectors of the same region are defined as having equal numbers of inhabitants, the regions themselves may have different levels of population, which would be proportional to its voting power.

Status
The current difficulty in the ideas of Geniocracy is that the means of assessing intelligence are ill-defined. One idea offered by Rael in Geniocracy is to have specialists such as psychologists, neurologists, ethnologists, etc, perfect or choose among existing ones, a series of tests that would define each person's level of intelligence. They should be designed to measure intellectual potential rather than accumulation of knowledge.

Other components deemed necessary for a more rounded understanding of intelligence include concepts like emotional intelligence. As such, Geniocracy's validity cannot really be assessed until better and more objective methods of intelligence assessment are made available.

The matter of confronting moral problems that may arise is not addressed in the book Geniocracy; many leaders may be deeply intelligent and charismatic (having both high emotional/social intelligence and IQ) according to current means of measuring such factors, but no current scientific tests are a reliable enough measure for one's ability to make humanitarian choices (although online tests such as those used by retail chains to select job applicants may be relevant).

The lack of scientific rigour necessary for inclusion of Geniocracy as properly testable political ideology can be noted in number of modern and historical dictatorships as well as oligarchies. Because of the controversies surrounding Geniocracy, Raël presents the idea as a classic utopia or provocative ideal and not necessarily a model that humanity will follow.

In Raël's book, Extraterrestrials took me to their planet, Raël claims that an extraterrestrial gave him the idea of Economic Humanitarianism. Under the establishment of Economic Humanitarianism, people would not have ownership of businesses or exploitable goods created by others. Instead, people would rent each of them for a period of 49 years. The founders would be able to receive the rents for up to 49 years or when they die, which ever 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 the road to a world without money is capitalism and globalisation, as opposed to communism. Capitalism would allow those 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.

Controversy
An anti-cult organization called Info-Cult argued that Geniocracy was a fascist ideology. However, Geniocracy is not a political party because it allows for differing political viewpoints.

Use of the swastika
Raelians believe in reclaiming the swastika by restoring its historical, peaceful meaning. Raelians feel that education should prevail in teaching the ancient, international meaning of the swastika as a symbol of eternal peace. Raelians feel that this positive historic symbol of good luck should prevail over its recent historical connection with the Nazis.

Controversy
In 1991, a Montreal anti-cult organization called Info-Cult made statements against the Raëlian Church with an article on Le Devoir, branding Raëlians as promoters of fascism and racism. One reason given was that the church uses a swastika as part of their logo and the other is the Raëlian description of an extraterrestrial global government in which those less than ten percent above average intelligence are excluded from the electorate. Outside Info-Cult's office, Raëlians spoke against the act of discriminating against a religious minority. On January 2, 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 Raelian practices has led to criticism from the group Hineni of Florida, a Jewish anti-cult organization.

In February 1991, the Raëlian Church modified their symbol. The official reason given was a request from the Elohim to change the symbol in order to help in negotiations with Israel for the building of the Extraterrestrial Embassy to greet the anticipated Elohim space vessels, although the country continued to deny their request. 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 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. From 1991 to 2007, the official Raëlian symbol in Europe and America did not have the original swastika, but Raël, founder and leader of the Raëlian Movement decided to make the original symbol, the Star of David intertwined with a swastika, the only official symbol of the Raelian Movement worldwide.

Cited texts

 * Bates, Gary, Alien Intrusion: UFOs and the Evolution Connection New Leaf Press, 2005. ISBN 0890514356.
 * Edwards, Linda, A Brief Guide to Beliefs: Ideas, Theologies, Mysteries, and Movements. Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. ISBN 0664222595.
 * Lewis, James R. Controversial New Religions Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 019515682X.
 * Palmer, Susan J. Aliens Adored. Rutgers University Press, 2004. ISBN 0813534763.
 * Partridge, Christopher H. UFO Religions. Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0415263239.
 * Raël, Intelligent Design. Nova Distribution, 2005. ISBN 2940253003.
 * Raël, ''Yes to Human Cloning: Immortality Thanks to Science. Tagman Press, 2001. ISBN 1-903571-05-7; ISBN 1-903571-04-9.
 * Stock, Gregory, Redesigning Humans: Choosing our Genes, Changing our Future. Houghton Mifflin Books, 2002. ISBN 061806026X.
 * Tandy, Charles, Doctor Tandy's First Guide to Life Extension and Transhumanity Universal-Publishers.com, 2001. ISBN 1581126506.
 * United States Congress, Medical science and bioethics: attack of the clones? Hearing before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, May 15, 2002. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 2003. Government Documents. Y 4.G 74/7:B 52/7.