New Religious Movements
Raelian Movement
UFO Movements
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Origin 1973 to 1974
The Raelian Movement is a new religious movement founded by the French former journalist Claude Vorilhon, who took the name Rael and taught that life on Earth was created scientifically by an extraterrestrial species called the Elohim. It promotes a message of peace, science, and sensual freedom, and looks forward to the return of these beings, for whom it has sought to build an embassy. The movement drew wide media attention in 2002 when a company associated with it, Clonaid, claimed to have produced the first human clone, a claim that was never substantiated. Scholars classify it as a UFO religion, and it has often been described in the press as a cult, a label its members reject.
Facts
Finances
Institutional Wealth or FinancesAs of 2003, the Raelian Movement's worldwide annual dues totaled about 1.8 million US dollars (an 11 percent decline from the prior year), against total assets of about 13 million US dollars. 2 These are 2003 era figures reported in a news digest; no more recent aggregate figure was found this wave. Basis of the Wealth FigureThe Body's Own Published Statistics 2 Financial Disclosure RegimeThe Raelian Movement funds itself chiefly through a doctrinal tithe under which members are asked to donate about ten percent of income, nominally to finance a planned embassy for the Elohim, plus additional voluntary donations. Dues fund no salaries within the movement, going instead toward advertising and outreach. The movement reports over 130,000 members in more than 120 countries, of whom roughly 300 hold the rank of Guide. 3 Wealth Figure As Of Year Status
Status TodayLiving tradition, practised today 1 Continues internationally Trajectory
Membership Over TimeSourced to the subject's own accountIn 2013, the International Raelian Movement claimed 90,000 members across 90 countries, the last and largest in a rising series of figures the movement has publicly reported since its founding. 5 Membership Over TimeSourced to the subject's own accountLeaked internal membership data from 2017 instead traced only 18,111 members with confirmed identities, a fraction of the movement's own public claims from the same period. 5 Membership Figure As OfSourced to the subject's own account Membership Figure As OfSourced to the subject's own account Basis of the Membership FigureSourced to the subject's own account Basis of the Membership FigureSourced to the subject's own account Origins
Origin Period Place of OriginClermont-Ferrand, France 1 FounderClaude Vorilhon, known as Rael 1 Giving
Standing Giving ExpectationSourced to the subject's own accountFull members of the Raelian Movement are encouraged, though not required, to tithe ten percent of their income, divided three percent to the national branch and seven percent to the International Movement's central administration, with as much as a further one percent going to Rael himself. Compliance is documented as low: a 1991 survey of Raelians found a third of respondents did not pay, and Rael himself has suggested more than sixty percent do not. 4 Standard Rate ExpectedSourced to the subject's own accountTen percent, divided three percent national and seven percent international. 4 How the Expectation Is EnforcedSourced to the subject's own accountPreached Expectation, Not Enforced 4 Learn More
A UFO Religion Built on a Claimed Extraterrestrial Creation
The Raelian Movement is a new religious movement founded in 1974 by the French former motoring journalist Claude Vorilhon, who took the name Rael and reported that he had been contacted by an extraterrestrial species called the Elohim, who told him that all life on Earth had been created scientifically, through advanced genetic engineering, by them, rather than by a supernatural God or by unguided evolution. On this foundation the movement teaches an atheistic and science-oriented worldview, reinterpreting the accounts of "gods" and "angels" in the world's scriptures as garbled memories of these extraterrestrial creators, and looks forward to their return, for which it has sought to build an "embassy."
Raelism is also known for its socially liberal and provocative public stances on sexuality and its enthusiasm for biotechnology; it drew wide media attention in 2002 when an affiliated company, Clonaid, claimed to have produced the first cloned human baby, a claim for which no evidence was ever provided and which is generally regarded as unsubstantiated. The movement is frequently studied as a leading example of a "UFO religion" and of a movement that explicitly frames itself as compatible with, or even founded upon, science rather than the supernatural. It continues to operate internationally.
The Cloning Announcement of 2002, and What Was Never Produced
In December 2002 a company founded by the movement, Clonaid, announced that the first cloned human being had been born, a girl it called Eve. The announcement was made at a press conference in Florida and reported worldwide within hours.
Nothing was ever produced. The arrangement announced alongside the claim was that an independent journalist, Michael Guillen, would organise genetic testing to confirm that the child was a clone of her mother. Guillen withdrew within a fortnight, saying that he had not been given access and that the affair might well be a hoax. No child was presented, no sample was tested, and no verification followed for that birth or for any of the further births the company subsequently announced.
A Florida court was asked to appoint a guardian for the child, on the reasoning that if she existed she required protection. The company responded that the parents were not in the United States and that the court had no jurisdiction, and the proceeding ended without the child being located. Twenty years on there is no evidence that any of the claimed clones exists.
The episode is instructive about the movement rather than about cloning. Its cosmology holds that humanity was created in a laboratory by an extraterrestrial civilisation and that cloning is the route to indefinite life, so a successful human clone would have been a demonstration of doctrine. What the announcement produced instead was worldwide attention at no evidential cost, and that outcome has shaped how later claims from the same source are received.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
1974, Years The atlas dates the origin of Raelian Movement to 1974. Founder recorded: Rael (Claude Vorilhon).
Related To
Both teach that humanity was placed here by extraterrestrials. They draw opposite conclusions from it, one worldly and one final.
Studied By
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