Raël (born Claude Maurice Marcel Vorilhon on 30 September 1946),[2] is the founder and current leader of the UFO religion known as Raëlism.
Vorilhon became a sports-car journalist and test driver for his own car-racing magazine, Autopop.[3][4] Following an extraterrestrial encounter in December 1973, he formed the Raëlian Movement and changed his name to Raël (meaning "messenger of the elohim").[citation needed] He later published several books, which detail the encounter with a being called Yahweh in 1973.[5] He traveled the world to promote his books for over 30 years.[6]
Early life
Vorilhon was born in Vichy, Allier, France.[1] He was raised in Ambert in the home of his maternal grandmother, who was atheist.[7] His father was Jewish and his mother was a "devout atheist".[8] He attended a Catholic boarding school with Le Puy-en-Velay and caused a scandal[citation needed] by taking part in communion without being baptized. His parents withdrew him from the boarding school to put him in school in Ambert.[7]
At the age of 15, Vorilhon ran away from boarding school and hitchhiked to Paris, where he spent three years playing music on the streets and in cafés and cabarets. He met with Lucien Morisse, the director of a national radio program, who was scouting for young talent. Vorilhon signed a record contract[citation needed] and became a rising teen pop star on the radio.[citation needed] He took on a new identity, assuming the name Claude Celler, and released six singles, including a minor hit song, "Le miel et la cannelle" (Honey and Cinnamon).[9] Vorilhon had a passion for the songs of Belgian singer Jacques Brel, and tried to imitate his singing style.[7] He was saving up his money to buy a racing car, a dream he had had since he was a young boy, but his prospects as a singer came to an abrupt end when Morisse, his sponsor, committed suicide in September 1970.[10]
Vorilhon decided to work as a sports journalist to gain access to the world of car racing. He met Marie-Paul Cristini, a nurse.[10] They moved to Clermont-Ferrand, where Vorilhon started his own publishing house.[11] He created a sports car magazine entitled Autopop, whose first issue was released in May 1971.[12] One of the tasks for his new startup was the position of testing new automobiles, which enabled him to enter the motor racing world.[11]
The Raëlian messages
According to the book Le Livre qui dit la vérité ("The Book Which Tells the Truth"), Vorilhon had an alien visitation on 13 December 1973. In a secluded area within a French volcanic crater, an extraterrestrial being came out of a craft that had descended gently from the sky, and told him, in French, that he had come for the sole purpose of meeting with him. Raël said that he was given a message by this alien and told that it was his mission to pass this message on to the people of Earth.[13]
The book states that advanced human scientists from another planet with 25,000 years of scientific advances created all life on Earth through DNA manipulation.[14][15] These scientists, Raël said, were originally called Elohim or "those who came from the sky".[16] He wrote that some forty[17] prophets in Earth's history were sent by Elohim,[18] but their messages were distorted[19] by humans, largely because of the difference in the level of civilization between the advanced race and Earth's primitive one.[20]
Raël said he was given the mission of informing the world of humanity's origins in anticipation of the return of these extraterrestrials by building a residential embassy in neutral territory.[21] He stated that certain mysteries were explained to him based on new interpretations of sacred texts such as the Bible.[22] He said that, on 7 October 1975, he was contacted by one of the Elohim, who took him to another planet to meet Buddha, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. He stated that his second book, Les extra-terrestres m'ont emmené sur leur planète ("Extraterrestrials Took Me To Their Planet"), relates the teaching he received from these people. In this book, Raël describes harmonious and peaceable beings, who were free of money, sickness, and war.[23]
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Raëlism (also known as Raëlianism or the Raëlian movement) is a UFO religion that was founded in 1974 by Claude Vorilhon (b. 1946), now known as Raël. The Raëlian 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 when having personal contacts with the descendants of the humans that they made. They purposefully misinformed early humanity that they were angels, cherubim, or gods. Raëlians believe that messengers, or prophets, of the Elohim include Buddha, Jesus, and others[2][3][4] who informed humans of each era.[5] The founder of Raëlism received the final message of the Elohim and that its purpose is to inform the world about Elohim and that if humans become aware and peaceful enough, they wish to be welcomed by them.
Raël founded Clonaid (originally Valiant Venture Ltd Corporation) in 1997, but then handed it over to a Raëlian bishop, Brigitte Boisselier in 2000.[8] In 2002 the company claimed that an American woman underwent a standard cloning procedure that led to the birth of a daughter, Eve (b. 26 December 2002). Although few believe the claim, it nonetheless attracted national authorities and the mainstream media to look further into the Raëlians' cult status.The Raëlian Church has a quasi-clerical structure of seven levels. Joining the movement requires an official apostasy from other religions. Raëlian ethics include striving for world peace, sharing, democracy and nonviolence.[6][7]
The Raëlians frequently use the swastika as a symbol of peace, which halted Raëlian requests for territory in Israel, and later Lebanon, for establishing an embassy for extraterrestrials. The religion also uses the swastika embedded on the Star of David.[9] Between 1991 and 2007, this symbol was often replaced by a variant star and swirl symbol in an attempt to improve public relations, particularly with Israel.
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