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Is God a Space Alien? The Cosmology of the Raëlian Church


Grim Reaper 6

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Abstract

The Raëlian Church is an atheistic religion with a cosmology that is compatible with modern science. Its founder-leader Claude Vorilhon (Raël), whose birth in 1946 is said to herald the new Age of Aquarius, offers a detailed interpretation of Judaeo-Christian scripture that claims a history of encounters a new highly evolved technological society, with the possibility of immortality for those who are worthy. Jung’s theory that flying saucers are a modern myth is used to demonstrate how Raëlianism finds it possible to synthesize UFOlogy and religion. 

Introduction

The UFO-religions are relatively undocumented in academic literature, where the main interest in new religious movements (NRMs) focuses on those that bear a relationship to traditional religions, or else on New Age spirituality. Like most NRMs, however, the UFO religions, not least the Raëlians, purport to offer novel ways of solving pressing questions with which traditional religions find difficulty.

In the case of the UFO religions, the pressing question is how to devise a cosmology that is acceptable in a ‘scientific’ era. Mainstream Christianity is still trying to emerge, somewhat battered, from an intellectual climate that has emphasized empiricism with its accompanying scientific and technological advance. Ever since Sir Alfred J. Ayer and the philosophers of the Vienna Circle formulated the famous Verification Principle, insisting that any putative statement was literally meaningless unless it could be empirically verified, philosophers of religion have endeavoured to devise ways in which religion might survive the challenge.

Following the discoveries of Lyell and Darwin, believers and their critics alike have often viewed science as the enemy of religion, either rejecting Darwinism totally in favour of Creationism, or else abandoning religion as ‘unscientific’. The recent phenomenon which some sociologists describe as ‘secularization’ is allegedly a situation in which people’s allegiance has transferred itself from the supernatural to the scientific and the technological: say as we will, we live in a technological world and at a pragmatic level must hold on to a scientific- technological world-view. 

http://www.cultureandcosmos.org/pdfs/4-1/4-1_Chryssides_God_Space_Alien.pdf

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The Raëlians

I wish to focus on one particular case study of a UFO religion, namely Raël. While some of the UFO religions simply base themselves on messages delivered by extra-terrestrials, both Raël and Heaven’s Gate combine UFOlogy with detailed biblical exegesis.

It should be mentioned that Raëlians do not consider themselves to belong to a UFO religion, claiming that they are not interested in UFOs as such, more in the ‘philosophical dimension’: ‘The UFO dimension alone is totally boring. It is the philosophical, the religious dimension which interest us. What do Extraterrestrials change in the minds of human beings is the interesting question!’5

Certainly, it is the message of the extra-terrestrials that is important to Raëlians, who are not at all concerned to log up modern-day UFO sightings. They might also reasonably question the initial ‘U’ in ‘UFO’, since of course their founder-leader Raël has identified some of the flying objects and spoken to their crews. However, although from an ‘emic’ standpoint this is so, it is legitimate from an ‘etic’ standpoint to classify the Raëlian Church as a UFO religion on the ground that it is one of a cluster of religious groups that bases its teachings on past or present extra-terrestrial visits.

The small amount of academic attention given to Raël and the other UFO-religions seems more preoccupied with the UFO aspects, ignoring the fact that Raëlianism, in common with Heaven’s Gate, has a strongly Bible-based theology. In order to demonstrate this, it is necessary to outline the background of their founder-leader Raël — Claude Vorilhon, to use his given name — and his encounters with the extra-terrestrials, known as the creators.

 

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These guys encourage underage sex. Claude *****hillion is a disgrace and had been banned from other countries for his views. 

It's a sex cult parading as UFOlogy. They just rewrote the Bible and stick aliens in place of biblical characters.

I don't know how this cult is allowed to continue to operate. Most of them should be in jail. 

 

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8 hours ago, psyche101 said:

These guys encourage underage sex. Claude *****hillion is a disgrace and had been banned from other countries for his views. 

It's a sex cult parading as UFOlogy. They just rewrote the Bible and stick aliens in place of biblical characters.

I don't know how this cult is allowed to continue to operate. Most of them should be in jail. 

 

I totally agree and that's why I posted this thread. I had never heard of The Raëlians until I came across this paper. But they are not the only space religion mentioned here, and the paper kinda of outs them for what they are. I just thought others may find this as strange as I did.

Take Care my friend!:tu:

 

Edited by Manwon Lender
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1 hour ago, Manwon Lender said:

I totally agree and that's why I posted this thread. I had never heard of The Raëlians until I came across this paper. But they are not the only space religion mentioned here, and the paper kinda of outs them for what they are. I just thought others may find this as strange as I did.

Take Care my friend!:tu:

 

Hi Manwon

We had a Raelian back home that has a glitzed up Harley and Caddy that he cruised around town in most people though he was just a kook

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12 minutes ago, closed for business said:

Hi Manwon

We had a Raelian back home that has a glitzed up Harley and Caddy that he cruised around town in most people though he was just a kook

You know its hard for me to honestly comment, but it's easy to say I don't understand where these ideas come from. It's like the Heavens Gates Cult, how lost must someone be to follow others on a mission of suicide. It boggles my mind, I can't even imagine ever placing myself under anyone's control to that degree, honestly I am at a complete loss of words, and that doesn't happen very often!:lol:

Peace my friend!:tu:

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13 hours ago, Manwon Lender said:

I totally agree and that's why I posted this thread. I had never heard of The Raëlians until I came across this paper. But they are not the only space religion mentioned here, and the paper kinda of outs them for what they are. I just thought others may find this as strange as I did.

Take Care my friend!:tu:

 

Interesting that the article still calls the cult atheistic. I wouldn't agree. They just swapped out biblical characters for aliens. It's just a plagiarized faith. Their god is an alien, not unlike Scientology or Will's blue book.

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5 minutes ago, psyche101 said:

Interesting that the article still calls the cult atheistic. I wouldn't agree. They just swapped out biblical characters for aliens. It's just a plagiarized faith. Their god is an alien, not unlike Scientology or Will's blue book.

I agree with you my friend, they are are not a religion they are a Cult and their followers may end up going out like Heavens Gate. The purpose of this thread is to educate people about what's still out there, hopefully that knowledge may prevent another person falling victim to these sick people. That's  the only reason threads like this are important, I also think think the reason they are stilled called atheistic is because the paper used as source is from 1977.

peace my brother thanks for keeping this thread alive!:tu:

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On 6/23/2021 at 9:56 AM, Manwon Lender said:

Abstract

The Raëlian Church is an atheistic religion with a cosmology that is compatible with modern science. Its founder-leader Claude Vorilhon (Raël), whose birth in 1946 is said to herald the new Age of Aquarius, offers a detailed interpretation of Judaeo-Christian scripture that claims a history of encounters a new highly evolved technological society, with the possibility of immortality for those who are worthy. Jung’s theory that flying saucers are a modern myth is used to demonstrate how Raëlianism finds it possible to synthesize UFOlogy and religion. 

Introduction

The UFO-religions are relatively undocumented in academic literature, where the main interest in new religious movements (NRMs) focuses on those that bear a relationship to traditional religions, or else on New Age spirituality. Like most NRMs, however, the UFO religions, not least the Raëlians, purport to offer novel ways of solving pressing questions with which traditional religions find difficulty.

In the case of the UFO religions, the pressing question is how to devise a cosmology that is acceptable in a ‘scientific’ era. Mainstream Christianity is still trying to emerge, somewhat battered, from an intellectual climate that has emphasized empiricism with its accompanying scientific and technological advance. Ever since Sir Alfred J. Ayer and the philosophers of the Vienna Circle formulated the famous Verification Principle, insisting that any putative statement was literally meaningless unless it could be empirically verified, philosophers of religion have endeavoured to devise ways in which religion might survive the challenge.

Following the discoveries of Lyell and Darwin, believers and their critics alike have often viewed science as the enemy of religion, either rejecting Darwinism totally in favour of Creationism, or else abandoning religion as ‘unscientific’. The recent phenomenon which some sociologists describe as ‘secularization’ is allegedly a situation in which people’s allegiance has transferred itself from the supernatural to the scientific and the technological: say as we will, we live in a technological world and at a pragmatic level must hold on to a scientific- technological world-view. 

http://www.cultureandcosmos.org/pdfs/4-1/4-1_Chryssides_God_Space_Alien.pdf

God is the center of everything without God you wouldn’t have the space to even consider the alien part. 

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8 minutes ago, Freez1 said:

God is the center of everything without God you wouldn’t have the space to even consider the alien part. 

I don't believe in God, or Gods I am Buddhist and there are no Gods in my Sprirtual beliefs. But this organization is religious it's a cult do some research and see for yourself. 

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13 hours ago, Freez1 said:

God is the center of everything without God you wouldn’t have the space to even consider the alien part. 

Space existed long before humans dreamt up God.

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3 hours ago, Rlyeh said:

Space existed long before humans dreamt up God.

I hope we can get past the disagreements we had before, what you said above is absolutely true!:tu:

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Calls to mind the contact stories of George Adamski in the the '50s.

George Adamski - Wikipedia

 

Edited by Hammerclaw
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1 hour ago, Hammerclaw said:

Calls to mind the contact stories of George Adamski in the the '50s.

George Adamski - Wikipedia

 

Man there are some really sick people out there, it would be nice to put them all in the Middle East that way they could be helped to find their Gods the old fashioned way!:lol:

I say them what they are looking for and send them off with a Big Bang!:tu:

JIMO

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5 hours ago, Manwon Lender said:

Man there are some really sick people out there, it would be nice to put them all in the Middle East that way they could be helped to find their Gods the old fashioned way!:lol:

I say them what they are looking for and send them off with a Big Bang!:tu:

JIMO

Hell, we haven't even discussed Dianetics, yet, or The Unification Church.

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2 minutes ago, Hammerclaw said:

Hell, we haven't even discussed Dianetics, yet, or The Unification Church.

Hey start a thread man, I will support you a 100% because that crap should be talked about too!:tu:

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On 6/25/2021 at 5:34 AM, Freez1 said:

God is the center of everything without God you wouldn’t have the space to even consider the alien part. 

You're damn right:

 

Touched_by_His_Noodly_Appendage_HD.jpg

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On 6/27/2021 at 2:30 PM, Abramelin said:

You're damn right:

 

Touched_by_His_Noodly_Appendage_HD.jpg

Do you think they may be thinking about sex!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:w00t::lol: That Alien, has Bedroom eyes!!!!!!:devil:

Edited by Manwon Lender
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On 6/24/2021 at 10:34 PM, Freez1 said:

God is the center of everything without God you wouldn’t have the space to even consider the alien part. 

Amen.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I dont know much about the Raelians or their beliefs  

However it is a totally natural progression for people to build on past beliefs in ways which accommodate modern science and understanding

And of course, in the past humans were limited in their understanding of such beings and encounters, by the limited science and knowledge the y possessed 

its how I understand and interpret the entity  i know as the cosmic consciousness  

Once upon a time it would have been called  a god, or an angel, or the holy spirit 

I see it as a powerful alien being or technogly (such as an AI ) which has a connection to humans and a role to play in our individual and species development and survival.

Just read wiki on them.  I actually empathise with a lot of their conclusions eg humans made gods from these beings when that was the only conclusion open to a person who had contact with them,  but in reality the y are powerful caring beings.

  

quote 

Raëlism is a millenarian philosophy.[84] Raël claims that since the U.S. military's use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, humanity have been living in the "Age of Apocalypse" or "Revelation".[85] It states that the human species must now choose whether to use science and technology to enhance life or to use it to bring about nuclear annihilation.[86] It claims that if humans successfully get through this present age, they will live in an era of advanced technology in which society will be tolerant and sexually liberated.[40] 

According to Raël, beginning a peaceful age will cause the return of the Elohim to Earth.[8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raëlism

That is pretty much my own understanding  of the nature of the cosmic consciousness, and the way the galaxy is currently governed However, our annihilation may come from  many potential misuses of science, combined with a lack of discipline and self  control eg  unsustainable  living, overpopulation   or climate change. nationalism greed competition for resources etc. 

To gain admittance to " the galactic civilization " we must mature ourselves ,and survive through to a more adult /mature way of living.

This applies both to individuals, and to us as a species.   

We may be helped, via education, to do this, but otherwise not interfered with. 

Ps Raelists ( and even i ) construct our own interpretations within our cultural milieu; as children of the post atomic era ,  exposed to both modern science and science fiction 

ie our understandings are limited to what we can know and imagine, and may fall short of the full truth, just as previous interpretations did. 

Edited by Mr Walker
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Do I believe God is a Space Alien no but I will share with you something very interesting that someone told me he said that God is the Force like from Star Wars which does make a lot of sense if you think about it because God is omnipresent 

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  • 1 month later...
On 6/25/2021 at 1:02 PM, Rlyeh said:

Space existed long before humans dreamt up God.

Exactly. And the Big Bang occurred about 13.8 billion years ago, blasting matter and everything else out into the Cosmos.

The earth came into existence approximately 4 billion years ago - so we are essentially the new kids on the block....plenty of time for other civilizations to come into existence and perhaps visit here along the way during their journeys. 

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