Strange world of Raëlism – humans descended from 'ETs', sex and 'cloned baby' – Daily Star
A new Netflix documentary called Raël: The Alien Prophet will explore the bizarre workings of a UFO-inspired religion so Daily Star has taken a deep dive into what the group is all about
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Here at the Daily Star we can all get behind a bloke who is convinced that aliens exist.
And while the ‘UFO religion’ that was started by Claude Vorilhon sounds like good craic – his obsession with human cloning and his use of the swastika certainly go down as cons.
Many aspects of his religion and his supposed alien encounters are being explored in an upcoming Netflix documentary called Rael: The Alien Prophet.
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And before the series hits our screens, here is what we already know about the wacky leader who has tens of thousands of devoted followers worldwide, including in Britain.
Claude Vorilhon was a French race car journalist before he changed his name to Raël and started his own bizarre religion where his followers are called Raëlians.
As for what inspired the former writer to take such a diversion – it’s all to do with a life-changing encounter he claims he had with aliens in 1973.
An ET supposedly descended from a craft in the sky to tell Raël that all human life was created by aliens from space as a scientific experiment.
Raël claims that the alien messengers, who he branded the Elohim, or “those who came from the sky”, asked him to become the messenger so he could tell the people of Earth what he had learned.
The Frenchman was more than happy to ditch his former trade and he went on to become known as the Alien Prophet and wrote books like Extraterrestrials Took Me To Their Planet.
Raël also claimed the Elohim let him tour a spacecraft in 1975 and while his religion was started in the 1970s, it continues to have an influence in the world we know today.
Among the followers is Glenn Carter, president of the British Raëlian movement, who told VICE in 2020: “The only difference between us and anybody else is that we believe all life was created by the Elohim, who were extraterrestrials visiting Earth from another planet. The rest of our behaviour is the same as any other human being, or group.”
He also once told the Daily Mail that the Elohim was a society who came to Earth 25,000 years ago with the intention of creating life.
Raëlians are sometimes likened to a sex cult – something they vehemently deny. They acknowledge that sexual freedom is one of their core beliefs but videos from Happiness Academy events show full on nudity.
And in the Netflix trailer, one critic told the camera: “I saw how addicted he was to the submission of women, ultimately they were sex slaves.”
The Daily Star approached the Raëlians for a response to the claim, and UK president Glenn Carter denied the accusation.
He told us: “Slavery of all kinds, whether it be sex slavery or any other form of slavery, is abhorrent to both the Raëlian Movement as an organisation and to each individual Raëlian wherever they may be, as this is against our philosophy completely.“
Glenn also encouraged the woman who spoke those words to go to the police with any concerns they have regarding sex slavery within the religion.
One still from the trailer also showed three topless women standing in front of a sitting Raël who has been married three times. Stories of promiscuity followed the ‘UFO religion’ throughout the years and in 2007 Raëlians set up a Go Topless movement.
One of their many protests occurred in Toronto five years later when half-naked people went out on the streets to promote women going braless.
One British mum, who works for the Met Police, spoke anonymously to VICE about telling her son about joining the movement. She laughed: “He’s 30 and finds it amusing. He doesn’t believe in anything himself.
“When I told him about the Raëlian movement he went online and saw all these about sex orgies. For his mum to be involved with that kind of organisation was really funny to him. He takes it with a pinch of salt.”
When Raëlians are not in the news for their prophet going on trips to outer space with his alien pals, they often attract headlines for cloning.
Raël set up Clonaid in 1997 and on the website it describes itself as “the first human cloning company in the world”. Three years after forming it he handed it off to Dr Brigitte Boisselier.
The ambition was to achieve immortality through science because followers believe the Elohim have the ability to resurrect the dead with cloning.
In December 2002, Dr Boisselier claimed to have produced the world’s first human clone and even held a press conference to welcome the baby girl 'Eve' into the world.
She said the DNA was donated by an American woman who later gave birth to her exact genetic duplicate.
In a shocking press conference, Dr Boisselier said: “It is very important to remember that we are talking about a baby. The baby is very healthy. She is fine, she is doing fine. The parents are happy. I hope that you remember them when you talk about this baby, not like a monster, like some results of something that is disgusting.”
However, no evidence of Eve actually existing was produced, leading to Clonaid claims being doubted.
The Raëlians remain intent on one day welcoming aliens back to Earth and they want to build an ET embassy as a place for the Elohim to base themselves.
But, having often used the swastika, which they placed inside the Star of David, as their peace symbol, they were banned from opening such an embassy in Israel.
Raël: The Alien Prophet is coming to Netflix on February 7 and will feature interviews with the man himself, along with his followers and critics
