Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index The term Raelism refers to the belief system promoted by the Raelian Movement, a religious organization which believes that scientifically advanced extraterrestrialss known as the Elohim (derived from a Hebrew word appearing in the Torah) created life on Earth through genetic engineering, and that a combination of human cloning and "mind transfer" can ultimately provide immortality. Many people consider the Raelism a cult. Claude Vorilhon (born 1946), also known as Rael, founded the Raelian Movement, which claims to have about 55,000 members from 84 different countries. Membership may be particularly high in France, Japan, Canada (especially Quebec), and the United States (especially Florida). The Movement spreads its message via Rael's books, Raelian gatherings, and its web site. The Raelians promote the social ideas of sexual self-determination and a spirit of sharing and responsibility, which, they claim, will bring a new age of wealth and peace. The philosophy is based on humanitarian values including human rights and freedoms. Table of contents 1 The Elohim 2 Immortality through science? 3 Confusion about human cloning 4 Confusion about reincarnation 5 Geniocracy 6 External Links The Elohim According to Vorilhon a message of the human origin was dictated to him in December 1973 in personal meetings with a 25,000 year old extraterrestrial who came in a UFO. The story goes that after terraforming of Earth, aliens (the "Elohim") created humans via DNA manipulation. The Raelians believe, furthermore, that when enough people on Earth become peaceful and come to know the message of the Elohim, the Elohim will come and share their advanced scientific knowledge with us, their creation. Thus one of their major goals is to inform as many people as possible about this alien race. Immortality through science? The Raelians claim to have learned from the Elohim the outlines of a technological process for achieving human immortality. The process involves three steps: creating a genetically identical copy of someone by human cloning causing the clone to mature much, much faster than normal (maturing from infant to adult in a number of hours or days, rather than years) transferring the memory and personality the original person to the mature clone by some yet undiscovered or undisclosed process. The first half of the first step, human cloning, while certainly not trivial, is widely recognized as a goal science is capable of pursuing, if it were desirable to do so. Some scientists and many non-scientists, however, find both ideas ethically troublesome. Raelians do not, and followers of Rael, including trained scientists, are actively researching this first step. They have founded a controversial cloning research company which claims to have cloned at least one human being; see Clonaid. It is unclear to non-Raelians how the second or third step could be accomplished, as they are not considered possible with current technology. It is unclear, at least to those outside the Raelian movement, whether and how this mind/brain transfer could be transformed into a viable science. Nonetheless, if it were possible, it would, when combined with cloning, seem to provide for immortality. Both options have been explored in science fiction and philosophy of mind. Confusion about human cloning It is important not to be confused by different people's different meanings of the word "cloning". In the scientific community, cloning refers only to the creation of a genetically identical individual. Note that "genetically identical" does not mean altogether identical; this kind of cloning does not copy any of a person's memories or experience, for example. In discussions of Raelism, cloning sometimes seems to refer not only to biological cloning, but to biological human cloning plus mind and/or brain transfer, or to a hypothesized process where adult clones can be directly made. On December 26, 2002, French scientist and sect member Brigitte Boisselier says the group gave birth to a girl through cesarean section, the first of a supposed five total. They did not provide the press or authorities with proof of this birth, such as a chance to obtain DNA sample. Still, by New Year's 2003, the story had spread like wildfire throughout the mainstream press. Confusion about reincarnation The Raelians seems to have an interest not only in immortality but also in reincarnation. They are willing to bring back famous individuals such as Jesus or Hitler, either for inspiration or to allow for retroactive punishment. In fact, they can't believe in reincarnation because they do not believe that a soul exists. They only consider human cloning as a step toward eternal life. Few specifics are available as to how the Raelians think reincarnation might be feasible. In particular, it is unclear whether DNA alone would be enough to bring someone back, or whether reincarnation would also require finding a "recording" of the individual's mind, for use in mind transfer. According to Raël's book: Yes to Human Cloning, it seems that mind transfer really is a required step. Geniocracy The Raelians promote a new form of government that they refer to as geniocracy, or rule by geniuses. It advocates a requirement of having at least 50% more than the average intelligent potential (though not IQ) as based on a test in order to run for office and in order to vote to require at least 10% above average. Thus even though electorally structured as a democracy such a regime would be a representitive oligarchy. External Links Web site of the Raelian Movement Clonaid Presentation by The University of Virginia The Rael Deal by The Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.