Raël, Prophet of Extraterrestrials: a story of money, zeal and deceit

Confusing and fascinating, a Netflix documentary series released in February 2024 tells the life of Claude Vorilhon, better known as Raël. The Frenchman created a movement in the 1970s and gained thousands of followers around the world. His credo? The existence of life outside Earth.

The documentary gives voice to current followers of the movement, their detractors, and Raël himself. The 77-year-old prophet now lives in Japan, where his movement - recognized as a sect since 1995 - has spread.

Photo: Netflix

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To produce this documentary series, Antoine Baldassari had to establish a relationship of trust with the Raëlians for weeks. "They feel they are the victims of the media," he says on a French podcast. "I told them, I want to hear your story because... on the other hand, there will be the story of your opponents, the institution, the judges, the disappointed."

Photo: Netflix

The director describes Claude Vorilhon as a 'showman.' "He’s the Bernard Tapie [a notorious French businessman] of extraterrestrials. He could have sold TVs, he could have sold anything," the director says.

Photo: Netflix

How was the Raëlian movement born and what are its principles? Let's have a look back at the incredible history of this controversial organization.

Photo: Netflix

The Raëlian movement was founded in 1976 in France by the 'prophet' Claude Vorilhon, known as Raël. He claims to have met extraterrestrials who made an important announcement to him on December 13, 1973.

According to Claude Vorilhon, the message said that life on Earth had been created by beings very similar to humans. They were called the Elohim, or "those who came from the sky" and they used advanced genetic engineering techniques.

Photo: NASA / Unsplash

The human race would be the result of an ingenious experiment by evolved extraterrestrials. The Elohim supposedly used their own DNA to make humans. Furthermore, these extraterrestrials would have named Claude Vorilhon their Raël, or “messenger of the Elohim”.

A former car sports journalist, Vorilhon wrote extensively on the subject: 'The Book That Tells the Truth' in 1974, and 'The Extra-Terrestrials Took Me to Their Planet' in 1975. The latter was based on a new hypothetical encounter between Raël and the Elohim.

Raël sits at the top of a six-tiered hierarchical structure that is the Raëlian movement. It demands a healthy lifestyle and a vegetarian diet from all its members.

Those who decide to join the Raëlian movement are invited to donate 11% of their income to the construction of an embassy for the Elohim in Jerusalem. Incentives and social pressure on the members to pay their share are strong.

The movement believes that the great return of the extraterrestrial Elohim to Earth will take place in 2035. However, this will only happen if humanity fulfills its objectives, such as spreading Raëlian teachings and building the embassy.

Ezael Di Marco, head of the Raëlian movement in Italy, told the newspaper Messaggero that the planned embassy would have extraterritorial status and be "a sort of headquarters in neutral territory, made up of 24 apartments, a restaurant, a conference room, and a swimming pool, to be able to establish and found a new order based on the beginnings of science".

He added: "More or less a dozen individuals will be there, accompanied by the great prophets (Jesus, Moses, Buddha, Mohammed). They will have another planet where they live happily, thanks to a sophisticated cloning process, to be alongside their children."

Photo: Pixabay

According to the Raëlian movement, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, and Buddha were prophets sent to Earth to help and guide human beings. They all arose from the relationship between a human woman and an Elohim, aided by genetic engineering and DNA synthesis.

To be part of the Raëlian movement, one must go through an initiation rite, similar to Christian baptism. However, it is only practiced by university graduates.

This ritual can only be performed four times a year: the first Sunday in April (to commemorate the first time Raël baptized members of the movement), August 6 (to remember the atrocities of Hiroshima), October 7 (the date on which Raël would have met Jesus, Mohammed, and Buddha) and December 13 (the date of his first meeting with the Elohim).

During the initiation rite, according to the Raëlians, it is important to communicate telepathically with the Elohim so that they can record all the genetic information of the initiate.

Raëlites believe that if they behave with dignity throughout their earthly life, they will be rewarded at their death. The Elohim judge the actions of members who have reached the end of their earthly existence and may give them immortality by... cloning them.

Photo: Michal Jarmoluk / Pixabay

"At the end of our life journey, they use a large computer to measure whether our personal record has been positive or negative," the Italian Raëlian explains. "If we deserve it, we will be recreated and we will retain all the knowledge acquired in our previous life."

Di Marco also describes how the Elohim spend their days: "They don't work, they are happy and enjoy life. Everything that needs to be done is entrusted to biological robots." This civilization does not follow laws either: “Laws are for men, not for gods,” he explains.

Photo: Stefan Keller / Pixabay

The Raëlian movement has been subject to controversies, some of which are discussed in the 2024 Netflix documentary. Some of them were about cloning and others about alleged abuse on the grounds of the movement.

Photo: Elias / Pixabay

In 1997, the Raelians founded Clonaid, an organization that claims to have cloned a child called Eva and, subsequently, other individuals. Independent scientists have never had a chance to examine the supposed clone or the technology, which is why the scientific community says it is a hoax.

More painfully, there have been cases of alleged s e x u a l abuse in the Raëlian movement. Intercourse plays an important role in the movement's ideology, and free love is promoted. Sadly, in some cases, this may have led to the abuse of women.  The Netflix documentary dives into this controversy.

Another heated debate concerns the Raëlian official symbol, consisting of a Star of David and a s w a s t i k a. After much public protest, the latter symbol was replaced by a stylized flower, although the old symbol is still very present among the followers.

Over the years, the Raëlian movement has spread throughout the world. To date, according to the Italian spokesperson Di Marco, about 120,000 people in more than 100 countries have signed up.

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