In France and Belgium, the movement is classified as a sect. We are talking about Raëlism, a faith founded in the 1970s by the French Claude Vorilhon – who now goes by the name Raël.
It was during a walk on December 13, 1973 that Claude met a silver saucer. Out stepped an alien who told that his people called Elohim were the ones who created humans in a lab 25,000 years ago.
Claude Vorilhon believes that an alien has asked him to spread the message on Earth. Image source: TV4 This is Raëlism – founded by Claude Vorilhon
The alien also told Claude that he would now become a prophet and spread the message. Said and done. Today, Claude Vorilhon is the leader of the Raëls, a movement estimated to have around 50,000 followers worldwide.
The person who calls himself raël thinks, among other things, that humans should be cloned, and that a certain IQ should be required to be allowed to vote.
The Raëls also believe that the aliens would like to return to Earth – but in order to have somewhere to stay, the Raëls simply need to build an embassy for them. And it’s getting a bit rushed. The Elohim plan to come to Earth in 2035.
In the new Netflix documentary Raël: The Alien Prophet, both former and current members are interviewed, and during four episodes viewers get to know the Raëls in depth.
In 11 years, the aliens will be here, the Raëls believe. Then they must have somewhere to live. Therefore, they want to build a big embassy so the aliens can feel welcome. Image source: TV4Felix Herngren current with the UFO mystery on TV4
But it is not only in the Netflix documentary that the Raëls are now being noticed. IN Felix Herngrens mini-series UFO-mysteriet on TV4, so Felix gets to know more about unexplained phenomena and the UFO world.
Felix has the retired journalist by his side Clas Svahn who is chairman of the National Organization UFO-Sweden. That it would only be tinfoil hats who believe in UFOs is something that Svahn dismisses. In an interview with Swedish daily newspaper he told more about the callers to the organization.
– I get super interested in them. Many of those who contact us are alarmingly healthy and well, after all. They can be involved in things that today we don’t really understand – and that’s what I want to understand, Clas told the newspaper.
Clas Svahn, on the other hand, is of the opinion that the Raëls, whose symbol consists of a combined Star of David and a swastika, are a sect. Even Herngren insinuates during a short segment in the UFO mystery that it would be a cult.
Felix Herngren says that the members should give the leader money. Image source: TV4Felix Herngren’s words about the Raëls in TV4’s UFO mystery. – It’s usually like that when you’re involved in cults, Herngren says about the members having to give the leader money. Image source: TV4
Felix Herngren meets the group’s US manager. Image source: The TV4UFO mystery reported to the Review Board
In the fourth episode of the UFO mystery, Herngren says that the Raëls are not allowed to own anything.
A statement that is directly incorrect, says a viewer who saw red from the feature and has now reported the program to the Review Board. The person who reported is himself a supporter of the Raëls.
“That you as a member would not be allowed to have any possessions is, however, a pure fabrication. It is also an absurd claim, as it is practically impossible in today’s society not to have any possessions and that fact alone should have made the producer of the series react and double check the task”, writes the person and calls the feature “highly dishonest and misleading journalism”.
Felix Herngren says in a voiceover that the followers must not own anything. Image source: TV4
The complainant further writes:
“TV4 also uses the word sect, which has a negative association and contributes to the denigration of the Raelian movement and its followers, which in turn has consequences for individuals in their lives both privately and professionally”.
A boot for Felix Herngren is then awarded in the report to the Review Board.
“In the feature, however, Herngren squirms by presenting the sect label via reference to Clas Svahn who considers it. The question is how would it have been received if the same method had been used against another organization, religion or ethnic group? In summary, so I believe that TV4 should issue a correction in an appropriate manner, as well as apologize, for having spread the incorrect information that members of the Raelian movement are not allowed to have any possessions”.