Raëlism is a religious movement founded by Claude Vorilhon, who took the name Raël. He said that on December 13, 1973, he encountered an extraterrestrial near Clermont-Ferrand in France. In his account, the visitor belonged to a group he calls the Elohim and gave him a message about the origin of life on Earth. That account is the starting point for the movement’s teachings and projects. Raël, Intelligent Design · International Raëlian Movement FAQ
What Raëlians believe about the Elohim
Raël’s writings describe the Elohim as technologically advanced beings who created life on Earth. His movement interprets accounts of creation and prophecy through that story. It presents figures such as Moses, Jesus and Muhammad as messengers sent at different times. It describes itself as atheistic because it understands the Elohim as physical beings and rejects a supernatural creator. The account is a religious teaching about origins. The scientific account of human evolution draws on fossil discoveries, archaeological evidence and genetic comparisons. Raël, Intelligent Design · International Raëlian Movement FAQ · Smithsonian Human Origins Program
Meditation and the embassy project
Raël’s book Sensual Meditation presents exercises directed at awareness of the body and the senses. Some connect that awareness to the movement’s idea of an infinite universe. These exercises give a concrete example of devotional practice within a movement that explains its creation story through technology. Raël, Sensual Meditation
The movement also describes two public goals. It seeks to circulate Raël’s message through publications, talks and other media. It also proposes an embassy where the Elohim could receive a formal welcome. Within Raëlian teaching, the embassy is a condition for the encounter it hopes will take place. It is a project proposed by the movement. Raël, Intelligent Design · International Raëlian Movement FAQ
Cloning, memory and the 2002 announcement
In Yes to Human Cloning, Raël distinguishes making a genetic copy of a body from his proposed transfer of memory and personality. He presents both as steps toward the form of continued life he attributes to the Elohim. Reproductive cloning in biology concerns producing an organism with essentially the same genetic material as a donor. Raël’s proposed memory transfer is a separate claim. Raël, Yes to Human Cloning · National Human Genome Research Institute, Cloning Fact Sheet
In 2002, Clonaid, a project initiated by Raël that the movement describes as later operating independently, announced what it claimed was the birth of a cloned baby. The National Human Genome Research Institute reports that Clonaid provided no evidence to substantiate the announcement. The episode documents a public claim and the difference between the movement’s expectations and a result researchers can verify. International Raëlian Movement FAQ · National Human Genome Research Institute, Cloning Fact Sheet
Conclusion
Raëlism connects a claimed encounter in 1973 with a creation narrative, a form of meditation and a proposed embassy. Its teaching on continued life adds a proposal about memory and identity to the idea of copying genetic material. The movement’s own texts explain those beliefs, while scientific evidence is needed to establish claims about human origins or cloning.
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