Greetings from the UFO zealots who say aliens created life on Earth

David Pettersen
Sep 7, 2018 · 2 min read

What it’s about: Founders of religions tend to have impressive stories. Moses ascending to a mountaintop to talk to God. The Buddha meditating until achieving enlightenment. A French race car driver from the ’70s being abducted by aliens. Jesus’ virgin birth in a manger. All pretty good stories. But if one of those things seems to be not like the others, that’s because you haven’t been introduced to what’s surely the one true faith, Raëlism. Claude Vorilhon was the publisher of a racing magazine called Autopop and sometime driver when, in 1973, he claimed that aliens landed in a volcanic crater, telling him, in French, they came specifically to give him a message to pass on to humanity. Vorilhon began calling himself Raël, and the following year spread that message in a book called The Book Which Tells The Truth. He followed that with 1975’s credibility-inspiring Extraterrestrials Took Me To Their Planet, and in the decades since, Raëlism has taken on thousands of followers worldwide.

Biggest controversy: Raëlism didn’t just set itself as its own religion, it tried to hijack every other religion as well. According to Raël, all life on Earth was created by the Elohim, the same aliens who visited Vorilhon. The Elohim have been appearing to humans for millennia, usually in the guise of angels or gods, passing on their message to humanity through human figures like Buddha and Jesus (both of whom Vorilhon claims to have met, during a 1975 visit to the Elohim’s spaceship).

→ Continue Reading ←

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade