Are Raelians for Real?

by Rose Monardo ‘03

If we are all alone, it’s an awful waste of space. Space travel has defined our country in the past century.  A landing on the moon, orbits around the earth, and now two horrible shuttle tragedies, all barely serve to appease our taste for outer space.  What else is out there?  Are we all alone?  Scientists have tried to answer this question with the Drake equation, which attempts to compute the potential number of communicative intelligent civilizations in our galaxy. The equation takes into account a series of probabilities, everything from the rate of star formation to the chance that any intelligent life out there hasn’t been destroyed yet. Depending on who you ask, the answer ranges from 1 to 100,000. With so many variables, it is easy to see how different people come up with different answers to this question.

While most people ponder the possible existence of aliens, the Raelians are convinced they exist.  They know aliens have visited us.

But on December 27^th, 2002, the little known Raelian religion made a claim perhaps even more incredible— the birth of the first cloned human baby. As soon as Raelian bishop Bridgette Boisselier announced the birth of “Eve”, throngs of scientists quickly dismissed the claim, but it had already captured the world’s attention. The question was asked again and again: is it possible?

In the past few years, scientists have been successful in cloning animals.  Dolly, the world’s most famous sheep, was born in 1997 and followed shortly after by mice, calves, pigs, goats, rabbits and cats. But while the technology is advancing, most scientists agree we do not yet have the ability to create human beings through cloning.

While most people ponder the possible existence of aliens, the Raelians are convinced they exist. They know aliens have visited us.

“I would be really, really surprised if it stands,” said Dr. Tanja Dominko, a cloning expert and chief science officer at Cellthera, a newly formed company in Southbridge, Massachusetts.  “I don't believe it for a minute.”   No scientist has successfully cloned even a lower primate yet.  Dr. Dominko and her lab have spent three years and three hundred eggs trying to clone a monkey without any success.  While these primates are very complicated organisms, human beings are even more complex and scientists across the board agree that we do not presently have the capabilities to clone one. So why the big deal?

In many people, the word “cloning” inspires fear.  Although it holds the possibility for great medical advances, many worry that if allowed to proceed without clear guidelines, people will one day be able to play God with human life.  Despite its frequent feature in futuristic movies and books, few people know what cloning really is.

A clone is an exact reproduction of the parent.  To make a clone, scientists isolate DNA from an adult animal and replace it in an egg cell whose nucleus (which holds all the genetic material) has been removed.  Therefore, the embryo produced from cloning has the same exact genetic material as the adult.  That means that Eve has the same exact genetic structure as her mother.

When Eve’s birth was announced, scientists and government officials expressed concern about the implications it had for human experimentation.  In most countries, there are strict laws concerning the use of humans as experimental subject.  However, in the United States, cloning itself is not yet illegal. Washington is still divided on the issue.  Shortly after Eve’s birth, Senator Diane Feinstein, a Democrat of California, said, “This launches a major cloning battle in the Congress and the United States, and specifically in the Senate.”  She supports banning human reproductive cloning but allowing certain medical cloning experiments to continue.

"This launches a major cloning battle in the Congress and the U.S., and specifically in the Senate."

Scientists saw the reactionary opinions of Washington as a “knee jerk reaction”.  Many feel that this announcement by Boisselier’s company Clonaid, could pressure Washington into creating cloning laws that could potentially hurt legitimate scientific research in the future.

The concern is similar to that over stem cell research, a common topic in recent political debates.  Before the current laws concerning stem cell research were created, fertility clinics donated unused embryos to researchers with permission of the patients.  This donation is no longer allowed.  While stem cell research has not been banned, only colonies of existing embryonic stem cells are allowed for research purposes.  In addition, scientists conducting stem cell research are no longer given the same amount of funding from the government.  Scientist worry that similar restrictions will be placed on all cloning related experiments.

Amid all the political and ethical turmoil, the question still remains—why did the Raelians announce the birth of the first clone on earth? Claude Vorilhorn, the founder of the Raelian religion, says that the group is interested in cloning to achieve eternal human life, and to make a lot of money doing it.  “We can envision getting ourselves eternal life - that is the goal,” said Vorilhorn. “When you die, you clone yourself and you can live eternally.”

But most people seem to think the Raelians elaborate stunt is nothing more than a grasp at free publicity. Since their announcement in December, their website declares it has received more than 30 million visitors. This group has pulled publicity stunts in the past—though not half as daring. For example, in Canada, the Raelians claim their enemy is the Catholic Church and will often stand outside of Catholic High Schools handing out condoms.  Their yearly conferences at their theme park in Canada are also infamous. While these conferences are meant to be places for Raelains to explore their faith, they usually end up becoming orgies with seminars focused on sex and masturbation. But there may be more to the Raelian religion than this publicity makes it appear.

"If it's real, Boisselier deserves the Nobel Prize because this is the most fantastic scientific advance in history of humanity."

Claude Vorilhorn founded the Raelian religion in 1973, when he says he had an encounter with an alien in a volcano. “The extra-terrestrial was about four feet in height, had long dark hair, almond shaped eyes, olive skin and exuded harmony and humor”.  The aliens, or “Elohim”, renamed Vorilhorn “Rael”, and they charged him to spread their word to the people of earth.  In what strikes most people as an incredulous story, Vorilhorn spent six hours with the aliens during which they dictated “The Final Message” to him, which he later published in a book.  It mainly serves to correct the Bible and incorporates many of the world’s religious texts.  The Elohim—a word Vorilhorn translates from the Hebrew as “those who come from the sky” instead of the traditional “God”—also introduced him to Jesus and Mohammed, who, they claimed, were all prophets for the Elohim, as Rael himself would become. Don’t be confused though- the Elohim are atheists and acknowledge no supernatural beings.

Since 1973, the Raelians have espoused free love, world peace and “hard science”.  Their web site claims 60,000 members worldwide, with their largest followings in Japan, France and Canada.  Their main goal is to build an embassy in Jerusalem for welcoming the Elohim.  Israel refuses.

As a religion, the Raelians can participate in the group as much as they want.  They are required to pay yearly dues, but are able to choose there own level of involvement in the organization.  Meditation is an integral part of this religion.  In addition, they recognize the sacraments of marriage and baptism.  In the Raelian faith, marriage is a bond easily entered into and easily dissolved.  The Raelians believe it is up to the individuals involved to separate before things get messy.  As for baptism, they recognize that it must be the individual’s own choice and therefore they don’t baptize children.  Baptism can only occur between the hours of 3 to 4 pm daily because those are the hours they believe the Elohim ship is in the correct location.

Shortly after the announcement of Eve’s birth, the Raelians newly established human cloning company Clonaid announced the birth of four more cloned babies. However, none of these announcements have generated the same amount of public excitement as the first.  In response to scientific challenges to provide proof, the Raelians claimed they would produce evidence and let Michael Gullien, a science journalist and Harvard professor, oversee and investigate their claims.  But Gullien called off the genetic tests in the beginning of January.  “The team of scientists has had no access to the alleged family and therefore cannot verify firsthand the claim that a human baby has been cloned,” a statement from Mr. Guillen said.  “It's still entirely possible Clonaid's announcement is part of an elaborate hoax intended to bring publicity to the Raelian movement.”

And what does Voriholn have to say about all this? “If it's real, she [Boisselier] deserves the Nobel Prize because she is making history and it's the most fantastic scientific advance in history of humanity.  If it's not true, she's also making history with one of the biggest hoaxes in history, so in both ways it's wonderful. Because, thanks to what she is doing now, the whole world knows about the Raelian movement. I am very happy with that.”