Although I have issue with the more popular version of ancient aliens/astronauts due to its inherent racism - the achievements of non-white, Ancient Civilization X are so beguiling, from a western viewpoint, that the only reasonable explanation is that they were influenced by advanced (Nordic looking) aliens - my familiarity with the Raelians didn't fall into that category. The first inkling came with the Swastika debacle,
"The swastika appears in ancient cultures all over the world," Kaenzig told The Huffington Post. "How can it be found everywhere despite these cultures having no contact with each other unless the Elohim were involved?"This is the exact same mind-set of Giorgio and his band of merry men (ie think of the various pyramids world wide and their explanation of such, or the solstice alignment of structures such as Stonehenge).
As a bit of a side-bar, keep in mind that some within the popularized version of ancient aliens have also latched onto anti-Semitic ranting about the Rothschilds, the alien-Jewish world domination conspiracy with a little bit of Edward Snowden thrown in for support (David Icke and Jim Marrs building off Zecharia Sitchin as well as Alexander Hislop's The Two Babylons). For the sake of brevity - 911, the 2008 economic meltdown, aspartame, fluoride, Prince Philip of England, the Rothschild family, the Anunnaki, Nimrod, Orwell 1984 (supposedly the alien master plan) are ALL connected.
I don't think the Raelians go quite that extreme as the racism is concerned, but their statement still is a cause for mild concern. They seem to be railing against the Zionism (Christian Zionism) espoused by John Hagee:
Heeb Magazine disclosed a statement from the Raelians, that the Jews have been officially replaced and are ordered to leave the Holy Land. It says Raelians are the real Jews who will welcome their “Messiah” or extraterrestrial creators, but first need to build a temple that will serve as an intergalactic embassy. This sounds eerily similar to the concept of replacement theology that early Christians espoused as stating they had replaced the Jews as the chosen people. However, it is doubtful that the early Christian fathers believed, as the Raelians do, that humans were invented by a scientific team of extra terrestrials.The Jewish Press » » Raelian Statement Condemns Zionism, Says Raelians Are the True Jews
In 1973, Claude Vorihon, now known as Rael, received a message from an extra terrestrial who called himself, conveniently enough, Yahweh, telling him that angels and other divine beings were nothing more than other worldly scientists known as Elohim who have only to reveal themselves to usher in an age of global enlightenment. The Raelians are against war or military engagement in any form. Recently, they have declared their opposition to Zionism and released a statement purportedly from Yahweh, not to be confused with the god of the Jews. He says “the protection previously extended by Elohim to the Jewish people has ceased …. You have betrayed all the exemplary values of Judaism by stealing land and houses that don’t belong to you, and especially by not respecting my most important commandment, ‘Thou shall not kill.’ And you have accumulated nuclear weapons that could kill millions of people in one go and spark off a world war capable of destroying all creation … We ask all real Jews to leave the land of Palestine as quickly as possible.”
Not surprisingly, Raelians declare they are the real Jews (so for whom is the message intended?), and wanted their own piece of the Middle East for construction of their intergalactic embassy, but were turned down. One wonders how Israeli Raelian tour guide, Kobi Drori, is going to react to the command that all those considered Jews up until the statement should leave Israel. Drori, based in Tel Aviv, was interviewed a few years ago by the ReligionNews blog, and explained how Jews are considered special in Raelian theology. Jews contain part of the Elohim, or divine messengers, when everyone else was made in a lab. This is the reason the Raelians wanted to build their temple in Jerusalem, so the extra terrestrials can “be among their children, their sons.” The Raelian symbol of the swastika and Star of David entwined is meant to promote co-existence.
