VALUES OF THE THIRD MILLENIUM

By Anabela Carneiro, TG Co-op Student

When I was in kindergarten, I was taken to the cinema to see my first film: Steven Speilberg's E.T. It was that initial taste of alien culture that led to my interest in all things spatial, from the mythologies that christened the planets to the X-Files to astrology, or so I like to think. At the age of four, I was thrilled by the idea that adorable and harmless beings of my height roamed the universe, and I held firmly to my belief that I would join them as soon as NASA caught up with my imagination. Now that I'm a little more grown up, my feet are still firmly planted on Earth, but my fascination with extra-terrestrials has not subsided. Nor has my quest for the Truth. I'll never take any person or group that professes to hold the secrets of the universe seriously, but I'm willing to listen. Which is just what I did on April 13th at the University of Toronto, at a seminar entitled "What Is The Raelian Movement?". How's that for excitement on a Saturday night?

Ignorant of the strange-sounding Raelian Movement as I was, I was lured to attend the evening by posters asking, "The Raelian Movement is pro-right to vote at 15--what do you think?", "The Raelian Movement is pro-demonstration for anti-cult racism--what's that all about?". Of course, the statement that convinced me I had to go was "The Raelian Movement is pro-masturbation--what's that all about?".

After paying the $5 admission fee and armed with the pseudonym "Emma Colfari-Olwen" (fearing I would somehow join the movement if I revealed my name), I entered the Medical Sciences auditorium and took a seat at the back. My companions "Darcy" and "Sara" agreed there was an air of paranoia filling the room, but I had already decided the members of the Raelian Church, identifiable by their large pendants, were friendly. Besides, the paranoia was probably emanating directly from us. In the lobby the Raelians had greeted one another enthusiastically and warmly, kissing each other and hugging. Perhaps having sensed how uncomfortable we were, or our skepticism, the smiles they directed at us seemed rather thin. As the lights dimmed, I sat back with an open mind, though I hoped that I wouldn't prove to be vulnerable to their message (as some of the 300 gathered undoubtedly were).

According to the short films and speakers, there was once a civilization on Earth that was just as advanced as our society today, but that civilization was wiped out 25,000 years ago. The Elohim, the original name for "God" in Hebrew scripture, meaning "those that came from the sky", witnessed the fall of the Earthlings and decided to intervene. They created a race based on their DNA codes and gave this race great knowledge, the result of which were the advanced technologies of the Mayans and the Egyptians. The Elohim chose prophets to carry out a specific message over the years, each one suited for the time; Jesus, the Buddha and Mohammed were some of these prophets. The prophet bearing this message, living in our "Age of Apocalypse", is Rael, a former sports journalist from France. This message was revealed to him in 1973 by a peaceful alien. The message was one of love, with each value defined: respect for others and for all life, non-violence, responsibilty for one's actions, sharing, love of the self, and sexual freedom. Rael was told that if enough people were to follow what was to become the International Raelian Church, the Elohim would come and grant us all an eternity of happiness, providing a United Nations-acknowledged Embassy be built for them in Israel.

This fantastical and incomplete story (if the Elohim created us, who created the Elohim?) of the Elohim is not what was stressed most during the three and a half hour lecture. The words I heard most often coming from the mouths of the soft-spoken men and women were "respect", "different", "pleasure", and "sex". The numerous speakers all told their personal stories as to why they joined the Church, and they all had quite a bit in common. All had experienced difficulty being accepted for who they were in the circles they travelled in, they could not understand how the human race evolved and how the pyramids were built, and they all seemed to be in states of euphoria. After all, "To be Raelian means... to be". They sang in their native French of hope and of a world in which everyone is different and perfect in their uniqueness. Of a world in which everyone is comfortable with their sexuality and loved for who they are. Of a world of Raelians, proud and able to make a difference, thanks to the message described in Rael's $13 book The Message Given To Me By Extra-Terrestrials.

Just as thousands of years ago the ancient civilizations created gods to explain what they could not understand, so today the Raelians credit the Elohim with the unexplainable. They are harmless folk (thankfully, or I'd be in trouble), whose only "weapons" are literature and the UFOLand theme park they plan to build in Montreal. Ultimately, it is a religion, a utopian escape for social misfits, a society in which everything is fine. Now, that is all well and good, I can respect that, but even Never-Never Land had its pirates.


If you are interested in the Raelian Movement, they can be contacted by snail mail at: Raelian Church, P.O. Box 86, Youville Station, Montreal, Quebec, H2P 2V2, or you can visit the website.