Salvation from the Stars

There is a real man named Claude Vorilhon who claims to have an experience which led him to create a new religion, and no it is not one of those usual visits from divine angels or saints, it is an encounter with some rather different and more modern visitors from the heavens-- a group of extraterrestrials! They took him to their spaceship.... and what they told and showed this man inspired him to create the new religion known as the International Raelien Movement or simply known as the Raelien Religion or just Raelism.

This is one of several other new religious movements (some call them cults) classified as "UFO religions." They have enjoyed some growth and popularity in recent years as have other cults. It seems that very slowly but steadily, the mainstream religions are losing their popularity and influence. It was thought some time ago, that this would just be a fad and that it would pass away eventually. However, this "fad" has been going on for quite some time and there is no use trying to suppress it. Our new age of science and technology and popular culture with UFOs and Aliens must really have an effect on this. There's a great deal of people who are against these groups; they ridicule them or fear them because of several reasons, especially because of how the media portrays them. Most of it is inaccurate for these new religions are just religions that happen to be different. Many people say that the leaders are just people who want attention. I for one say well of course they want attention! Most of these people think they have some good ideas and they want to share them with others. I see no difference between them and Jesus or Bhuddha, or Mohammod. All we need is to check on them a little, make sure they don't infringe on other people's rights or harm society, just as we would do to any other religion.

Most of these cults have shown no signs of sinister activity. But there are always exceptions, and it is these few incidents which are responsible for much of our suspision and fear. One of the most notable of these occurences is the a horrible incident of the Heaven's Gate cult. In 1997, the 38 followers of Heaven's Gate plus the leader were found dead in a manson. Was it a massacre? No, it was mass suicide done willingly. It also coincided with the appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp. The people of Heaven's Gate believed that a spaceship disguised as the comet would visit Earth and take their souls to The Heavenly Kingdom and they would become crewmwmbers abourd the UFO, hence the mass suicide(which WAS advertised online prior to the event). Here is one of the very few example of what is classified as a "destructive cult." Although according to videos and notes, these followers died willingly, I have to agree that it has gone too far and gives a bad message to society. If only we just watched them a little bit more, we could've stopped this event.

But there are many other cults which have been known to do many good things like help charity. Many UFO cults support scientific research and advancement of technology. The Raelien have this thing called Project Clonaid, in which they want to encourage human cloning, which has also given them controversial status.

There are many reasons why people join these movements. Many of them are young people with fresh minds. This new time and age with all its technology and gizmos, and discovery and advancement of science gives people new ideas and things to do. Many things that were once just science fiction have become science fact, science possibility and or science opportunity, but wondering about the universe and the world around us and the need for spirituality hasn't left us since the dawn of intelligence. Everyone needs some piece of mind and something to look forward to in their lives. All these things and more could be the explanation of the reason for the rise of these new movements. The popularity and need for Religion hasn't gone away from many people, they just modernized, thats all. Young people also want a sense of belonging and many join the cults for the same reason they join gangs (certainly a better choice) It could be a spiritual reason or just a way to deal with our hectic lives.

What's you reason to believe what you do?

Some notable UFO religions:
Raelien Movement
Heaven's Gate (very controversial)
Scientology (very famous)
Atherius Society
Nation of Islam (in a way)
Universe People