Posted: Mar 18, 2016 9:31 am
laklak wrote:Pangaea split up and caused Teh Flud? They have a slight problem with tectonic time scales, don't they?
Apparently so. They seem to agree with various YEC's, like Walt Brown with his hydroplate theory.
Strange and Curious Sects: Raelism by Adam Lee
As humanity’s understanding of the universe evolves, our religious beliefs change along with it, and the result is that every new religion bears the stamp of the time and place in which it first arose. Mormonism is an example – Joseph Smith used “seer stones” to translate the Book of Mormon, and claimed that the Native Americans were descendants of ancient Hebrew tribes, at a time in American history when both those ideas were in vogue.
Referencing The Argument from Locality, also by Adam Lee.
Back to his discussion of Raelism.
Interestingly, Raelism officially describes itself as an atheist religion, in the sense that it does not demand belief in supernatural beings. That said, in every other respect, it exactly resembles traditional religion, right down to miracles (done with advanced alien technology – for instance, Raelians believe that a “repulsion beam” parted the sea so that the Israelites could cross it), prayer (which is explained to put one in telepathic communication with the Elohim), and life after death (Rael claims the Elohim can recreate an entire person, including personality and memory, from a single cell of their body, and that they have already done so for several thousand people who were taken to their home planet – they also plan to recreate the wicked, so that they can be punished as they deserve). And just like all other religions, Raelism’s gods are systematically immune to disproof: they refuse to reveal themselves to humanity until we obey Rael’s wishes to build an “embassy” for them.
Biblical UFOlogy is older than Raelism, however. Robert Dione (God Drives a Flying Saucer, 1969), Erich von Däniken (Chariots of the Gods ,1968), Morris Jessup (UFOs and the Bible, 1956), George Adamski (Inside the Spaceships, 1955, Flying Saucers Farewell / Behind the Flying Saucer Mystery, 1961), George van Tassel (various, 1950's). Curiously, Desmond Leslie's and George Adamski's Flying Saucers Have Landed (1953) contains hardly any mention of the Bible, though it has lots of stuff on (Asian) Indian "vimanas" as flying saucers.
The Raelians are also enthusiastic about intelligent design, for obvious reasons, and denounce evolution as “a myth”.
They are creationists, with ET's instead of some deity doing the creating.