Raëlian Movement modern continuation

Claude Vorilhon (1946–2024), a former French sports journalist and racing driver, founded the Raëlian Movement in 1974 after claiming to have been contacted by an extraterrestrial named 'Yahweh' on the Puy de Lassolas volcano in December 1973. The movement teaches that all life on Earth was scientifically engineered by an extraterrestrial species called the Elohim, that all Hebrew Bible 'gods' were actually the Elohim, and that humanity's mission is to build an embassy in Jerusalem to receive their return. Susan J. Palmer's 'Aliens Adored: Raël's UFO Religion' (Rutgers, 2004) is the standard ethnographic study. The movement attracted global press attention via its biotech subsidiary Clonaid, which in December 2002 claimed to have produced the first cloned human ('Eve') — a claim never substantiated by independent testing. Membership claims of 100,000 are not independently verified; sociologists place actual active membership in the low five figures. After Vorilhon's January 2024 death, succession was activated through the senior 'Council of the Wise' of Raëlian Bishops; this entry tracks the post-Vorilhon transition period for any succession-related control intensification.