2021/02/22 by Régis Dericquebourg · 3 citations
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices #Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs #Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies
paper · doi:10.1163/9789004435537_024
openalex publication_date 2021/02/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
This chapter presents the career of Rael, describes the spiritual beliefs and the social ideas of the Raelians, provides an overview on the organization, and finally, from a sociological point of view, situates this movement among types of religious organizations. The chapter focuses on Rael’s leadership, demonstrating why Rael not a prophet according to the Weberian perspective. In fact, Rael is typical of founders of UFO movements: he is a writer who relates experiences of contact with extraterrestrials, and thus become a thinking master. In its organizational shape, according to the classification of the various types of cult by Nelson, we may qualify the Raelian Movement as a centralized cult, that is a hierarchical cultic movemement.