Professor studies sect, stresses differences
It’s vital to study different religions, Leatham says
By Lauren Hanvey
Staff Reporter

When he walked in the doors of UFOland in Quebec, Canada, the headquarters for the Raelian religious sect, Miguel Leatham said he was greeted by a large replica of a bell-shaped space ship with a ladder leading inside.

He said on one side of the room was a huge strand of DNA and on the other side was a portrait of Jesus. The room represents the different aspects of the Raelians’ beliefs, Leatham said, including the value of cloning. Their research organization, which claims to have already cloned three humans, is called Clonaid.

Leatham, an associate professor of anthropology, said he took the trip to Quebec in 1998 with the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion for research purposes.

He said he thinks religion is so important to study because it is a major factor in society as a whole.

Since he specializes in new religions, Leatham said, the Raelians especially interest him. He said he began studying the sect in 1996. Leatham also did field research of another new religion in Mexico from 1988 to 1992. The community he studied was a Catholic offshoot called Nueva Jerusalen. Leatham said he is very interested in peoples’ motivations for changing religions.

Leatham now teaches a course in anthropology and religion, which he said has a section dedicated to religious movements where he teaches students about the Raelians.

Leatham was one of the first faculty to be a part of the new anthropology major, said Thomas Guderjan, assistant professor of anthropology. Guderjan said he loves working with Leatham.

“I think his perspective balances some of the naive perspectives we see everywhere, not just here,” he said.

The Raelian religion was started in 1973 by Claude Vorilhon, now called Rael. Rael claims to have had an encounter with extraterrestrial beings who told him he was their prophet. Rael thinks he was cloned by them, Leatham said. Rael teaches that these beings cloned themselves 25,000 years ago and made humans who then procreated on their own, Leatham said. Only the prophets are directly created by the extraterrestrials, he said.

The Raelians claim to have a membership of 44,000 worldwide, Leatham said.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that this is the largest flying saucer sect ever,” he said.

The Raelians believe that in order to have eternal life, humans must clone themselves, Leatham said. The alien fathers, or Elohim, then must transfer the mind and soul to the new body, he said. Rael claims the Elohim, which means, “those who came from above,” told him to spread their message of hope and love, Leatham said. They say we should welcome them to earth and realize who and what they are, our creators and saviors, he said.

Leatham said he found a correlation between the Raelian religion and Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism.

New religions are almost always established because old religions are not meeting the need for meaning in a certain group, Leatham said. Rael has taken traditional materials, for example, the Judeo-Christian scriptures, and reformulated them in a way that addresses the desire for meaning in a different way, he said.

By studying new religious movements, “we can learn something about the state of society,” Leatham said.

Lauren Hanvey
l.e.hanvey@tcu.edu

credits

TCU Daily Skiff © 2003