Do Raelians consider Raelianism as a religion?
In the etymological sense, yes we do. It is clear that the word ‘religion’ has been used, misused, and abused so much throughout the Ages that it is no wonder many people nowadays shy away from anything that is labeled ‘religion’ and would not touch it with a 10-foot pole. At the same time, many people have the wrong idea of what ‘religion’ really means and view it as a belief in a deity of some kind. The word ‘religion’ comes from the Latin word ‘religare’ which means ‘to create a link,’ whether it be a link between people, or between the Creators of humanity and their creation, or between humans and the stars, or between the Earth and the Sky, etc… it really does not matter because the most important is to ‘create this link.’ Moreover, like Buddhism, Raelianism is an atheist religion which is to say Raelians’ do not believe in a ‘god’ because gods do not exist. One only needs to go back to the original Hebrew Bible to realize that it is written ‘Elohim’ (and not ‘God’) which is plura
