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Religious UFO cult to build UFOland in Las Vegas

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Friday June 5, 2009

UFOland to be set up by alien sect

A UFOland is to be built in Las Vegas by a sect which believes humans were created by extra-terrestrials.
Visitors will be able to attend a Happiness Academy and see a full-size replica of a UFO.
UFOland is to be set up by the Raelian Movement who say they want to share their belief with visitors to Las Vegas.
They will also host a museum and a 1000-seat theatre where their spiritual leader, Rael, will give lectures.
[...]
The Raelian Movement was founded in France in 1973 by a former journalist, Claude Vorilhon, who worked for a racing car magazine.
He claims he was contacted by an extra-terrestrial being who emerged from a flying saucer and told him – in fluent French – that humans were created in laboratories by people from another planet.
Since then the Raelians have grown into an international movement.
[...]

- Source / Full Story: UFOland to be set up by alien sect , Metro, UK, June 5, 2009 — Summarized by Religion News Blog

“The museum will display all the evidence we’ve gathered for the past 35 years that shows we were indeed created by scientists — highly advanced human beings from another planet,” said Ricky Roehr, leader of the North American Raelian Movement.
He said he expects the UFOland to become one of the most popular destinations in Las Vegas within the next five years.

- Source / Full Story: The Raelians Target Las Vegas for a UFOland, Las Vegas Now, June 5, 2009 — Summarized by Religion News Blog

The Raelians already had a UFOland in Canada, but the movement put it up for sale in February, 2007.

At the time, observers said the sale it’s a sign of decline for a sect that once piled up publicity with its beliefs in telepathy, aliens and free love.

However, group spokesman Jocelyn Chabot – who describes himself as a Raelian priest — said, “We’ve been in Quebec for 30 years and our membership is saturated. Our future is in the United States.”

Back then Mr. Chabot also said the group wanted to relocate to the southern United States and already holds self-enlightenment retreats in Las Vegas, which happens to be where Rael spends some of his time these days.

In 2002, Clonaid, a company linked to the religious cult, claimed it produced the world’s first cloned baby.