Well, I had a long discussion with my friend last night. I presented her with quite a bit of information. I didn't want to overwhelm her, but I did present her with enough information to give her a clear picture of this group.

She dismissed the testimonials as coming from jealous or resentful individuals, and she believes the media made up or exaggerated some of the other stories. We talked about it a lot, and I approached the situation from various angles, but I could not get through to her.

I don't think she is completely convinced that their philosophy is all true (thank God!), but she really wants to keep hanging out with them and explore their teachings further.

What in the world can cause a person to be so irrational? She has never met the leader of the group, so I can't blame it on her being allured by his (supposed) charisma. This is quite disheartening.

Sunny99

Well, we all have free will. I was curious and went to their website and watched a couple of videos. I can see how someone might be sucked in. He seems sincere when he talks about his encounter. But the other video that explains how the Elohim created us and all the animals, etc., just doesn't ring true. He says the Elohim had reached a point in their scientific endeavor like the one we are at now, and they came here and began creating all kinds of creatures from bacteria and then to birds and mammals, etc, flowers. We are nowhere near that kind of creation. IMHO, only God can do that. (Of course, he discounts that by saying that we mistook these aliens for gods.)

But that seems to be the foundation of their teaching. I wonder what they say the purpose of our existence is?

Their main goal is to build an "embassy" for the Elohim to come back here and "save" us. They say that Rael is the last prophet, and only those who follow him will be saved when the earth is destroyed by war and pollution. Isn't that a classic strategy: tapping into people's fears? Unfortunately, it works well. It's impossible to communicate with my friend. Even if I point out contradictions and discrepancies in their philosophy she does not see them. Mind-boggling, really. And very frustrating.

I just found out the real reason my friend is so interested in these Raelians. She's dating one of them... He started flirting with her the second time she attended their meetings, and she fell for it.

He is younger than her, so she feels very flattered. I knew from reading articles on them that they used pretty young women to attract men to the group, and now it's confirmed that they also use young men, and target lonely women. Beware.

Oh, gosh, she should certainly beware. But when someone's involved emotionally, it's very hard for them to look at that person objectively. She must be enamored and blocking out her warning signals (that have to be buried in there somewhere with such a weird -- I don't even know what to call it... not a religion as they don't believe in God), and of course, your warnings, too.

I guess the best thing you can do is to stay informed, not say too much for now so she doesn't shut you out completely, but be there with a concerned ear and hope that she trusts you enough to express her doubts when they come up. Then at that time, maybe she'll be more open to listening to some of the things you've found out.

Hard to watch though when it's someone you care about.