Back in 1975, a French dude named Claude Vorilhon claimed he was approached by an alien named Yahweh who told him that the human race had been genetically engineered by advanced extraterrestrials called Elohim, who redubbed Claude as Raël and bade him to prepare humanity for the aliens’ seemingly benevolent arrival. Decades later, the belief system known as the Raëlians boasts between 20,000 and 40,000 followers worldwide, who all share beliefs in free love, the positive influence of technology (including human cloning), and a system of government run by geniuses. Keep watching the skies and have some copies of your DNA handy; it’s about to get intergalactic on a far-out episode 259.

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