The International Raelian Movement's (IRM) ET Embassy website claims there are "more than 100,000 members around the world" in a FAQ explaining what IRM is:
Semantically, there's a difference between Raelian Structure members and "simple Raelians". While the latter are not required to join IRM, the former are individuals who have joined IRM. There are also national movements, the members of which are free to join IRM or not. However, according to the FAQ above, IRM claims to have more than 100,000 Structure members (as opposed to including "simple Raelians").
We can also differentiate Raelians by the amount of money they donate. According to Rael's book, all Raelians are commanded to pay 1% of their annual incomes to the Raelian Foundation, the sole beneficiary of which is Rael (Intelligent Design, p. 358). National movement members are obligated to pay 3% of their annual incomes, while IRM members are required to pay an additional 7%. All IRM members are also members of their respective national chapters and therefore pay 11% in total.
Structure members are given "levels" ranging from 0 to 6 (Level 0 are initiates, while Level 6 is Rael) and are obligated not to deviate from any directive Rael gives them. Rael says "simple Raelians" are free to express themselves in any way they wish, but not Structure members. Rael's Face Book "friends" are apparently all Structure members.
However, leaked internal documents present a very different picture. A Level 5 Raelian Bishop Guide, Leon Mellul, sent out an email dated October 1, 2017, reporting the latest stats in IRM's database (as of September, 2017).
All Raelians, whether Structure members or not, need to get baptized in order to be recognized as followers of Rael. Such a ritual is called "Transmission of the Cellular Plan" (TCP). The records below show that there has been only 21,168 TCPs since 1973 when Rael created his cult.
This means there can't be more than 100,000 Raelians worldwide, let alone Structure members. IRM has consistently been inflating membership numbers to the public.
Below is a breakdown of different categories of Raelians:
"Prospects" aren't Raelians; they are anyone who have signed their names when attending Raelian conferences and/or gatherings, downloaded Raelian e-books, etc. but didn't get their TCPs done. This figure is closest to the inflated "official" stats and could be the basis for IRM's deception.
The next two categories, "Raelians (non-structure)" and "Members", aren't very well defined. It could be the former are people who got baptized, but didn't join local national movements.
We can see that there were only 2,665 Structure members worldwide, contrary to what Rael claims how many Face Book "friends" he has. It's interesting to note that almost an equal number of people quit the Structures over time. That's a far cry from the official stat of "more than 100,000 members."
If we ignore the "prospects" and add up the next three categories, we get a total of only 18,111 Raelians worldwide as of September, 2017. If we count the rest, i.e. people who have been "suspended", "excluded", or quit, we get a total of 5,300 people who were once Raelians.
Advocatus Diaboli
Semantically, there's a difference between Raelian Structure members and "simple Raelians". While the latter are not required to join IRM, the former are individuals who have joined IRM. There are also national movements, the members of which are free to join IRM or not. However, according to the FAQ above, IRM claims to have more than 100,000 Structure members (as opposed to including "simple Raelians").
We can also differentiate Raelians by the amount of money they donate. According to Rael's book, all Raelians are commanded to pay 1% of their annual incomes to the Raelian Foundation, the sole beneficiary of which is Rael (Intelligent Design, p. 358). National movement members are obligated to pay 3% of their annual incomes, while IRM members are required to pay an additional 7%. All IRM members are also members of their respective national chapters and therefore pay 11% in total.
Structure members are given "levels" ranging from 0 to 6 (Level 0 are initiates, while Level 6 is Rael) and are obligated not to deviate from any directive Rael gives them. Rael says "simple Raelians" are free to express themselves in any way they wish, but not Structure members. Rael's Face Book "friends" are apparently all Structure members.
However, leaked internal documents present a very different picture. A Level 5 Raelian Bishop Guide, Leon Mellul, sent out an email dated October 1, 2017, reporting the latest stats in IRM's database (as of September, 2017).
All Raelians, whether Structure members or not, need to get baptized in order to be recognized as followers of Rael. Such a ritual is called "Transmission of the Cellular Plan" (TCP). The records below show that there has been only 21,168 TCPs since 1973 when Rael created his cult.
This means there can't be more than 100,000 Raelians worldwide, let alone Structure members. IRM has consistently been inflating membership numbers to the public.
Below is a breakdown of different categories of Raelians:
"Prospects" aren't Raelians; they are anyone who have signed their names when attending Raelian conferences and/or gatherings, downloaded Raelian e-books, etc. but didn't get their TCPs done. This figure is closest to the inflated "official" stats and could be the basis for IRM's deception.
The next two categories, "Raelians (non-structure)" and "Members", aren't very well defined. It could be the former are people who got baptized, but didn't join local national movements.
We can see that there were only 2,665 Structure members worldwide, contrary to what Rael claims how many Face Book "friends" he has. It's interesting to note that almost an equal number of people quit the Structures over time. That's a far cry from the official stat of "more than 100,000 members."
If we ignore the "prospects" and add up the next three categories, we get a total of only 18,111 Raelians worldwide as of September, 2017. If we count the rest, i.e. people who have been "suspended", "excluded", or quit, we get a total of 5,300 people who were once Raelians.
Advocatus Diaboli
Very good analysis...
ReplyDeleteBravo pour cette analyse.
ReplyDelete