Wired has an article about a documentary video which two guys supposedly made undercover which “exposes” the Raelian religious group (some might prefer the word “cult”). The article is a little misleading though. It starts out with talk of wild Raelian sex parties:

Now, rare video footage of the group taken at one of its Las Vegas seminars has been spun into an as-yet-unreleased documentary that brings a fresh, critical slant to the Raelians — replete with allegations that the sect uses sex as a recruitment tool, targeting people most likely to sympathize with its message that aliens populated the world: “Trekkies and whatnot,” explained Abdullah Hashem, who taped the group in May as part of a broader, personal investigation of the group.

“There are a lot of people (at these seminars) who believe in aliens, and all these beautiful women who will have sex with you even though you’re a dork,” he said. “And that’s why most people were there.”

So Trekkies are getting laid? How bad is that? They need to get laid, and if these people want to “lay” them - for whatever reason - then I say go with it. They’re doing everybody a service, really. It doesn’t even seem like the documentary actually contains any incriminating evidence of these weird outer-space themed sex parties, and the Raelian leaders can explain it all:

The religion also teaches that nudity and sexuality are pure and beautiful, and that if people were more in touch with their feminine sides, there would be less violence in the world.

“We love sensuality,” Ali said. “We’re very proud of what goes on. We have nothing to hide. The footage taken at the seminar is all great as far as I’m concerned.”

I’ll admit to not knowing a lot about the Raelians, but I guess I just don’t have as much sympathy for people trying to “bust” cults as I used to. Check this out:

But the group really caught his attention after he discovered that one of the Raelian commandments is to give 1 percent of your annual income to help Vorilhon deliver his message. Hashem says it was then that he suspected the group was a scam.

One percent? Hey buddy! If you want to catch a real scam in action check out how many percents of your annual income you’re paying to the government! Now there’s a story!

By the end of the article, they admit that there isn’t actually anything illegal at all on the tape, which is rather a letdown:

Although it reveals activities that some people might find hypocritical or distasteful, Hashem cannot point to anything illegal that he caught on tape.

One “gotcha” moment shows the Raelian leader riveted by the erotic gyrations of Raelian dancers. Another shows him instructing seminar attendees not to gamble while visiting Las Vegas because it’s against the teachings of the Elohim — the aliens that populated Earth through cloning, according to Raelian doctrine. Later, Vorilhon is seen betting at a casino.

Hypocrisy itself is not a crime, however.

I used to get really upset about stuff like this, but now I realize it’s all just part of life. If people want to throw away their money to an organization like this, fucking let them! The promise of sex isn’t a life-or-death threat. More than likely, the guys who got roped in via that method would have been just as easily snagged at a strip club. In any event, there’s a good discussion of this whole idea of spiritual teachers and leaders acting like jerks in their spare time over at Anulios (great blog, by the way).