Susan J. Palmer

Palmer, a sociologist specializing in NRMs (New Religious Movements, known to some as cults), spent approximately ten years in close contact with the Raelians. She was able to establish a great deal of trust among the leadership (particularly at first), and as a result she has almost unprecedented knowledge of the history and inner workings of the movement. This book is absolutely fascinating. Palmer actually has quite a bit of sympathy for the Raelians, noting that many of the accusations by ex-members are untrue or appear to be the result of the actions of individuals, rather than endemic to the movement as a whole. There were even things I could get on board with, philosophically -- for example, while the Raelians are very much about "free love," the official "doctrine" is that if a Raelian makes repeated unwanted sexual advances on another individual, they are ejected from the movement for seven years.

Palmer does not make any bones about the fact that many of the Raelian beliefs are deeply weird to outsiders, and discusses the odd situation surrounding "Clonaid" and the supposed cloning of human beings at great length. She does this mainly from a sociological and religious perspective, however; what she is interested in is the question of what such a stunt means about the changing focus of the religion, and what Rael and the other leaders hope to achieve by such publicity.

This is a great book, and one that I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in NRMs and the intersection of science and religion.… (meer)