New religious movements and science: Rael's progressive patronizing parasitism
(2015) In Zygon 50(1). p.64-83- Abstract
- The article examines the concoction of religion and science contained in the revelation that substantiates a new religion: Raelianism, founded and led by the prophet Claude Vorilhon/Rael after having received a revelation in 1974. After a detailed examination both of Rael's prophetic message and his/the Raelians' interpretative practices, an ad hoc model is presented to describe such concoction (progressive patronizing parasitism), and it is compared to other models. It is in particular claimed that Rael, while seemingly talking about science, is actually constructing a science-fictional and even pseudoscientific narrative. The article finally raises the question whether the discussion of the science-religion interaction from the viewpoint... (More)
- The article examines the concoction of religion and science contained in the revelation that substantiates a new religion: Raelianism, founded and led by the prophet Claude Vorilhon/Rael after having received a revelation in 1974. After a detailed examination both of Rael's prophetic message and his/the Raelians' interpretative practices, an ad hoc model is presented to describe such concoction (progressive patronizing parasitism), and it is compared to other models. It is in particular claimed that Rael, while seemingly talking about science, is actually constructing a science-fictional and even pseudoscientific narrative. The article finally raises the question whether the discussion of the science-religion interaction from the viewpoint of traditional religions can be considered to be immune to the usage of such rhetorical devices. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/5300489
- author
- Bigliardi, Stefano LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- new religious movements, pseudoscience, Rael, Raelianism, science, fiction, UFO religions, Claude Vorilhon
- in
- Zygon
- volume
- 50
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 64 - 83
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000349978900005
- scopus:84923062765
- ISSN
- 0591-2385
- DOI
- 10.1111/zygo.12162
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 3fb56c27-0122-4275-a624-664bb851ab43 (old id 5300489)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:30:16
- date last changed
- 2023-10-15 03:56:38
@article{3fb56c27-0122-4275-a624-664bb851ab43,
abstract = {{The article examines the concoction of religion and science contained in the revelation that substantiates a new religion: Raelianism, founded and led by the prophet Claude Vorilhon/Rael after having received a revelation in 1974. After a detailed examination both of Rael's prophetic message and his/the Raelians' interpretative practices, an ad hoc model is presented to describe such concoction (progressive patronizing parasitism), and it is compared to other models. It is in particular claimed that Rael, while seemingly talking about science, is actually constructing a science-fictional and even pseudoscientific narrative. The article finally raises the question whether the discussion of the science-religion interaction from the viewpoint of traditional religions can be considered to be immune to the usage of such rhetorical devices.}},
author = {{Bigliardi, Stefano}},
issn = {{0591-2385}},
keywords = {{new religious movements; pseudoscience; Rael; Raelianism; science; fiction; UFO religions; Claude Vorilhon}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{64--83}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Zygon}},
title = {{New religious movements and science: Rael's progressive patronizing parasitism}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12162}},
doi = {{10.1111/zygo.12162}},
volume = {{50}},
year = {{2015}},
}