The Raeleans are getting a lot of press these days because of their claim to have cloned two humans. I never would have known of their existence otherwise so I suppose I won't quibble about whether their claims are true or false. (I'll leave it to you to guess what my opinion is on that matter.)
What intrigued me in reading about them is their idea that we (humans) were made by aliens from somewhere else. I like that idea. As a matter of fact, I came up with the idea on my own when I was about 17 (almost 40 years ago.) Who can help wondering when reading Genesis? Who did Adam's children marry? What was the tree of life and the tree of knowledge? Who were the people who looked upon the daughters of man and found them fair and took them as wives? What else could making Eve from Adam's rib (or a piece of tissue taken from that area, perhaps) be but cloning?
That brings me back to the idea of religion. If the Raeleans are right, we have been worshiping people, not God, and that would explain a lot of things. It would be proof that religion is man-made and not in any way related to "salvation." It would be proof that all religions are founded on some human's idea of what other humans should do. That is another idea that I've held for a long time.
I won't dispute that some of the basic tenets of most religions are just plain good sense. The Ten Commandments, most of them anyway, are a good guide to living peacefully with one's neighbors. I might strike out the first, and the one about the Sabbath. I think that if your work week starts on Tuesday, your Sabbath is Monday. As long as you rest one day in seven, what difference does it make which day it is on the calendar? If you happen to be one of those very lucky people with work that you love, why "rest" at all? Rest is anything that tends to refresh and renew one, not just lying down doing nothing. |
