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The following letter was written to a media researcher regarding the
Raelians' exploitation of human cloning
I get the impression that you are focusing on the Raelians.
This is so unfortunate. They are exploiters and rip-offs. It is
sickening
to see a bunch of space-cadet cultists becoming the focus of media attention
in this most important new movement.
I have denounced them, beginning when they had their "surrogate mother
cattle show" in Montreal last August. I had gone to Montreal and meet
the
young, naive, idealistic Raelian women who seemed so eager to volunteer to
be surrogate mothers. I hate to see idealism abused.
I really had to object when they held a press conference in San Francisco
offering to clone children for gay male couples that would combine the genes
of the two males. This was like selling tickets for a trip to the moon in
1960 right after Kennedy's declaration of going their within a decade.
I think their advertising for parents with dying children to contact them to
arrange to have their dying children cloned is morally reprehensible beyond
description. They are being predatory on human beings in a most
unconscionable manner.
I discovered while participating in one of their conferences in Montreal
that they were not "knowledgeable" people who followed the latest
developments in stem cell therapy and other scientific advances.
Their interest in cloning a child is only to provide a platform for their
prophet Rael - a man who is probably best described as "a prisoner of his
own delusions"-and make him "someone" in the history of
humankind. You
should read the NYT Science section article entitled "Sleep
Paralysis". It
gives a good perspective on people who have claimed experiences like Rael
over the past several hundred years. This Japanese researcher believes
that
they enter a hypnotic state halfway between sleep and wakefulness. They
really believe their delusions. Interestingly, their stories are very
similar over the years.
I always refer people to this story to explain the Raelians. It was
published on July 6,1999. It was written by Nicholas D. Kristof. It
was entitled "Alien Abduction? Science Calls It Sleep Paralysis".
With a new reactionary President not only ready to deny Federal money to the
presently proposed "stem cell research" but perhaps willing to
introduce
legislation to outlaw all stem cell research, even by private researchers,
I'd like to think the public discussion could move beyond the antics of a
bunch of circus sideshow freaks. I don't want to be too critical of the
individual members of this group since I truly found them to be a loving and
loveable group of people. They are just like a bunch of authentic
"summer
of love" hippies left over from 1967 except they have the added charm of
not
using drugs.
I do hope to get a chance to talk to you. My issues in the human cloning
movement (after reproductive freedom which is first for everyone involved)
are twinning and religious freedom. The Raelians have one rightful place
in
this movement in that they say to ban cloning would violate their right of
religious freedom. winning and the special relationships between individuals and their later
born twins are one of the things that fascinate me. Likewise, how cloning
changes relationships in our society.
A couple hours ago I got a phone call from a man in California. His mother
was dying of pancreatic cancer and he wanted to know where he might have DNA
stored for possible cloning in the future.
I suggested http://wwww.Alcor.org . but told him it would be at least five to ten years
before cloning was safe, effective and available to all at a reasonable
price.
Funny, I'd just been discussing with Brian Alexander last night the idea of
"raising your mother as your daughter". Would you be a better
parent to her
than she was to you? Would you have special advantages in knowing her
personality traits (musical gifts on the positive side or hypochondria on
the negative) and be able to be a better parent for that reason?
I've gotten many requests from people with dying mothers. Most come from
parents who have lost children. Many come from people who have lost pets.
Oh well, I just wanted to try to get my two cents worth in. It was bad
enough seeing Richard Seed make us all look like fools a couple years ago.
Even now, his name is the one most associated with the cloning movement.
I'll attach a summary of questions I answered for a possible focus on an
internet publication about our activities in the human cloning movement.
Cloningly yours,
Randolfe H. Wicker
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