About a month ago, Kanye West, the rapper turned whatever-he-is-now was kicked off Twitter after he posted a swastika inside a Star of David. The aptly named “Kanye West symbol” fiasco is actually not exactly what it seems. Turns out the image is actually from a UFO religion that started in the 70s: Raëlism.
So who are they? Well, it’s religion based on the belief that extraterrestrials called “Elohim” created humans. The Elohim are androgynous — it’s impossible to tell the difference between male and female. They found a way to get rid of racism, and only have one race instead of the nine they used to have.
The Elohim have also figured out how to eliminate greed, poverty, war, and other seemingly-unsolvable human problems. Over the course of human existence, they’ve sent prophets to Earth who were half human and half Elohim, including Jesus and Buddha.
The founder of the Raelians, Rael, is the “Last Prophet.” Rael was formerly known as Claude Vorilhon, a pop star from the ’60s and a race-car driver. In 1973, as the legend goes, the Elohim contacted Vorilhon and told him to ready humanity for contact.
Weirdly, only Rael has met the Elohim. The Elohim want humans to evolve to a point where they can use technology and science for peace, and they believe we’re living in an “Age of Apocalypse” following the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945.
The Raelians built an “embassy” for the Elohim to land their spaceship, so they have a place to live when they return. Oh, and Rael is Maitreya now. There’s also some idea that the technology needed to save humanity can only be created with the “enhanced intelligence” that happens right after sex. These are, put simply, the Raelians’ beliefs.
Here’s where Kanye comes in. The symbol, according to a Raelian named Houari, has “nothing to do with Jews and Nazis.” The symbol represents infinity, according to the cult. Whether Kanye thought it was another Nazi thing is unknown, but technically he didn’t break Twitter’s rules.
The group has tried in the past to get people to reinterpret the symbol, and at one point spent $2,000 to fly a banner that said as much, according to the New York Post, who called the Raelians a “dim-witted religious group.”
The Raelians believe the swastika is a symbol of peace. Whether Kanye agrees or even knew what he was posting remains to be seen.
