Topless women are hardly uncommon on South Beach, where scantily clad babes often sun bathe or swim while wearing the bare minimum. But change the scenery to Lincoln Road, add men wearing red bra tops and other members of a religious cult that plans on displaying the swastika just a few blocks from Miami Beach's Holocaust Memorial. The potentially bizarre and inflammatory protest scheduled for Sunday on Lincoln Road -- touted as a protest of sexist laws prohibiting women going topless -- is backed by the Raelians, the cult that made headlines nearly a decade ago by claiming they'd cloned a baby. The group, which runs GoTopless.org, is holding several protests around the country Sunday, including the 4 p.m. gathering on Lincoln Road. ``If men can go topless why can't women,'' said Donna Newman, a Raelian from North Miami Beach who is organizing the Miami Beach event. . But regardless of the topic, the march of women wearing pasties could skirt the edges of Miami Beach's public nudity laws and offend many given the group's symbol: a swastika inside the Star of David. Raelians say they believe the human species began when aliens cloned themselves, and that their symbol represents ``infinity in time and space.'' Newman said it will be displayed during the protest. But it's more likely that the symbol will evoke not extraterrestrials, but the atrocities of the Holocaust. Andrew Rosenkranz, Florida regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, called the group's use of the swastika ``profoundly insensitive and deeply troubling'' in part because it will be displayed just a few blocks from the Holocaust Memorial. ``Whatever their motivation is for using this particular symbology is going to be unknown to anybody passing by on the street and seeing it,'' he said. ``And obviously they don't care too much for the sensitivities of others by insisting to use it, particularly in a place like Miami Beach.'' The group's use of the swastika has sparked outrage on Miami Beach in the past. In 1992 a Raelian seminar at the Eden Roc drew protesters outside. Newman said she and others were asked by police to leave Lincoln Road in June while body painting a nude woman with their symbol. Miami Beach police did not respond to questions about the protest. A city spokeswoman did not respond to questions about whether the group had a permit. Newman said the protest is a stand on gender equality. ``This is not a bunch of crazy people going out there to take their tops off and have people take pictures,'' she said. Some would argue otherwise. Led by a former race-car driver who says he met an alien in France, Raelians not only use the swastika but have burned crosses as a form of worship. But they are best known for announcing the cloning of a baby around Christmas 2002 at a Holiday Inn in Hollywood, prompting a court hearing in Broward County over the supposedly cloned child's welfare. (The group was never able to produce the child, and claimed it had been moved to Israel.) James Randi, whose Fort Lauderdale-based foundation is devoted to debunking paranormal and supernatural claims, called the Raelians ``a total nut group'' and said their protest should be regarded as such. Said Randi: ``I think it's going to pretty well be a bust.''
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The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/20/1785181/controversial-cult-plans-topless.html
Controversial cult plans ``topless'' protest on Lincoln Road
BY DAVID SMILEY
DSMILEY@MIAMIHERALD.COM
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WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic, anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or religion, or any other stupid article, it does not mean that I support them. It just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be absolute. That does not mean again of course that I agree with anti-Jews, antisemites, racists of any kind or anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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