In The Event That...

Noah and His Ark Were Getting Old

by Andrew Thompson

The Raelian Movement: Legend of Atlantis | Thu., July 17, 7 p.m., free, Germ Books + Gallery, 2005 Frankford Ave., 215-423-5002, germbooks.com

Those little green men aren't aliens; they're gods. And if you run into one, he's more likely to explain string theory than perform a live autopsy. That great flood of yore you've heard so much about? That was scientists blowing up their handiwork. At least that's the creation theory put forth by Marcel Terrusse, a French Raelian bishop guide. Intrigued, or at least confused? Marc Letourneau, leader of the northeast region of the U.S. Raelians, will break it all down at a lecture at Germ Books.

For the uninitiated, the Raelian movement is led by Rael (pictured, whose pre-enlightenment name was Claude Vorilhon). He posits that all earthly life was created by extraterrestrials who have been mistaken for various deities since man first said "God." For centuries, the Raelians say, these beings have made contact with us and bestowed their existential explanations and messages of spiritual harmony. Rael is one of them, and now the top item on the Raelians' agenda is to build a giant embassy to welcome our intelligent designers.

They're designers who aren't afraid to start from scratch. "Part of this story [of creation] is what is commonly called the 'flood' in the Bible," says Thomas Kaenzig, Raelian Movement spokesman. "This 'flood' was in reality a bombing of the original supracontinent that existed at the time and that our scientists nowadays call the Pangaea and that some old texts called Atlantis." You'll want to bring a notebook.