The International Raëlian Movement claims tens of thousands of members, the majority in Francophone areas of Western Europe and North America and parts of East Asia. Criticism of the philosophy has come from journalists, ex-Raëlians, and anti-cultists, while it has also been studied by scholars of religion. Definition and classification Raëlism is a religion that scholars of religion classify as a new religious movement. It has also been described as a UFO religion, a UFO movement, and an ETI (extra-terrestrial intelligence) religion. The organization promoting Raëlianism is the International Raëlian Movement (IRM), or the Raëlian Church. In France, where the religion originated, the government's Parliamentary Commission on Cults labels it a "secte", a French term with negative connotations similar to the English word "cult". In 1997, a parliamentary inquiry commission issued a report through the Belgian Chamber of Representatives that also categorized the Belgian Raelian Movement (Mouvement Raëlien Belge) as a secte. Raëlism is possibly the largest UFO religion in existence, and in the mid-2000s, the scholar of religion Andreas Grünschloß called it "one of the most consolidated UFO groups internationally active today." In its beliefs, Raëlism differs from many other UFO-based philosophies, with the scholar of religion James R. Lewis terming it "the most thoroughly secular of all the UFO religions." Most other UFO religions, such as the Aetherius Society, Ashtar Command, and Heaven's Gate, use many of the beliefs of the late-19th-century religion theosophy; Raëlism does not. Raëlists have also been characterised as having a "belief in ufology", but Raëlians often stress that they do not regard themselves as ufologists. Raëlism is materialistic and rejects the existence of the supernatural, endorsing atheism and rejecting the idea that gods exist. The religion's founder, Raël, characterises traditional religion as irrational and unscientific, presenting his alternative as a philosophy free from "obscurantism and mysticism". Raëlians call their belief system a "scientific religion", with the International Raëlian Movement using the motto "Science is our religion; religion is our science." The religion emphasizes the use of science to solve the world's problems, and practitioners regard Raël as a pioneer of science who will one day be regarded as a peer of Galileo and Copernicus. Many of its members call it an "atheistic religion" and compare it to Buddhism, which similarly does not promote belief in gods. Along with science, the other main basis of Raël's ideas is the Bible. Noting the "central role"