Is Richard Dawkins a Raelian?

This is rich: Richard Dawkins—whose official website claims modestly to be “a clear thinking oasis”—made an incredible statement in the new movie Expelled, asserting that it is “an intriguing possibility” that space aliens “seeded” life here on Planet Earth. (I haven’t seen the movie, but did obtain this partial transcript. The emphasis is mine.) Moderator Ben Stein asks Dawkins how life began:

DAWKINS:Nobody knows how it got started. We know the kind of event that it must have been. We know the sort of event that must have happened for the origin of life.
BEN STEIN:And what was that?
DAWKINS:It was the origin of the first self-replicating molecule.
BEN STEIN:Right, and how did that happen?
DAWKINS:I told you, we don’t know
…
BEN STEIN:What do you think is the possibility that Intelligent Design might turn out to be the answer to some issues in genetics or in evolution.
DAWKINS:Well, it could come about in the following way. It could be that at some earlier time, somewhere in the universe, a civilization evolved, probably by some kind of Darwinian means, probably to a very high level of technology, and designed a form of life that they seeded onto perhaps this planet. Now, um, now that is a possibility, and an intriguing possibility. And I suppose it’s possible that you might find evidence for that if you look at the details of biochemistry, molecular biology, you might find a signature of some sort of designer

Ho, ho! That is precisely what the Raelians say:

Years ago, everybody knew that the earth was flat. Everybody knew that the sun revolved around the earth. Today, everybody knows that life on earth is either the result of random evolution or the work of a supernatural God. Or is it? In “Message from the Designers”, Rael presents us with a third option: that all life on earth was created by advanced scientists from another world

Richard Dawkins and Rael; “clear thinking” kindred spirits!