MONTREAL, July 9, 2014 - Recently, owners of the largest billboards in Canada refused the Raelians' business, which would promote their Swastika rehabilitation campaign. Their reason: "While I can appreciate your group has a unique perspective on the Swastika, it is not until you go to your website that one gains your perspective. For many people this ad will be seen to be offensive and inflammatory. For that reason we will not post it."

Marc Rivard, spokesperson for this campaign explained "This is a catch 22. How can the world be re-educated about this if no one (like this billboard company) accepts to show people the truth about the swastika?! This proves that much work still needs to be done to rehabilitate this ancient religious symbol. The goal of this campaign is to return the true meaning of peace and harmony to this ancient symbol, which was regretfully hijacked by the Nazis. If we need to ban any symbol that was used to lead people into violence then we would need to ban the crucifix as well. The crusades as well as the KKK (and others) used the crucifix to promote violence and yet no one is asking for the banning of the cross."

Raelians are continuing with what they call their annual "Swastika Rehabilitation Campaign" through other means including marches and demonstrations. While it's not surprising they are meeting with resistance, they say this resistance simply proves the need to educate the world as to what the true meaning of the swastika is.

Rivard went on, "We have a deep compassion for those who suffered the atrocities of Nazism, which is unfortunately associated with the Swastika and we understand that this symbol can be offensive to them. But what about the churches showing the cross - a symbol representing nothing other than what was used to torture Jesus and thousands of other people in those barbaric times? What about the billboards used by the Canadian Forces to promote war and institutionalized violence? Wouldn't this be offensive to a portion of the population? Indeed! Yet they are advertised because it is politically correct to do so. Clearly, there's a double standard."

Raelians have often been questioned about their symbol, in which a swastika intertwines with two overlapping triangles that form a six-pointed star (the star of David). Rivard explained "While sometimes people are disturbed to see a swastika intertwined with a Star of David, when they're told it was used for millennia and is still used today by many peaceful religious groups, especially in Asia, they look at our symbol in a very different way."

Over 1 billion people use the swastika in its original context of peace and harmony - mostly in Asia.

"No one should be surprised to see the swastika as a revered symbol in so many religious groups", Rivard continued. "Because it's part of the symbol given to us by the Elohim, the human scientists from another planet who created us – those who founded all religions. They gave the Raelian symbol to RAEL when they met with him in 1973 (see www.rael.org), just as they gave it to all the prophets of the past. That's why we can find traces of this symbol on every continent and in every culture, not only in Asia with the Buddhists and Hindus, but in America with the Native Americans and Aztecs; in Europe with the Celts and the Greeks; and even in Israel, where you can see it in some of the temples! The Elohim, these scientists coming from another planet who created all life on Earth thousands of years ago, explained to RAEL that this symbol represents infinity in time, a very important concept that is essential to the Raelian philosophy.''

Rivard concluded by pointing out, "Many similar things have been forgotten throughout history. Eventually the stigma associated with the swastika will pass as well and we are here to facilitate an accurate public understanding of the swastika. If people simply visit the proswastika site, they will be amazed at how inaccurate their perceptions of the swastika actually are.''

World Swastika Rehabilitation week will be celebrated from July 5 to 12 with marches and informative events in Canada as well as worldwide.