(no subject)
I discovered Derren Brown the other day. He's a mentalist and skeptic in the UK. I've seen some of his stuff before, but didn't really know who he was. I've been watching his stuff and reading up on him.
He recently came out with a special called 'Miracles for Sale', where he takes an ordinary man and turns him into a [fake] faith healer, putting him in Texas, which is in the bible belt. This wasn't the first "documentary" I've seen on faith healing. The first documentary I saw was 'A Question of Miracles', where faith healer Benny Hinn and kenneth Copeland are investigated. They actually followed 5 "healings" that were chosen by Benny Hinn's ministry, and it turns out only 4 people got better. One immigrant family had a son who had cancer, which Benny attempted to heal. The family gave their life savings to Benny to later have their son die and be told by Benny that there was a curse on the family. Not only do they have emotional hardship from their dying son, but now they believe they have a curse and they have a financial burden. Makes me a bit angry.
Between the two documentaries, a lot of tricks are exposed that were somewhat shocking. Healers will pretend to know your name from the visitor cards you fill out- sometimes even using earpeices, use adrenaline as a pain killer, exaggerate your disabilities up on stage, not let you on camera unless you think you are already healed, push servery disabled people to the back, pretend to make legs grow, and even put people who have trouble walking but can nevertheless walk, into wheelchairs only to have them get up from them.
Researching faith healing, Derren Brown, and James Randi (a skeptic who debunks spiritual claims) has opened my eyes up a lot. I actually ordered one of Derren's books "Tricks of the Mind", which I am looking forward to.
He recently came out with a special called 'Miracles for Sale', where he takes an ordinary man and turns him into a [fake] faith healer, putting him in Texas, which is in the bible belt. This wasn't the first "documentary" I've seen on faith healing. The first documentary I saw was 'A Question of Miracles', where faith healer Benny Hinn and kenneth Copeland are investigated. They actually followed 5 "healings" that were chosen by Benny Hinn's ministry, and it turns out only 4 people got better. One immigrant family had a son who had cancer, which Benny attempted to heal. The family gave their life savings to Benny to later have their son die and be told by Benny that there was a curse on the family. Not only do they have emotional hardship from their dying son, but now they believe they have a curse and they have a financial burden. Makes me a bit angry.
Between the two documentaries, a lot of tricks are exposed that were somewhat shocking. Healers will pretend to know your name from the visitor cards you fill out- sometimes even using earpeices, use adrenaline as a pain killer, exaggerate your disabilities up on stage, not let you on camera unless you think you are already healed, push servery disabled people to the back, pretend to make legs grow, and even put people who have trouble walking but can nevertheless walk, into wheelchairs only to have them get up from them.
Researching faith healing, Derren Brown, and James Randi (a skeptic who debunks spiritual claims) has opened my eyes up a lot. I actually ordered one of Derren's books "Tricks of the Mind", which I am looking forward to.