In just the same way, it would be hard for someone to deny the existence of magic if he sees a magician floating (see David Blaine) 2 feet in the air in the middle of the street. Most people will say: “That’s impossible. It cannot be done! It must be magic!”
But these magicians do not claim to be using magic. They know full well that what they are doing is mere illusion. And I think the same can be said of other “supernatural” events. The difference is that people claim that other “supernatural” events are the work of God/Allah/Chi/Positive Energy/Prayer/Magic.
What I’d like to know is, why haven’t any publications or studies been done on the effects of faith healing? Faith Healing is always hearsay or something “spontaneous” which happens at a planned gathering of 100% believers. It is never analyzed. And in the rare case that it is analyzed, they find nothing.
Here, I’d like to repeat the story of the Shaman. In Africa, many people believe in Witch Doctors and Voodoo and Magic. This is a true story:
A doctor I know was working in such parts of Africa. Let’s call him Gary. A man came to Gary and told Gary that he (the other man) was cursed by a shaman. Gary obviously does not believe in Voodoo, so he chased the man away. The next day, the man died of unknown causes. Gary learnt his lesson. A few weeks later, another “cursed” man came to him. Gary drew some of the man’s blood and threw colorants into the blood when the man wasn’t looking. The blood turned black and Gary said:
“This is the evil spirit. I have drawn it out of you. Go home and burn this vial.”
The man did not die of the curse.
Believer’s Translation:
A shaman cursed a man and put an evil spirit into the man’s body. The doctor used modern medicine to draw the evil spirit out of the man. The man who got the spirit removed, survived, and the one who didn’t died. THAT IS YOUR PROOF!
Real Translation:
A shaman told a man that he was going to die and the man believed the shaman. This created a placebo effect (see placebo). A placebo effect can be summed up by these words: It is the subject that has the subject-centred response. It is not the administered substance that generates the observed effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo - read this for a slightly more in-depth explanation.
The human brain is very powerful. It is NOT supernatural, however. It is simply an organ which controls the rest of the body. If the brain thinks that the heart will stop beating if a shaman curses him, then the chances are the heart will stop beating. The brain does control the heart, after all. It does not, unfortunately work the other way around. If, for example, you think that you can regrow organs, then the chances are you will never regrow them, no matter how hard you believe. The brain is only so powerful.
This is a very good website:
http://www.whydoesgodhateamputees.com/
Read it. It explains the whole “faith healing” thing very clearly. As well as everything else about religion that is stupid.
“Don’t you think your website is a bit blasphemous?”
And my answer is:
Of course. The whole point of this website is to be blasphemous. Read this comic:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20060222/cartoon20060222.gif
It sums up the situation very effectively. Think about it this way. I’ll assume you are a Christian. How would you feel about saying: “Zeus does not exist”? What about Ra? Odin? Allah, Hare Krishna, Shiva, Jupiter, Apollo, Ganesh? All these are Gods. There are people who believe in some of these Gods. But if you say “Ganesh, an elephant with 8 arms, does not exist,” then you are committing blasphemy in the eyes of 500 million Hindi.
I feel the same way about your god as you do about all the other gods.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Blaine
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