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Published 2007 by Prometheus Books

The New Enq/clopedia of Unbelief. Copyright ® 2007 by Tom Flynn. All rights reserved. No part of this pub­ lication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, dig­ ital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a Web site without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Inquiries should be addressed to Prometheus Books 59 John Glenn Drive Amherst, New York 14228-2119 VOICE; 716-691-0133, ext. 210 FAX; 716-691-0137 WWW.PROMETHEUSBOOKS.COM 11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1

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The new encyclopedia of unbelief / ed[ited] by Tom Flynn, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-59102-391-3 (hardcover ; alk. paper) 1. Rationalism—Encyclopedias. 2. Free thought—Encyclopedias. 3. Atheism—Encyclopedias. 4. Agnosticism—Encyclopedias. 1. Flynn, Tom, 1955-.

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Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper This material may be protected by copyright law (Title17, U.S. Code) MIRACLES, Unbelief in 541

Greek gods had their special diet, namely, ambrosia. It is MIRACULOUS PHENOMENA. The Anglican writer noteworthy that the Gospel of Luke in particular, while C. S. Lewis defined a miracle succinctly as “an interfer­ emphasizing Jesus’s flesh and bones, says nothing about ence with Nature by supernatural power.” Supposed mir­ retrieving his blood, which was presumably spilled earlier. acles have been reported since the most ancient times, Luke’s flesh-and-bones Jesus can suddenly disappear and ironically—even in our own relatively enlightened from the Emmaus apostles’ sight after breaking bread at culture—^they continue to be touted, especially among their table and handing it to them (24:30-31). A similar Catholics and evangelical Protestants. disappearance might be affirmed in Luke 4:30, but the Many claims involve supposedly miraculous relics— passage can be interpreted differently. objects associated with a saint or martyr. So prevalent The Gospel of John tells the story of Mary of Mag- had relic veneration become in Saint Augustine’s time dala, who, upon evenmally recognizing the resurrected (about 400 CE) that he deplored “hypocrites in the garb Jesus, apparently grabs his feet or is about to. “Do not of monks” for hawking the bones of martyrs, adding hold on to me,” Jesus says, “for I have not yet returned with due skepticism, “if indeed of martyrs.” His contem­ to the Father” (20:16-17). After that, Jesus makes a porary Vigilantius of Toulouse condemned the venera­ quick trip to the Heavenly Father and then returns to per­ tion of relics as being nothing more than a form of idol­ form the miraculous sign of appearing to the disciples, atry, but Saint Jerome defended the practice on the basis who are behind locked doors (20:19, 30). that God works miracles through them. Prayers and Sacrifices. Some theists and polytheists Among the “miraculous” relics of Catholicism is the have believed their prayers carried something akin to lob­ much publicized “blood” of San Gennaro—Saint Janu- bying influence that increased the controlling power’s arius-—in Naples. Januarius was supposedly martyred propensity to bestow miraculous interventions. Plato during the persecution of Christians by Diocletian, regarded this aspect of prayer as a lack of real piety. Iron­ although the church has never been able to verify his ically, some culmres have ritualized or instituted sacrifices existence as an actual historical person. In any case, and prayers on a regular basis in the hope of securing the since the fourteenth century what is represented as the order of the universe. Conversely, in times of war, con­ martyred saint’s congealed blood periodically liquefies, flicting prayers for soliciting miraculous advantages for in apparent contravention of nature’s laws. one’s side and disadvantages for the enemy would seem to While outside researchers have never been permitted contribute to chaos rather than cosmos. to conduct definitive tests on the material in the sealed vial, two modem investigative teams have nevertheless BIBLIOGRAPHY proposed solutions to the mystery. One, by three Italian chemists, involves a thixotropic gel (made by mixing Bowne, Borden Parker. Studies in Christianity. Boston: chalk and hydrated iron chloride with a small amount of Houghton Mifflin, 1909. salt water) that liquefies when agitated and resolidifies Frank, Joseph, and David I. Goldstein, eds. Selected Let­ when allowed to stand. The other, proposed by forensic ters of Fyodor Dostoevsky. Translated by Andrew analyst John F. Fischer and Joe Nickell, uses an oil-wax- Mac Andrew. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University pigment mixture that liquefies at even a slight increase in Press, 1989. temperature. Although the actual formula may never be Guthrie, Stewart Elliot. Faces in the Clouds: A New uncovered, it is important to note that the “blood” has Theory of Religion. New York: Oxford University occasionally liquefied on its own, without the usual Press, 1993. prayerful entreaties and under circumstances (such as Pervo, Richard I. Profit with Delight: The Literary Genre repair of its casket) that would seem unlikely for the of the Acts of the Apostles. Philadelphia: Fortress, working of a miracle. Also, since the fourteenth century 1987. there have been several additional saints’ bloods that liq­ Price, Robert M., and Jeffery Jay Lowder. The Empty uefy—all in the Naples area and thus suggestive of some Tomb: Jesus beyond the Grave. Amherst, NY: regional secret. Prometheus Books, 2005. Even more macabre relics exist—among them the Ruthven, Jon. On the Cessation of the Charismata: The allegedly “incormptible” bodies of saints, that is, corpses Protestant Polemic on Postbiblical Miracles. that have “miraculously” failed to succumb to decay. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic, 1993. Acmally, however, in many cases artificial means, such Sissa, Giula, and Marcel Detienne. The Daily Life of the as wax masks, have been employed to conceal their poor Greek Gods. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, condition. Some appear merely to have become mummi­ 2000. fied (fostered by tomb rather than earthen burial), or oth­ Wells, G. A. Religious Postures: Essays in Modem erwise preserved (as by burial in lime-impregnated soil, Christian Apologetics and Religious Problems. which converts the body fat into a hard, soaplike sub­ Chicago: Open Court, 1988. stance that resists putrefaction). It should also be noted that many instances of alleged incorruptibility cannot be Joe Edward Barnhart verified—or, more importantly, are disproved by the 542 MIRACULOUS PHENOMENA facts, the bodies eventually being reduced to bones or demonstrating imperviousness to fire and poisons, requiring extensive restoration in order to be placed on including poisonous snakes. view. Speaking in tongues—known as glossolalia—^is an Another important category of miracle claims ancient practice, mentioned in the New Testament (Acts involves images that are said either to be supernatural in 2:1-4) and recurring in Christian revivals through the origin or to exude some magical power. Among the ages. Modem analysis, however shows that it is actually former are simulacra—images'seen, Rorschach-like, in “linguistic nonsense.” William T. Samarin, professor of random patterns. A classic of the genre is an image of anthropology and linguistics at the University of Jesus discovered in the skillet burns of a tortilla in 1978 Toronto, conducted an exhaustive five-year study of the (as still preserved at the New Mexico home of Maria phenomenon on several continents and concluded: Rubio). This was followed by similar “miraculous” “Glossolalia consists of strings of meaningless syllables images that appeared in such unlikely locations as the made up of sounds taken from those familiar to the foliage of a vine-covered tree (West Virginia, 1982), rust speaker and put together more or less haphazardly. The stains on a forty-foot-high soybean oil tank (Ohio, speaker controls the rhythm, volume, speed and inflec­ 1986), and a forkful of spaghetti illustrated on a bill­ tion of his speech so that the sounds emerge as board (Georgia, 1991). As well, portraits of the Virgin pseudolanguage—in the form of words and sentences.” Mary have been seen in such diverse places as the stains Another charismatic gift of the spirit is prophecy. on the bathroom floor of a Texas auto parts store (1990) Early Christians mined the richly metaphorical ore of the and in the grime on a window in an Italian village Old Testament to “discover” therein supposedly (1987). These appeared not to be anything more than the prophetic passages of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. For result of what one priest termed “a pious imagination.” example, Isaac Asimov points to a passage in Other notorious effigies are the “weeping,” Matthew—one absent from the other gospels—“[w]hich “bleeding,” and otherwise animated icons that surface may well have arisen merely out of Matthew’s penchant from time to time and raise troubling questions even for for interpreting and describing everything in accordance religious believers. For in shifting from the view that a with Old Testament prophecy, ritual, and idiom.” statue is only a representation to the belief that it is truly Among modem prophecies, the most attention-getting animated is to seemingly cross a line from veneration to ones are those that predict the biblical apocalypse or idolatry. Invariably, however, these are either investi­ other doomsday scenarios. For instance, consider the gated and found to be pious frauds or they are withheld prophecy made by the founder of the Church Universal from scrutiny. An example of the former was the statue and Triumphant, Elizabeth Clare Prophet. She predicted of Our Lady of Fatima at a Catholic church in Thornton, that the world would end in a nuclear holocaust, and her California, in 1981. The sculpted virgin not only followers located themselves on a Montana ranch where changed the angle of her eyes and tilt of her chin, they busily built nuclear shelters and stockpiled reported churchgoers, but also wept, and even moved weapons. She frequently postponed the date of about the church at night. A bishop’s investigation, how­ Armaggedon and explained each change as the result of ever, found that the movement of the eyes and chin were fervent church prayers. Countless such cases have apparently only variations in photographic images, while occurred throughout history, not only attesting to the the weeping and perambulations were branded a prob­ failure of prophecy but also bearing witness to the able hoax. credulity of religious zealots. As the Thornton case indicates, allegedly miraculous Taking up serpents is a practice of certain fundamen­ photographs are quite common. A few of these are bla­ talist Christians (who read literally the passage from tant hoaxes, while most are photographic “glitches” of Mark 16:16-18, “they will pick up snakes in their one sort or another. As “Investigative Files” columnist hands”) that is too extreme even for many ardent Pente- for the Skeptical Inquirer magazine, this author received costals. The practice is actually part of a regular church in 1995 some “miracle” photos from the popular TV worship that includes fervent preaching, singing, “wit­ series Unsolved Mysteries. My subsequent investigation nessing,” and speaking in tongues. While poisonous showed that one was a “Golden Door” photo common to snakes are indeed dangerous and must be handled care­ Marian apparition sites and thought by pilgrims to be fully, the knowledge the mral folk bring to the practice proof of the doorway to heaven mentioned in Revelation can be most helpful. For example, unless snakes are hot, 4:1; in fact, the effect was caused by the lens aperture of hungry, or frightened, they move little and are relatively the Polaroid One-Step camera. Another photograph’s nonaggressive. Snakes raised from hatchlings can “angel wings” were caused by light leakage into the film become accustomed to handling. Large snakes grasped pack, and so on. behind the head will be unable to bite, and whenever Some Christian fundamentalists place special they are lifted from the ground they usually will not bite. emphasis on what are called “charismatic gifts of the In the event a participant is bitten, it is attributed to Spirit” which include, notably, speaking in tongues, lack of faith. The devout forgo any medical help for prophesying, and even (among a distinct minority) snakebite, but that does not mean they forgo all treat- MIRACULOUS PHENOMENA 543

ment, which may consist of rest, the use of ice packs, and estimated seventy thousand pilgrims in attendance. Sud­ elevation of the wound to slow the spread of the poison denly, Lucia directed everyone’s gaze upward as the sun and thus lessen the shock to the body. Even so, some appeared from behind clouds, whereupon many experi­ who are bitten do succumb, including, ironically, “the enced what is known in the terminology of Marian original prophet of snake handling,” George Went apparitions as a “sun miracle.” The effects are varyingly Hensley, who died in 1955 of a snakebite sustained described, but many say the sun performed strange gyra­ during a religious service. tions—^none of which actually occurred, as astronomers The same biblical passage that refers to taking up ser­ know. The effects were surely optical ones; for example, pents also promises, “if they drink any deadly thing, it because one cannot focus on an object so bright, the eyes shall not hurt them.” This informs the custom among may dart back and forth, thus creating, by the effect of certain independent “Holy Roller” churches of drinking image and afterimage, the appearance that the sun is strychnine. This often precedes snake handling, which is “dancing,” or the eyes may attempt to focus, retreat, interesting in light of the fact that strychnine has been again attempt, and so on, thereby giving the illusion that advocated to treat certain physiological effects resulting the sun is “pulsating.” Sun miracles are still reported at from snakebite. It would appear that a healthy person modern-day sites such as those which began at Medju- could sip a little dilute strychnine without serious harm gorje, in the former Yugoslavia, in 1981, and in Conyers, and that, in the event of snakebite, its presence could Georgia, in 1990. actually be beneficial. Other reported phenomena include rosaries that “Fire immunity” is sometimes practiced by members reportedly turn to gold. Examinations of many of these of the Free Pentecostal Holiness Church, and it usually show them to have acquired a yellowish tarnish or to takes the form of holding kerosene lamps improvised have their silver plating worn off so that the underlying from bottles to their hands or feet, or even their chests brass showed through. An even more remarkable claim and faces. Credulous writer Scott Rogo was impressed came from Conyers, where statues with heartbeats were by this “type of ‘miracle,’ ” but in fact the fire handlers alleged. Asked to investigate these (and other effects) by invariably place their flesh beside rather than above the an Atlanta television station, I found that there were no flames, keep their hands moving when they pass through heartbeats detectable by stethoscope. Apparently people the fire, and otherwise apply well-known principles of reaching up to experience the pulsations were feeling the physics—just like firewalkers and fire eaters throughout pulse in their own thumbs. history have done. One of the most significant of the Marian apparitions Among Catholics, an impressive variety of phe­ was that allegedly seen in 1858 by fourteen-year-old nomena are held to be miraculous, including stigmata Bernadette Soubirous (now Saint Bernadette) at a grotto and visionary experiences. Stigmata, the supposedly near Lourdes, a town in the foothills of the Pyrenees. miraculous duplication of Christ’s wounds upon the Although the parish curd branded the affair a hoax, body of a Christian, typically take the form of wounds in Bernadette’s several visions culminated in her being the hands—less commonly the feet, side, and brow (as directed to a hidden spring in the cave that had “healing” from the nail and lance wounds and punctures from the waters. Despite “multitudinous failures” over the inter­ crown of thorns). Some writers believe the explanation vening years (one such failure being Bernadette herself, for stigmata is an autosuggested effect, although experi­ who suffered for many years from tuberculosis of the mental attempts to duplicate the phenomenon, as with bone and died at age thirty-five), a few cases have been hypnosis, have been ultimately unsuccessful. The most certified as miraculous. Independent medical investiga­ likely explanation for most cases is pious hoaxing. tors have found otherwise, however, observing that vir­ Catholicism has a long tradition of visionary experi­ tually all of the diseases that were supposedly cured ences, including that of a Mexican peasant named Juan were those that were susceptible to psychosomatic influ­ Diego. In 1531 he was allegedly visited by the Virgin ences and/or were known to show spontaneous remis­ Mary, who caused her self-portrait to appear miracu­ sions. Emphasizing the uncertain nature of Lourdes’s lously upon his cloak. Miraculists claim that beneath the power, French writer Anatole France visited the site in paint on the obviously traditional portrait is the divine the late nineteenth century and said, surveying all the image. discarded crutches, “What, what, no wooden legs?” Among the Marian apparitions in the twentieth cen­ Uncertainty is characteristic of faith-healing cases in tury, only the visions at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917 were general. Healing occurs naturally in the body and as declared authentic. They were reported by three shep­ many as an estimated 75 percent of patients would get herd children, only one of whom—ten-year-old Lucia de better even if they had no medical treatment. That fact— Jesus dos Santos, a fantasy-prone child who frequently together with spontaneous remissions, illnesses that have claimed to see angels and other apparitions and whose been misdiagnosed or simply misreported, and other fac­ own mother described her as “nothing but a fake who is tors, including psychosomatic illnesses and even out­ leading half the world astray”—talked with the Virgin. right fraud—^helps to explain the apparent success of so The events culminated on a rainy October 13 with an many faith healings. Quite often, the apparent success is 544 MIRACULOUS PHENOMENA short lived and follow-ups often reveal that the old con­ general of the state of New York. At Burnham Park, dition has resurfaced. So-called faith healing can even be Morristown, New Jersey, stands a full-length Paine deadly if it causes people to reject medical treatment. statue by Georg Lober, a 1950 gift of Joseph Lewis. This has happened in all too many instances, notably (Lewis also prevailed on the socialist government of among adherents of Christian Science. France in 1936 to accept a statue of Paine sculpted by Of course one cannot prove miracles do not exist, Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of Mount Rushmore; the but-—^apart from the well-known difficulty of proving a statue was not dedicated until 1948, and stands today in negative—one does not have that burden, which actually Montsouris Park, Paris.) The site of the house where lies upon the claimant. Invariably, when we subtract the Paine died in New York City’s Greenwich Village is cases which have been clearly disproved, or that have marked by a plaque. A bust of Paine adorns the Hall of plausible counter-explanations, or that are inadmissible Fame at New York University. Another, by sculptor because they cannot be substantiated, there seems insuf­ Samuel H. Morse, is displayed in the library of the ficient grounds for invoking a miracle. Instead we see American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. This how easily people are deceived—not only by pious bust was commissioned by a freethought organization, frauds but also by their own wish-fulfilling namres. the National Liberal League, in 1876; sponsors hoped to place it in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in con­ BIBLIOGRAPHY junction with that year’s national centennial celebration. Religious opposition caused the bust’s rejection. Asimov, Isaac. Asimov’s Guide to the Bible. Vol. 2, The Remarkably, it languished in obscurity until the late New Testament. New York: Equinox, 1969. 1960s, when it was acquired by the Philosophical Lewis, C. S. Miracles; A Preliminary Study. Glasgow: Society. In 1997, a new Paine statue sculpted by Fontana, 1974. Lawrence Holofcener was dedicated at Bordentown, Nickell, Joe. Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, New Jersey. In October 1992 the US Congress author­ Relics, Stigmata, Visions, and Healing Cures. ized the erection of a Paine memorial statue on the Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1998. National Mall; private fundraising is ongoing. ------. Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Para­ The subject of the next largest number of memorials normal. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, is doubtless Robert Green Ingersoll. While he lived, a 2001. small town in Bowie County, Texas (near Texarkana), Nickell, Joe, with John F. Fischer. Mysterious Realms. was briefly named for him. Ingersoll, Texas, grew up in Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1992. the mid-1870s around a sawmill apparently operated by Rogo, D. Scott. Miracles: A Parscientific Inquiry into freethinkers who chose the community’s name. After a Wondrous Phenomena. New York: Dial, 1982. Christian revival converted most of the residents in 1886, renaming was urgently sought. A newly dug well Joe Nickell was yielding red water, so the townspeople dubbed their community Redwater. The Redwater, Texas, post MONUMENTS TO UNBELIEF. Across the United States office was officially renamed in 1894, five years before and the world, varied statues, graves, and historic sites— Robert Ingersoll died. More substantive memorials marked and unmarked—attest to the colorful histories of include Ingersoll’s grave. Site Number 1620 in ATHEISM, AGNOSTICISM, SECULARISM, FREETHOUGHT, and Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. related movements of unbelief. Ingersoll began his law career in Peoria, Illinois; in that No freethought figure is more lavishly memorialized city’s Glen Oak Park stands a full-length statue by Fritz than Thomas Paine. At Paine’s birthplace in Thetford, Triebel mounted on a stone plinth. Ingersoll’s widow Norfolk, England, stands a statue erected in 1964 by the and other family members attended its dedication on mid-twentieth-century US atheist leader Joseph Lewis. October 28, 1911. Two memorial plaques have adorned The site of Paine’s birth bears a plaque donated by the the Gramercy Park Hotel, constructed in 1924 on the Thomas Paine Society. Thetford’s public library contains site of Ingersoll’s former New York brownstone resi­ a large collection of Paine items. At New Rochelle, New dence. The original plaque was vandalized; it was Jersey, where Paine long resided, a bust of Paine by replaced in 1988 but removed during a 2006 renova­ Wilson MacDonald stands atop a marble monument tion. The mansion where Ingersoll died stands at Dobbs owned by the city. Also at New Rochelle is Paine’s cot­ Ferry, New York. Originally the residence of Inger­ tage, site of a troubled museum. The cottage is owned soll’s daughter Eva and her husband, the building bears and administered by the adjacent Huguenot Historical no historical marker. At Chico Springs, New Mexico, Society; the museum is operated by the Thomas Paine an eccentric desert compound built by picaresque National Historical Association. At this writing, the politician Stephen W. Dorsey still stands. Dorsey was museum is in poor repair, much of the association’s one of two plaintiffs whom Ingersoll defended in the board has resigned, and an effort by management to sell Star Route trials (1882), among the most sensational key Paine artifacts is under investigation by the attorney corruption cases of the late nineteenth century. Dorsey