The Mail Operations of Faith-Healers

Contents Forward by Carl Sagan Acknowledgments Acknowledgments for the Digitial Edition Introduction 1 The Origins of Faith-Healing 2 Faith-Healing in Modern Times 3 The Church View 4 The Financial Aspects 5 The Mail Operations of Faith-Healers 6 A. A. Allen and Miracle Valley 3/845 7 Leroy Jenkins and the $100,000 Challenge Illustrations Part 1 8 W. V. Grant and the Eagle’s Nest Illustrations Part 2 9 Peter Popoff and His Wonderful Machine Illustrations Part 3 10 Oral Roberts and the City of Faith 11 A Word of Knowledge from Pat Robertson Illustrations Part 4 12 The Psychic Dentist and an Unamazing Grace 13 Father DiOrio: Vatican-Approved Wizard 4/845 14 The Lesser Lights 15 Practical Limitations of Medical Science 16 Where Is the Evidence 17 Legal Aspects 18 Amen! An Update Bibliography Appendix I Appendix II Appendix III Appendix IV The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge About the Author 5/845 About the JREF Original publication of The Faith Healers Copyright 1987 by James Randi E-book published in 2011 by the James Randi Educa- tional Foundation No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review. Direct Inquires to: The James Randi Educational Foundation 2941 Fairview Park Drive, Suite 105 Falls Church, VA 22042 www.randi.org ISBN-978-0-9828322-0-3 There was a small boy on crutches. I do not know his name, and I suspect I never will. But I will never forget his face, his smile, his sorrow. He is one of the millions robbed of hope and dignity by charlatans discussed in this book. Wherever and whoever he is, I apologize to him for not having been able to protect him from such an experience. I humbly dedicate this book to him and to the many others who have suffered because the rest of us began caring too late. Foreword by Carl Sagan Hippocrates of Cos is the father of medicine. He is still remembered 2,500 years later by the Hippocratic Oath (a modified version of which is still commonly taken by medical students upon their graduation). But he is chiefly celebrated because of his efforts to bring medicine out of the pall of superstition and into the light of science. (A similar emer- gence of medical science from mysticism oc- curred a few centuries later in China under the tutelage of Bian Que.) In the diagnosis of disease, Hippocrates helped lay the founda- tions of the scientific method— urging 9/845 careful observation, honest evaluation, and a willingness to admit the limitations of the physician’s knowledge. In a typical passage he wrote: “Men think epilepsy divine, merely because they do not understand it. But if they called everything divine which they do not understand, why, there would be no end of divine things.” As knowledge of medicine has improved since the fourth century B.C., there is more and more that we understand and less and less that has to be attributed to divine intervention— either in the causes or in the treatment of disease. Childbirth and infant mortality have decreased, lifetimes have lengthened, and medicine has improved the quality of life for many people on Earth. But science imposes, in exchange for its manifold gifts, a certain onerous burden. We are enjoined also to consider ourselves scien- tifically, to surmount as best we can our own hopes and wishes and beliefs, to view 10/845 ourselves as we really are. We know that in looking deep within ourselves, we may challenge notions that give us great comfort in the face of the many terrors of the world. In a life short and uncertain, in a time when— precisely because of the success of medicine— people die mainly from medically in- curable disease, it seems heartless to deprive them of the consolation of superstition when science cannot cure their anguish. But we cannot have science in bits and pieces, apply- ing it where we feel safe and ignoring it where we feel threatened. That way lies hypocrisy, self-deception, and a dangerously constrained future. Few rise to this challenge as fearlessly as James Randi, accurately self-described as an angry man. Randi is angry not so much about the survival into our day of antediluvi- an mysticism and superstition, but about how this mysticism and superstition work to defraud, to humiliate, and sometimes even to 11/845 kill. Randi is a conjuror who has done much to expose spoon-benders, remote viewers, “telepaths,” and others who, perhaps through insufficient self-knowledge, have bilked the public with claims at the boundar- ies of science. He has received wide recogni- tion among scientists and is a recent recipi- ent of the MacArthur Foundation (so-called “genius”) Prize Fellowship. In this book, which can properly be described as a tirade, Randi turns his attention to faith-healers. He has done more than any- one else in recent times to expose pretension and fraud in this lucrative business. He sifts refuse, reports gossip, listens in on the stream of “miraculous” information coming to the faith-healer— not by inspiration from God, but by radio from the preacher’s wife backstage; he challenges the reluctant clergy- men to provide any serious evidence for the validity of their claims; he invites local and federal governments to enforce the laws 12/845 against fraud and medical malpractice; he chastises the news media for their studied avoidance of the issue. He shows concern for the sick who are being bilked and remorse that, even after they’ve been taken to the cleaners, they will not acknowledge that they’ve been bilked. It’s simply too painful to admit. He asks, with devastating effectiveness, the simplest common-sense questions: Do we have any independent medical knowledge that the person whose “blindness” has been cured was in fact sightless before going to the faith-healer? Was the individual who dra- matically stands up from her wheelchair and walks after being “blessed” really confined to a wheelchair before the “service”? Only because we so want to believe in such cures do we accept such shoddy evidence— experi- ments without controls. 13/845 Randi is rambling, anecdotal, crotchety, and ecumenically offensive. He raises questions that many of us would prefer not to consider. But I think it is important that we pay attention. It is not only a matter of root- ing out bunko and cruelty directed to those least able to defend themselves and most in need of our compassion, people with little other hope. It is also a timely reminder that mass rallies and television and mail-order technology permit other kinds of lies to be injected into the body politic, to-take advant- age of the frustrated, the unwary, and the de- fenseless in a society with political illnesses that are being treated ineffectively if at all. We may disagree with Randi on specific points, but we ignore him at our peril. Copyright ©1987 by Carl Sagan Acknowledgments I wish to thank the following persons for their help in gathering data for this book. They did so without any promise of fame or fortune because they believed in truth. David Alexander is a valued colleague and fellow investigator. Richard Brenneman and Shawn Carlson are faith-healer-watchers deluxe. Jason Kafcas, and Brian Schwartz provided valuable legwork in Detroit in pur- suit of Peter Popoff. Scot Morris is a buddy who came through many times when needed. Ronn Nadeau, Steven Schafersman, Gae Kovalick, and Andrew Skolnick are tireless workers who 15/845 care very much, and Chuck and Paula Saje are two of my valued friends who helped snare W. V. Grant in Fort Lauderdale. As for the conjurors who generously gave of their time, Willy Rodriguez is a clever dev- il who dared much for me, and Steve Shaw is the mental wonder who solved the Popoff gimmick. Bob Steiner is a busy skeptic and valued friend who brought his considerable magical talents to the work. Joe Barnhart is a scholar who suggested valuable additions and ideas for this book. Martin Gardner, as always, has offered me perpetual support and encouragement in all these endeavors. Walter Heckert volunteered as my Ger- man translator. Stan Krippner was generous with suggestions, and Paul Kurtz, as always, nagged me gently and continued to support me as a friend when it got tough. Gerry Larue knew much of what I only suspected 16/845 about various scalawags and shared that knowledge with me. Gary Posner and Wally Sampson, both M.D.s, gave much of their time and expertise to help me with medical advice and information. The Bay Area Skeptics, the Houston Soci- ety to Oppose Pseudoscience, the Rationalist Association of St. Louis, the Southern Cali- fornia Skeptics and other, similar organiza- tions formed a powerful group of allies who performed dedicated fieldwork and follow- ups on cases and events across the United States and Canada. Those in the media who gave of their talents include: Eli Brecher, of the Louisville Courier-Journal; John Dart, of the Los Angeles Times; Gene Emery, of the Provid- ence Journal; Leon Jaroff, former senior ed- itor of Time; the staff of the Tulsa Tribune; Camilla Warrick, of the Cincinnati Enquirer; and Al White, of WWOR-TV. 17/845 The financial support of the MacArthur Foundation enabled me to travel to gather first-hand information.

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