May June pages BOX_SI new design masters 3/29/12 9:01 AM Page 5 [ NEWS AND COMMENT Hot Dispute on Healing Claims: ‘Persecution’ That Isn’t HAYLEY STEVENS I first saw the Healing on the Streets ditions for which medical supervision The Bath Chronicle, whose editor (HOTS) team on my way to a meeting should be sought.” read my blog post and thought it was through the city center of Bath in Som- Healing on the Streets responded by newsworthy, was the first to publish the erset, United Kingdom. I’d never en- claiming that they were being perse- story, which was then picked up by a countered the group before, and at first cuted “by a group generally opposed to news syndicate. The first I knew of this I thought they might be psychic healers. Christianity.” They also claimed that the was when a local journalist told me that Out of curiosity, I took one of the ASA’s ruling was telling them to recant it was likely the story was going to “go leaflets that were on display in a holder their faith. This wasn’t the case, and this national” and that I might “end up in nearby. It’s a habit. Ever since battling a claim made me decide to come forward the Daily Mail as the bad guy in this.” life-threatening illness in my teens, I’ve and explain in a post on my personal He was right. I did end up as the bad been very aware of people making un- blog that I was the complainant and guy: I became “atheist Hayley Stevens” substantiated claims about treating and that I didn’t make the complaint be- who used ASA as a weapon to persecute healing health conditions. I’ve been the cause they were Christian but because and censor Christians. vulnerable person who was tempted of the specific claims they were making. I ended up on the local news twice, into such treatments. I pick up leaflets, defending my complaint to the ASA take business cards, and cut adverts out Ever since battling and explaining that I wasn’t persecuting of magazines and newspapers on a reg- a life-threatening anybody but was simply challenging ular basis if I think the claims being claims made about specific illnesses that made are spurious. illness in my teens, didn’t appear to be evidence based. It turns out it wasn’t a group of psy- I’ve been very aware There were polarizing reactions to the story. Many people who didn’t agree chic healers but Christians from local of people making churches who wanted to pray for the with the outcome of the ASA com- healing of strangers on the street. Their unsubstantiated plaint shouted about religious freedom intentions seemed good, but it was the claims about and censorship. However, the protests wording on the leaflet that set alarm against the ASA adjudication seemed to bells ringing. The group claimed that treating and healing miss the point. The ruling had nothing to do with religion but was actually healing triggered by prayer could cure health conditions. about specific medical claims. Nobody conditions from multiple sclerosis, ad- should be exempt from being required diction, and cancer to asthma, arthritis, and paralysis. My gut reaction was that I should submit a complaint to the Ad- vertising Standards Author ity (ASA), an independent advertising regulatory body in the United King dom, to see if they agreed that the ad was in breach of Committee of Adver tising Practice (CAP) codes. The ASA upheld my complaint and also expressed strong concern that the ads might discourage people from seek- ing essential treatment for conditions for which medical supervision should be sought. As a result, the ASA summa- rized, “The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told HOTS not to make claims which stated or im- plied that, by receiving prayer from their volunteers, people could be healed of medical conditions. We also told them not to refer in their ads to medical con- The Healing on the Streets group claims to be able to heal complaints ranging from arthritis to cancer through the “power” of prayer. Skeptical Inquirer | May/June 2 012 5 May June pages BOX_SI new design masters 3/29/12 4:04 PM Page 6 to provide evidence to back up their pression is a more important job. CSI Helps Expose Woolly claims, religion-based or not. As I The day after one of my local news Mammoth Video Hoax replied to one of my harsher online appearances, a stranger recognized me Benjamin Radford critics, it is fine to pray for the ill to in a shop because of the coat I had recover if that is how you choose to been wearing. He told me how he and cope; just don’t tell strangers on the his wife had been desperate for an an- According to a story in the Sun tabloid street their cancer might be healed swer before she died of lung cancer a newspaper, a video surfaced that seems to that way. That steps over a line, and few years ago. He said, “It’s good that show a live woolly mammoth—an animal I refuse to stay quiet about it. we have people like you who stand up that scientists say has been extinct for After one of my appearances on for those who can’t stand up for them- about four millennia. The “jaw-dropping” the local news, somebody made a selves.” Those words will stay with me footage, which shows a dark, blurry crea- complaint to my employers in what I for a long time. ture crossing a river, was allegedly “caught be lieve was a malicious attempt to I think my story demonstrates by a government-em ployed engineer last terminate my employment. All that I one very important thing: standing summer in the Chukotka Autonomous know is that they were from the local up for what we know is right and Okrug region of Siberia.” church ward and asked my employers speaking out against what we know The video was an Internet sensation what they were doing “employing is wrong can result in a tangible and made headlines around the world in someone like that.” My boss repri- achievement. One person can make early February 2012. Some Bigfoot believ- manded me that day for being “irre- a difference; all you have to do is act. ers and Loch Ness monster lovers mur- sponsible,” a charge I believe is unfair, Be that person. Make that difference. mured their tentative ap proval, hoping it but luckily I didn’t lose my job and Hayley Stevens is a skeptical podcaster, proved that large unknown (or assumed wasn’t officially disciplined in any way. writer, and public speaker. She is the founder extinct) animals still exist in Earth’s remote I was advised by my employer not to of Project Barnum, an educational resource wilds. about psychic trickery, and also hosts the write anything more about the ASA Discussions popped up all over the popular Righteous Indignation podcast. complaint and told not to do any Being a reformed ghost hunter, she can often web, including on the Doubtful News blog more media appearances. However, be found trying to educate people about the and the Facebook page of the MonsterTalk I’m writing about my experience here pseudoscience involved in the majority of podcast. While most people didn’t neces- because fighting for freedom of ex- ghost and monster research. sarily believe that the blurry figure in the video was really a woolly mammoth as claimed, viewers were sharply divided Doubtful News Blog Launched about what, exactly, it was. Some suspected the video was an outright hoax—a com- Benjamin Radford puter-generated elephant or mammoth digitally inserted into a real river scene. The blog Doubtful News, whose slogan The blog came about because there Many others, however, were convinced is “Paranormal and pseudoscience was no one-stop source of breaking that the animal was real: not a mammoth news ... because people really believe news of interest to critical thinkers but instead a bear with a large fish in its this stuff,” was recently launched. The that was not primarily straight sci- mouth crossing a stream. ence offerings or opinions. Doubtful Doubtful News feed provides links to I investigated the video at the request News delivers the fringe news that original sources of Internet news stories may not get attention right away. The of LiveScience.com and noted several sus- about a wide variety of topics related to theme woven through the stories is picious aspects, including its brevity and science, pseudoscience, and skepti- that critical thinking is essential for the fact that the man who posted the cism, including anti-vaccination, astrol- understanding what is going on in the piece, a paranormal enthusiast named ogy, cryptozoology, UFOs, mass hysteria, world. The format, with multiple up- Michael Cohen, has been involved with ghosts, crop circles, hoaxes, psychics, dates daily, allows for stories to be several other videos of questionable au- superstition, and much more. Posts are posted days ahead of their appear- thenticity (if not outright hoaxes). I also ance in larger outlets, the skeptical primarily written with a skeptical bent, consulted Hollywood visual effects artist literature and even before appear- Derek Serra, who concluded among other providing brief commentary and some ance in blogs and podcasts. background while encouraging readers things that the video image “appears to to seek out the source and inquire for Access is available via the web site doubt- have been intentionally blurred.” themselves.