The Faith Healers by James Randi (PDF)

Description

James Randi, the celebrated magician, has written a damning indictment of the faith-healing practices of the leading televangelists and others who claim divine healing powers. Randi and his team of researchers attended scores of “miracle services” and often were pronounced “healed” of the nonexistent illnesses they claimed. They viewed first-hand the tragedies resulting from the wide-spread belief that faith healing can cure every conceivable disease. The ministries, they discovered, were rife with deception, chicanery, and often outright fraud.Self-annointed ministers of God convince the gullible that they have been healed – and that they should pay for the service. The Faith Healers examines in depth the reasons for belief in faith healing and the catastrophic results for the victims of these hoaxes. Included in Randi’s book are profiles of a highly profitable “psychic dentist”, and the “Vatican-approved wizard.”

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐(as posted in GoodReads)Another case of a book that primarily confirms what I already knew/believed! The only thing is that it does highlight the lies, deception, and really THEFT from the believers, the poor, and the desperate! My outstanding question is “have the government or politicians or judges gotten ANY better at recognizing and/or punishing those responsible? This book is from over 30 years ago; has ANYTHING been done?!I have mixed feelings: on the one hand, I laugh at the ridiculousness of unjustified belief, and on the other hand, I feel so bad for those who have NO HOPE other than the flimsy hope provided by charlatans who really want no more than to bilk them out of everything!The comparison of a faith healers show with pretty much all other entertainments would be right on except for the promises and broken beliefs caused by them (the theoretically religiously pure) faith healers!

⭐James Randi is an American hero. By exposing frauds and questioning the status quo, Randi has had an undeniable influence on the Atheist movement and the prevalence of religious and paranormal charlatans in popular culture. “The Faith Healers” peels the lid off one of the greatest scams in modern history, the Charismatic Christian Televangelist movement. Randi methodically picks apart the methods and results of the most notorious of these scam artists from the heyday of the movement during the ’80s.Randi points out several times during the course of “The Faith Healers” that he isn’t an “educated” man or expert, simply a skeptic who is willing to put himself and his money on the line to hunt for that most elusive prey, the truth. Randi proves that man could save himself much grief and heartbreak by simply opening his eyes and looking at the world around him.If you are a follower of Charismatic Christianity or the Prosperity Gospel movement, simply curious about those odd, well dress men on satellite TV or know someone who is a victim of these criminals you owe it to yourself to read “The Faith Healers”.

⭐The Faith Healers by James RandiMr. James Randi the renowned magician uncovers the fraud behind “faith-healers” and is not too shy to expose them in his classic work. This 318-page book was originally released in 1989 and is composed of the following eighteen chapters: 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, 7. Leroy Jenkins and the $100,000 Challenge, 8. W.V. Grant and the Eagle’s Nest, 9. Peter Popoff and His Wonderful Machine, 10. Oral Roberts and the City of Faith, 11.A Word of Knowledge from Pat Robertson, 12.The Psychic Dentist and an Unamazing Grace, 13. Father DiOrio: Vatican-Approved Wizard, 14.The Lesser Lights, 15.Practical Limitations of Medical Science, 16. Where is the Evidence? 17. Legal Aspects, and 18. Amen!Positives:1. It starts out with a forward from Carl Sagan that is always positive.2. A well-written, well-thought out book that is fascinating, and infuriating.3. As a magician of international fame, Mr. Randi knows fakery when he sees one and this wonderful book provides ample evidence for it. A great skeptic indeed.4. Exposes so many scoundrels it’s truly jaw-dropping.5. The origins of faith healing explained.6. Mr. Randi tackles the most fascinating cases.7. The most famous Christian shrines debunked.8. The methodology of examining claims.9. Great use of scripture to support religious beliefs that would allow frauds to take advantage of their subjects. The importance of instilling unquestioning faith.10. The inquisition of witches.11. Not an anti-religious book. In fact, many of the skeptics were theologians.12. The Financial Aspects chapter will infuriate.13. The marketing machine behind the fraud.14. The danger of believing miracles occurred. An important message that needs to be conveyed.15. So called “healees” exposed.16. Mr. Randi shows his great skeptical instincts.17. The secret behind “calling out” audience members.18. The power of divine financial advice.19. Claims debunked, over and over.20. Shotgun techniques exposed.21. Prophets exposed.22. How cultural biases predispose people into believing in the possibility of faith-healing.23. The inefficacy of prayers.24. Is faith-healing real? Answered to satisfaction.25. The truth as a dissonant reality.26. How blind faith hurts children who do not get the medical attention that they need.27. Fascinating from cover to cover.Negatives:1. Of course a book written in 1989 will be dated in some areas but too small an issue to derail this classic and surprisingly enough a lot of the main culprits are still in “business”.2. Waiting for an update to this masterpiece.In summary, a fascinating and an important book. Faith-healing is dangerous because it allows unsuspecting subjects to rely on it without any objective evidence of its efficacy and in doing so may relinquish the use of proven scientific methods. Mr. Randi should be commended for this great work of exposing scoundrels who take advantage of others for personal benefit at the expense of their financial, and overall well being. Bravo!

⭐An interesting and insightful expose of the chicanery behind faith healing. If anything, this book reveals the shocking manipulation and lies perpetrated by TV evangelists as they rake in the millions at the expense of their gullible audience. When medicine fails to heal, some terminally ill patients will turn to anyone for help; the evangelists fulfill that longing by promising a miraculous healing – at a price of course!Some of the patients know that they have been conned, whilst others angrily refuse to admit that they have; whilst the terminally ill just keep on dying. Meanwhile the faith healers rake in the dough – tax free! This book is a damning indictment of an exploitative culture and an American government that unwittingly colludes with these conmen by refusing to take a stance against them. The victims of course are the sick and the vulnerable who are often left poorer and embittered for having allowed themselves to be conned by these charlatans.

⭐This book is based around research carried out by the author in the 80s, and takes unerring aim at the shocking behaviour of evangelistic “faith healers” in the US. No objective reader could have much doubt about its veracity, although I doubt that the people who really need to read it will do so.I do find the structure of the book a little confusing, as it switches between analysis of the general behaviour of these scam artists, and the detailed description of how each of them carries out their deception. It is a very passionate book, written by someone who is genuinely and profoundly horrified by what he sees.This (Kindle) edition was updated in 1989, and I must say it whets my appetite for further reading around the whole subject of religion in the US, where these guys continue to wield a great deal of power – Pat Robertson has a serious contender for the Republican nomination to run as President, for instance. I was slightly frustrated by being unable to read the several copies of letters and photographs on my Kindle, but that’s a grumble about the nature of electronic readers rather than of the book!

⭐I have a great deal of respect for James Randi: I like the way he determinedly pricks the bubbles of charlatans and tirelessly promotes rational thinking in a world that seems to be becoming obsessed by faith and belief and bored with rigorous scientific evidence. However, I was disappointed with this book. There is too much detail about exactly what Randi wrote to various quack medics and preachers and how many times they failed to reply, and too little in the way of structure, principles or overarching arguments. The distinguished scientist Carl Sagan describes the book in his foreword as “rambling” and this is accurate. Randi candidly admits to not having an academic background and I am afraid it shows.

⭐I would wholeheartedly recommend this book.It is a bit aggressive agains the peddlers of the healing, but there is morethan enough reason for it. I enjoyed reading every page, very clear andaccessible, not to mention really straightforward logical (although thebook supported by own point of view so there is some self-bias in place)If you are reasonably sceptical, this is a great book for you.

⭐For anyone who fears the religious right wing in America are sometimes prey to unscrupulous and unchristian manipulation, this will confirm your worst fears. It inspired me to find out more about James Randi and his approach to debunking fraudulant and immoral behaviour amongst some very cynical people.The message – magicians decieve for the purposes of entertainment. Faith Healers are also probably at best magicians or at worst con-artists.

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