Science Versus Miracles: Predicting the Words in a Newspaper Column Where It is Cut.

B Premanand

A Christian priest in the United States claimed he had psychic powers to know the past and future of an individual. He could also control the mind of any person. To prove his powers he would cut a newspaper column from a news paper. Then he would throw a paper ball among the audience. Whoever caught it was called on to the stage. The priest would hold the newspaper cutting in his left hand vertically with his thumb and index finger on the head lines, and scissors in his right hand, in between the newspaper cutting. He then claimed that he had control of the mind of the volunteer. When the volunteer was asked to point where he should cut the paper into two, and when the priest cut it at the exact place pointed out, the line on the top of the piece falling would be the same which he had already predicted on a piece of paper handed over to the chief guest or a respectable person in the audience, for safe-keeping.

When people were thus made to believe that he had real psychic power, they went to him to know their past and future and to help them in solving their problems. Then he charged them heavy fees and he became a billionaire.

Experiment: 105

Effect: Predicting the words of the line of a newspaper column where it is cut.

Props: Same set of two newspapers, scissors and cello tape. A piece of white paper.

Method: Cut a news column with head lines which has an advertisement at the back. Leave one line of the matter after the head lines and cut it again. Hold the cut newspaper column upside down and put a clear cello tape at the back and stick it to the heading part. Write down the lowest line of the prepared news column on a piece of paper.  This is the prediction. Where ever it is cut, let the cut portion fall down. Request the volunteer to pick up and read the first line on the piece and ask the person to check the prediction given to him and see whether they match. The audience is surprised that the first line on the newspaper where it is cut matches the prediction. Ask the volunteer to check whether the rest of the lines on the news cutting are different. He is surprised that they are different.

Experiment: 106

Effect: Restarting watches and time-pieces which have stopped working. The audience was asked to bring their stopped watches and time-pieces. Uri Geller rubbed his palms over these for some minutes and when he shook them they started working.

Props: Watches and time pieces which have stopped working.

Method: Generally due to the cold weather, the oil in them gets hardened and most of the watches stop working. By rubbing them with the palms, heat is generated and the oil liquefies. Then if one gives them a jerk they start working. Mechanically defective watches and time-pieces have never worked through Uri Gellar’s psychic power.

Read More

Christian Miracles: How Christianity Came To India

B Premanand

About one thousand nine hundred and odd years ago, when St. Thomas visited Kerala, he saw Kerala Brahmins (Namboodiri Brahmins) performing shraadha ceremony. He enquired as to what they were doing throwing water upwards. They replied that they were sending water to the Pithrus, the dead ancestors.

St. Thomas smiled and said that their gods had no power because the water they send upwards to heaven fell to the ground. We are told he then poured some water in his vessel, prayed that the water may reach the dead, and showed his vessel was indeed empty. Seeing this miracle all the brahmins there became Christians.

Experiment: 52

Effect: Water sent to heaven.

Pour water into the vessel. Move the vessel up as if you are sending water to heaven, then show the vessel empty.

Props: The trick-vessel, and water in a jug.

Method: The trick-vessel is so made that when tilted to the left side, the water goes into a second compartment. When it is tilted to the right side the water reappears.

Experiment: 53

Effect: Producing Ganges water from an empty vessel.

Props: Same trick-vessel with water filled beforehand.

Method: Tilt the vessel to the left and show the vessel is empty. Invoke the goddess Ganga and act as if Ganges water is filling into the vessel invisibly      from your hair. Then tilt it to the right side, water flows out. Though Indian godmen calling themselves avatars of Shiv had the same kind of vessel wherein they produced Ganges water, they could not make out that St. Thomas had used the same vessel.

How Africans Became Christians

African witch-doctors could not save their tribesmen from the bullets of the invaders from Europe, though they prepared a balm to be applied on their body. Christian missionaries brought a magician with them and demonstrated that if anyone had full faith in Christ, he would not be harmed by the bullets.

Experiment: 54

Effect: Catching a bullet in the mouth when fired.

Props: A gun, one bullet, and chemicals.

Method: Fill the gun with chemicals so that when it is fired one hears only the sound. But the victim acts as if he has swallowed the bullet, taking it out of his mouth!

Reproduced with permission from Indian CSICOP.  For other articles from Science Versus Miracles we have already published (http://www.carvaka4india.com/search/label/Science%20versus%20Miracles) please click here

Read More

My Encounters with Healing In The Name Of Jesus!

Narendra Nayak

My first public encounters as a rationalist were with evangelists - the crusading ones claiming to heal the sick, the blind and the lame. It was in 1975 or so when I was a student at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. I used to come to Mangalore on Saturdays and Sundays. One of these weekends when I had come home and was relaxing with friends, we got the news that there was a miracle healer called Chris Panos having his sessions on one of biggest maidans of Mangalore. One of our friends who is now no more was gushing about him having restored hearing to two of his cousins and he was a medical student! So, that leant all the more credibility to the claims and some of us rushed to the place. There was a high podium there with a well dressed man in a three piece suit, holding a microphone in his hand and shouting at the top of his voice- Heal in the name of Jesus and was exhorting the audience to shout halleluiah praise the lord which they were doing at the top of their voices. One of those on the dais was a familiar figure- he was the retired chief engineer of Mangalore Harbour project and his name was Panditaradhya. He was lead to the stage holding a walking stick and was ordered in the rolling baritone of Chris Panos throw away that walking stick and walk in the name of Jesus and the stick was snatched from his hands. The poor man somehow managed to reach the sides of the stage and held on to the ropes hanging on for dear life and then came shout from the hero- look Jesus has healed him! Again there was a big shout from the audience- praise be to the lord! Then was the turn of a girl whose arm was paralysed since birth- again the voice took over- Chris Panos said bend your hand and she bent it. At this I saw the arms of the girl - both were of the same size. So, I went to the stage and asked him how come both her hands appear the same since you claim that one of them was paralysed since birth! He was flummoxed and told me that it was a miracle.

www.atheistcartoons.com

There were hundreds of people waiting to be cured some of them in very pathetic conditions and my temper was slowly rising. On the sides I saw a quadriplegic beggar who was crawling on all four limbs and a begging bowl on a wooden trolley. I bribed him with 50 paise( which was a good amount in those days) and asked him to come with me. I took him near the stage and requested the volunteers to take him on the stage and get him cured. They told me that cures do not happen on stage but only the cured are allowed there. I told them that this man was deaf also and his deafness was cured and hence he was to be taken on the stage to let all know about it! But, the volunteers could sense a trap in that and said no, I told them why not and there was a commotion. Disturbed by this the great healer came to the side of the stage and demanded to know as to what was happening. I told him that this man should be cured. He said I don’t cure. I asked him then who does? He replies Jesus. I told him in that case-ask Jesus to cure him! There was a commotion and a policeman asked me what was happening and why I was creating a disturbance. At this, the healer came to the side of the stage and kicked the railings and shouted go back. When I looked around there was no one and I was the only one left! I told the policeman that I just want to check the healing powers of this guy and he said fair enough go ahead! At this Chris Panos called me to him asked for my hand pulled me close to him and whispered go away peacefully my friend in the name of god! I said I am an atheist and god is a dirty word to me. Then he told me go my friend otherwise something may happen to you. I replied don’t worry if something happens to me twice that or probably more is going to happen to you. Just at that moment somebody threw a wire at the power cables and the lights went off. Then there was a disturbance and the healing session came to an end! I was furious and started shouting at all the helpless people who had come in search of a miraculous cure there! In the meanwhile some of the saffron gang who had come there to try and disturb his meeting asked me whether anything happened when he kept his hand on my head- I told them nothing.  Their reaction was that they had all been scared that he had some sort of a power and that is why they did not have the courage to disturb him and that they now knew that nothing happened to me despite he keeping his hand over my head, they would come next day and teach him a lesson!

     

Teaching him a lesson is something that they really did the next day! They waited until it was dark and then tripped the electricity connection by short circuiting the wires and started molesting the girls when they raised their hands shouting halleluiah which resulted in a stampede and the cancellation of the proposed one week healing program in two days! Then followed the mutual recriminations the Catholics said he had been invited by the protestants and they said the opposite! Any way the whole thing ended in a fiasco and Chris Panos had to stop his healing sessions.

      

In 1977, he came once more to Mangalore and this time we were well prepared, we had printed pamphlets asking why this man from Greece had to come to India to heal when there were enough number of patients there itself. We had also questioned as to why the police were not taking action against him for practicing medicine without a license etc. These pamphlets were distributed in such a bold manner even to those who were in the audience that many thought that it was something being handed over by the organizers themselves! We had also challenged him that we would show him patients to be cured and if he did that we were ready to admit that he had the healing powers. At that time something really surprising happened- the program was cancelled. We were summoned by the police who asked for our pamphlets. Later on we came to know that the police inspector who was in charge of the security had called this man Chris Panos shown him the pamphlet  and had told him that we had complained that he was practicing medicine without a license. He was also told that the Inspector would take him to the nearby hospital and show him a few patients to be cured. If he did that he was assured nothing would be done to him but if he did not he would be arrested for fraud! Chris Panos told the police that he was just conducting prayer meetings and he was not curing people. He was asked to give that in writing and was let off. Later on we came to know that many of the so called cures were stage managed affairs with paid people first acting as if they were handicapped and then appearing normal when summoned to the stage as an evidence of being healed. In the case of the ex chief engineer it was said that he had had a brain hemorrhage and was slowly recovering. When he was called to the stage and his walking stick pulled away he had not alternative but somehow try to reach to the side of the stage as he did not want the public embarrassment of falling down as there was nothing to hold on there!     

The next day the ads about blind seeing, deaf hearing, and the lame walking were off and instead there were announcements of prayer meetings. The show was a flop and was wound up earlier than planned. So, that was the end of our session with this man Chris Panos. A few years later another healer called Peter Youngren appeared on the scene and his ads were too of the same type. This time we were ready with our pamphlets and had repeated the same challenges. But, here there were the police in full strength and we were not allowed to go into the venue but were asked to distribute our pamphlets at a distance from it. I had the time to visit it and it was quite apparent that the whole thing was an attempt at proselytizing in the name of healing and probably a few psychosomatic cases would have got some relief.

     

But, as the protests against these so called healing sessions started, the modus operandi of these people also changed. They started calling their meetings as prayer meetings and claimed that the ill would be prayed for. The venue of the meetings was also shifted to a place called as mission compound which was an enclosed area surrounded by the houses of Christians and would be easily protected from the attacks from outsiders. The process of saffronisation had also started and the Hindu groups were gaining strength. Around the end of the 20th century as rumors started about the end of the world, there was the big ‘prayer meeting’ of Dinakaran organized at Mangalore where large crowds of Christians-both Roman Catholics and protestants were supposed to gather ad pray, There were some feelers from the Hindu outfits that we should protest against that and I realized then that they wanted to use our shoulders to fire at them and told them that if they wanted to do that they could do it on their own. A few years later there was this man from Philippines- Alex Orbito who was supposed to perform psychic surgery- operating with his bare hands and removing what was called as bad elements from the body. He used to plunge his hand into the patients abdomen and a pink liquid would ooze out- an obvious case of palming! At the time when he was in Bangalore, his first session was in the Karnataka Legislative assembly and his first ‘patients’ were the ministers of the Karnataka govt.! This got him publicity and the next day there were long lines of ‘patients’ waiting to be operated by him outside the hotel where he was ‘operating’ it was estimated that he had collected several millions of rupees in one day charging a sum of Rs.3000 for a 3 minute session of ‘operation’. I could not visit that place as I had already fixed programs at a nearby place for three days. But, he was spirited away by organizers of his program as one lawyer from Kolar had filed a case against him at the Karnataka High court and the court had ordered his arrest. He was allowed to escape as some of the top police officials were his supporters and had arranged for his going out of the country. Later on it was revealed that he had been jailed in USA for practicing medicine without a license.

          

But our campaign against his healing went on full swing and I went to Bangalore to demonstrate this ‘psychic surgery’ at a TV studio along with a panel discussion which was supposed to be attended by one of the members of the Karnataka cabinet who had subjected herself to this ‘surgery’. It was not a surprise that the lady did not turn up! Along with this we demonstrated this in a few medical colleges including the Bangalore Medical College. It was here that I came to know that a pediatric surgeon was one of the supporters of this Alex Orbito and had arranged for his program. I also met one Dr.Rao who was the Chairman of the anti quackery cell of the Karnataka State Branch of the Indian Medical Association he informed me that when he had gone to a meeting at a very prestigious venue where Alex Orbito was giving a public lecture he was ridiculed by a supposedly upright policeman called Sangliana that what he was doing protesting when his President was on the dais. That was a fact that the meeting had the state President of the Indian Medical Association on the dais! This clearly shows the hypocrisy of the medical profession. Anyway, this Dr.Rao had taken a list of the names and addresses of the ‘patients’ who had been treated by Alex Orbito and was trying to follow up on that. The ‘psychic surgery’ performed by me for the TV channel was broadcast and I got a number of invitations to demonstrate that. I was told that a number of religious maths had invited Alex Orbito to do his treatment which he could not as he had to run away! Anyway, some of the top cops of Karnataka had helped him to escape.       

Then was the Benny Hinn episode-that was a year after the tsunami had struck the shores of India. He was supposed to come to Bangalore, conduct his prayer meetings for the peace for the souls of the affected people and also conduct the healing sessions. We were the first group to protest against his coming and had challenged him to demonstrate his healing powers on patients shown by us. At that time the congress party was in power and probably to please their ‘madam’ they rolled out a red carpet welcome for this man. The protests against his visit turned violent and there was quite some damage to public property due to the protests of the saffron gangs and the Bharatiya Janatha Party which was in the opposition at the time. The meeting was at a airport which was no longer in use and was attended by millions of people and was taken as a show of strength by the Christian community! The meeting was attended by the Chief Minister and some ministers of the central govt. too! However, the tough  ex cop Sangliana who was then a member of the parliament of the Bharathiya Janata Party issued advertisements in the local press asking people to attend the meeting when the rest of his party colleagues were busy protesting against that!

   

There was supposed to be an encounter with a healer called as Jira Ma in Jamshedpur which did not take place! She was supposed to be a very famous faith healer of the area drawing thousands to her sessions. Her healing sessions would start with her going into a trance and reading the bible. Her devotees who by then would be seated would have two bottles with them one of water and the other of oil. At the appointed time they would remove the caps of these bottles and pray along with her. After that they were to put on the caps and take them home for use- the water was for internal use and the oil was for external use! There was a regional meet of FIRA at Jamshedpur and the very next day her session was at a nearby stadium. So, we wanted to attend that and check on her powers and decided to so after discussions. But, we had not been aware of a reporter of a local daily around when these were going on. The very next day the newspaper carried on its front page our photographs with a bold headline- Jira ma is going to be exposed by the top rationalists of India. The element of surprise was gone and we were advised by the locals not to go there and get attacked by her devotees and we had to drop our plans. However, within a few years her nemesis came. At one of her meetings a heart patient who was waiting to be healed by her collapsed and died on the spot. She was arrested and imprisoned. These supposed healing sessions are called Changai Sabhas in the North and we have some of these ads. Our Nagpur groups have been successful in getting the Drugs and magic remedies (objectionable advertisements) act applied to them as they claim to cure disease. But, some of the Christian groups rally behind these so called healers, treating our questioning their powers as an attack against their religion. There are some of their activities going on in places on a permanent basis like in Potta in Kerala.

This was my last encounter with these groups in December, 2011 and the result of that is also mentioned along with. Since this was an attack on healing in the name of Jesus Christ most of the local papers which would be reluctant to publish anything against such claims from the groups linked with cow’s urine, exorbitant claims of yoga and Ayurveda were keen to publicise this. This was the statement

Healing disease by Chosen Generation of Ministries!

    

For those who may be having problems with married life, parents and children. Financial, health etc. etc. including things like satanic bondage the solution is well at Hand as Jesus is coming soon!

   

I am in possession of a pamphlet by an organization called as Chosen Generation of Ministries® which states that all these problems and more can be solved by them and two cell numbers have been provided when I called them and informed that I was suffering from cancer of the prostate and was told by one Mr.John that they could heal it, I was asked to come to Suratkal( a suburb of Mangalore) on the coming Monday and their god would heal anything!

Funnily enough this issue was brought to my attention by a Roman Catholic who was angry with this group for ‘baptising’ people and giving them communion again thereby converting them to their sect. I was also told that they were seeking donations for their cause and were mesmerizing people. While we have a Minister who claims that rolling on leaves on which Brahmins have had their meals, these people have gone one step ahead and have claimed that their god can heal all diseases!

In fact this hand bill attracts the provisions of the Drugs and magical Remedies (objectionable) advertisements ct, 1954 under which claiming cures for certain diseases is a cognizable offence. The authority for taking action under this is the drugs controller of Dakshina Kannada. Because, when one claims all disease, those under the provisions of this act are also covered.

  

The address of this organization is Chosen Generation of Ministries® Church Post box no 76 Udupi -576 101 and the founder and senior pastor is one Peter Quadros. Well one can claim the freedom to profess ones religion and also practice it. But, how about the claims made herein?

       

Of course however much I was keen to get my prostate healed by their prayers it was not to be. Not only I was busy that day, but the Hindutwa brigade was far busier. There was an attack by them on the premises where these ‘healings’ were going on and the usual violence followed!

     

This is an account of our encounters with those who heal with the power of Jesus. Thouigh I have been quite keen about exposing these frauds we have to be a bit on the careful side due to the propensity of the Hindutwa brigade to use our shoulders to fire at them. Not that they are exclusively dependent on us for that, but even our little bit helps! Of course we have such with those who heal with the power of many such gods, goddesses and spirits and what have you. More about that, some other time.

Read More

Abraham Kovoor’s Case Diary: Miracles at Lourdes

Abraham Kovoor

Every lay-member of the Roman Catholic Church, who is encouraged by the Church to go on pilgrimage to Lourdes, should read the book "Eleven Lourdes Miracles" by Dr. DJ. West, M.B. CH. B., D.P.M. (Duckworth).

Dr. West critically examines the eleven cases that have been proclaimed miracu­lous by Canonical Commissions dating between 1937 and 1952. Each case has passed through the three stages necessary for adoption as miracles. They have been investi­gated and reviewed by the Lourdes Medical Bureau, by the International Medical Commission in Paris, and finally by the Ecclesiastical Commission. Anyone of these three bodies may reject a case, and it is interesting to see how many are rejected.

In the years 1946, '47 and '48, the Lourdes Medical Bureau found 194 cases worthy of further examination, and eventually only 19 of these cases were passed on to the International Medical Commission. The Medical Commission accepted only one of these. In 1949 they accepted three and rejected three. Of the six cases accepted by the International Medical Commission only three have been declared by the Eccle­siastical Commission.

It will be seen then, that the church does not rashly pronounce a miracle cure. Dr. West takes the eleven cures pronounced miraculous by the Canonical Commis­sion since 1946. But he first makes clear the restricted nature of the 'miracles'. They are not, he says, "of a type that an outsider would consider self-evidently miraculous. There are no cases of lost eyes or amputated legs sprouting anew. There are very few cases of recovery from incurable diseases, and very many cases of dramatically swift recovery from serious but potentially curable conditions like tuberculosis". He adds; "In most cases no claim can fairly be made about the cure unless the patient is sub­jected to rigorous examination immediately before and immediately after the alleged cure. Unfortunately, this never happens".

One of the eleven cases is considered in detail. It is that of Miss G. Clauzel, whose Rheumatic spondylitis with compression of the nerve roots was allegedly cured during Mass on August 15th, 1943. The patient's own doctor (Dr. Maurin) provides the chief medical document dated May 21't, 1944, and this is given in full. Dr. West finds that; "As a medical document, Dr. Maurin's report, like so many of the accounts to be found in the Lourdes files and publications, is curiously imprecise and unsatis­factory. Miss. Clauzel had an obscure disorder of many years' duration, and at no stage does she appear to have had a complete investigation such as would be carried out on a similar case in any modern hospital”.

The fact that the consultant referred to was a psychiatrist is withheld. "Dr. Maurin's explanation of the whole case in tenns of extensive nerve-root compression is scarcely plausible". Miss. Clauzel's symptoms seem to be more severe and extraor­dinary than can be accounted for by the spinal arthritis and postural defect which is all that is indicated in the X-ray report dated August 20th 1945. Dr. West suspects hysteria, and "if the Clauzel case is just another example of hysteria cured dramati­cally by suggestion, it hardly seems worthwhile discussing it further".

The Lourdes’s Medical Bureau's report throws no further light on the nature of the illness, but it reveals "an attitude" of mind in the doctors responsible, wh9 seem determined to avoid the obvious natural explanation".

The report of the Canonical Commission is also given, but it merely reiterates their own particular interpretation of the evidence "with no consideration of alterna­tive possibilities", and it glosses over "the absence of any clear evidence as to the organic basis of Miss Clauzel's illness".

Dr. West concludes that "in this and in many other instances the Lourdes Bureau has lent its support to cures without sufficiently investigating the case and without giving fair consideration to interpretations that do not fit in with the idea of a miracle".

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

The other cases are no more rewarding for the miracle seeker. Mrs. Costas (1947) has 'such obvious possibilities for ordinary explanations' Even if Francis Pascal had been miraculously cured of his blindness in 1938, "the medical documentation is so poor that we could never be sure of it".

Colonel Pellagrin's case of liver abscess and fistula (1950) is not remarkable for the healing, but for the "coincidence between the closure of the fistula and the visit to Lourdes", and the alleged rapidity of the healing. There is, also "impreciseness re­garding crucial dates", and "as a result of treatment the Colond"'s fever was cured, his general health improved and his weight increased long before he visited Lourdes. The closure of the fistula was merely the last stage of a lengthy process of recovery".

Sister Mary Marguerite did not go to Lourdes, but recovered after prayer and the taking of Lourdes water. "Without careful medical substantiation of such case, the sceptically minded are unlikely to be interested", says Dr. West, and "the original dossier has disappeared from the Lourdes files". In the report of the LOURDES BUL­LETIN No.69, July 1946, "we are told practically nothing" and the nun's medical adviser, Dr. Philouze, reveals "a surprising lack of appreciation of the sort of informa­tion required so that one cannot place much confidence in his medical judgment."

Miss. Cannin was said to be suffering from tubercular peritonitis when cured i~ 1947, but Dr. West protests against the view that T.B. peritonitis was "finally estab­lished on clinical grounds". Ail that one can say is that the "patient suffered from a long-standing but fluctuating abdominal disturbance of undetermined origin". "It could have been in part, functional" he continues, for she "had recovered several times before, and she recovered again very rapidly after her visit to Lourdes".

"Such an event" he says; "deserves no special comment".

Jeanne Fretel's case (1948) "seems practically most remarkable; it is a tragedy that information is so lacking. On the unsatisfactory, jumbled and inconsistent infor­mation available, no definite scientific statement can be made about Jeanne Fretel's condition”.

The absence of "crucial evidence" is "regrettable" about Fraulein Traute Fulda (1950).

Regarding Mrs. Cauteault (1952), since the underlying cause is so obscure, the diagnosis is more of a label than an exact scientific concept, and it may well cover a while a variety of philosophical processes ...”

In the case of Miss. Louise Jamain (1937) Dr. West concludes, "it is sad and tantalizing that there should be conflict between the bacteriological and radiological findings, and consequent doubt as to the interpretation of the case".

Lourdes water in individual plastic bottles
for distribution
courtesy: Wikipedia

Mrs. Rose Martin's (1947) case deserves clear scrutiny because it is claimed that she was cured of cancer. She had a swelling in the bowel which was diagnosed as cancer, but Dr. West finds it "surprising" that her surgeon (Dr. Fey) “did not consider it worthwhile to make sure the swelling was cancerous by ordering a biopsy or at least by carrying out a rectoscopy". Dr. Strobino at Lourdes "argues that the diagnosis of cancer was virtually certain and a biopsy unnecessary since the patient was bed­ridden and wasting away"; but this argument carries little conviction, says Dr. West, because "other complications besides cancer could have produced both swelling and wasting illness". Several examples are given but the most likely is that Mrs. Martin was simply suffering from severe constipation and that the lump was a mass of compressed faeces". It is known that she was taking large doses of morphine - a drug which causes severe constipation - and it is significant that the Lourdes doctors stress that there had been "no abnormal evacuation of the bowels prior to the dramatic recovery". If there had been, says. Dr. West, "It could have been an. important point in favour of the compressed faeces of inflammatory mass interpretations, hence the importance of denying it". “Unfortunately for the protagonists of the miracle cure”, he continues, "the Lourdes dossier contains an account by Mrs. Martin herself of just such an evacuation during the journey. A nurse, Miss. Glory, remembers that Mrs. Martin used the bed-pan, and that she was constantly demanding morphine. On the advice of the pilgrimage doctor, Miss Glory, gave an injection of Lourdes water and camphor instead of the morphine - a fact that "may well explain the sudden relief of the patient's constipation and passing away of the offending matter and the conse­quent recovery". Dr. West doubts Mrs. Martin's cancerous condition and “therefore fails to see why her recovery was considered miraculous or even partially remarkable.

Each of the eleven cases mentioned in this book is found wanting. Insufficient evidence, unsatisfactory diagnosis, sometimes a lack of honesty; these and other fac­tors help to create the illusion of Lourdes!

The weakness of the Lourdes doctors, says Dr. West, "is that, being impelled to arrive at a predetermined goal, they cannot let themselves be carried along by the facts, and must strive to carry the facts with them.

Dr. West is unlikely to convince a fervent Catholic, but he cannot fail to impress the critical reader. While the Lourdes Medical Bureau claims eleven miraculous cures during the years 1937 to 1952, no mention is made of the hundreds of deaths ­miraculous or otherwise - which have taken place at Lourdes during the same period!

It would be equally revealing and interesting if, like Dr. West some one in this country conducts a scientific research into the numerous alleged miracles at the nu­merous "Lourdes" scattered allover Ceylon such as Madhu, Talawila, Thevatta, All Saints, St. Sebastin, Adam's Peak, Kataragama, Munneswaram, Koneswaram, Thirukethiswaram, Beruwala etc.

Editor's Note: The book referred to by Dr Kovoor, "Eleven Lourdes Miracles: A Critical Analysis of "Miracle Cures" at the Lourdes Shrine, Based on Medical Investigation of Selected Case Histories" was published by Helix Press in 1957. The book seems to be now out-of-print.
 

Courtesy: Abraham Kovoor, Exposing Paranormal Claims, published by B. Premanand

Date of Publication: 15 March 2000

Read More

Weeping Idols and Icons: from Virgin Mary to Chamundeshwari

B Premanand

Experiment: 37

Effect: The Virgin Mary sheds real tears, and even the sweat on her body tastes saltish.

In 1988 all over the world, icons and statues of the Virgin Mary started weeping. The tears tasted saltish and were believed to be real tears. This happened in Kerala also.

Props: Hollow statue of the Virgin Mary made of plaster of Paris or clay with two holes in the eyes, filled with salt and water and sealed at the bottom.

Method: The salt filled in the hollow of the statue melts with moisture and tears drip from the two holes in the eyes. Sweat forms on the body because of pores on the plaster of Paris or clay.

Experiment - 38

Effect: Idols of Hindu gods and goddesses weep.

In earlier days Hindu gods and goddesses also wept. It was considered to be an ill-omen indicating the ruler had committed some mistake and the god was upset. Earlier in this century, goddess Chamundeshwari at Mysore started weeping when the Mysore Maharaja appointed Sir Mirza Ismail, a muslim as dewan of Mysore State. Priests and Hindu fundamentalists did not like a Muslim being appointed Dewan of a Hindu State. Chamundeshwari was the family deity of the Mysore royal family. The priests rushed to the maharaja to tell him that the goddess is upset by the appointment and she was weeping. The dewan sent an intelligence officer to investigate the story and the trick was exposed.

Props: Idol of god or goddess with crown and hollow up to the neck and with an inlet at the crown and two holes in the eyes. Water and Wax.

Method: Crown of the idol is filled with water and the holes in the eyes sealed with wax. When the wax from the eyes is removed, water drips through the two holes in the eyes.

During 2009-2010 reports appeared in a section of media that a flex print of Mary with Infant Jesus at Kattachira, Kerala had started miraculously shedding tears. This received wide publicity and the devotees started flocking to the church.

This ‘miracle’ was debunked by Prof Narendra Nayak, who, along with the activists of Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham, visited the St.Mary’s Jacobite Chapel, Kattachira and investigated the case. As a fitting response, Prof Nayak made a flex print of none other than B. Premand shed tears “over cheap tricks being called miracles.

Read More

Miracle of Multiplying Food: Jesus Christ to Satya Sai Baba

B Premanand

Jesus Christ is said to have multiplied 5 loaves of bread to 5000 and 7 into 7000. In Mahabharatha, Droupadi, wife of the five brothers, Pandavas, is said to have multiplied two grains of cooked rice to feed hundreds. Satya Sai Baba is also said to have multiplied food to feed his devotees.

Multiplying the Bread and Fish - Painting by Giovanni Lanfranco

If one sows one wheat seed, maybe one can reap 500 wheat grains. But once food is cooked it cannot multiply.

Earlier in 1940's to prove that cooked food can really multiply, people kept bread slices or chappathi in a wet cloth. It was opened after a week or month and was seen to have multiplied. Believers were flabbergasted by the miracle. But it was only the growth of fungus on the bread or chappathi by keeping it in wet cloth. There was nothing supernatural.

Experiment: 36

Effect: Popcorn, biscuit or toffee put into a container increase to many more.

Props: A long metal container and a short container with a rim projecting a little out and a long tight lid. Popcorn, or biscuits or toffees.

Method:  Tightly pack the long container with popcorn and insert the short container. Show the container and the lid. Reverse them at the same time, the mouth of the container to your side and the mouth of the lid to face the audi­ence. Put one popcorn into the container, close it with the long lid, move your hands remove the lid, and pour out the popcorn from the container.

If you want to multiply food in large quantities the food (or bread) has to be stored under the stage or under a table with a hole big enough to pass up the bread. Over this a table cloth is put with a hole fixed with a cloth which could be removed from the bottom. Over this hole is placed a vessel with a false bottom. Then put one bread in the empty vessel, and thereafter take as much bread as you have stored underneath, passed up to you by a boy hidden under the stage or under the table.

Jesus Christ transformed five loaves into 5000 on a sand mound.

A similar "miracle" was telecast on National TV in the serial "Rajni". Priya Tendulkar, the heroine, exposes a godman who produces from an empty vessel whatever fruits the devotees ask for. All the fruits were stored under the stage. The vessel was shown empty and kept on a particular place on the stage which had a hole. A person hidden below went on passing the fruit up through the false bottom when the audience named it. Priya went under the stage, tied up the youth, and started passing the wrong fruit so that the godman was exposed.

Satya Sai Baba is said to have produced various fruits from a tamarind tree in the dimness after sunset. Any fruit his followers asked for were pro­duced. Without storing the fruits beforehand no one can produce different fruits from a tamarind tree. This trick was performed by him in the early years of his life when there was not such a host of devotees in his ashram. He has stopped performing this trick now, along with the feat of multiplying food. 

Read More

Miracles in Religion

B Premanand

No religion would be accepted by people unless the gods of these religions are shown to have supernatural powers. Their faith in god is not because they love god, but because they have been made to believe that god is ail-powerful. Though it is argued that faith in god turns people from materialism to spiritual­ity, it is obvious that the faith is for material gains - here and in the hereafter. Everything one does in the guise of spirituality, even sacrifices, is for a better tomorrow. The highest aspiration of the people is Moksha, or for the Atma (Soul) to become one with the Paramatma (Universal soul), i.e. to become one with god - to become god, or the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent god.

Religion has not been able to help humanity achieve this object. But it knows how to exploit them. Science and scientific temper alone can help fulfill the aspirations of humanity for a better, finer life on earth.

Let us now look at the miracles of each surviving religion and find out whether they are miracles.

Judaism

In the Old Testament, Moses is said to have performed several miracles.  One was transforming his rod into a snake and then back again to a rod.

Experiment - 34

Effect: Transforming a rod into a snake and then back to a rod.

Props: One snake.

Method: This trick was performed long before Moses performed it. The two ends of a snake, the tail and mouth-end, are held in two hands and the reptile pulled straight. Strong pressure in the centre of the head with the thumb and the pointing finger held on both sides makes the snake stiff. It cannot move even after lowering the tail-end to the floor. It looks like a rod. To make it crawl again let free the hand gripping the tail part and shake the snake and throw it on the ground; within a few minutes it will regain its moving power and crawl away.

  

Christianity

New Testament:

In a radio interview in the United States, I was confronted by a Catholic woman on the phone. In the United States, radio interviews are very different from here. Here one interviewer asks questions, but there people interested in the subject can turn up at the radio station to ask any question pertaining to the subject. Even other people hearing the interviews in their homes, can ask any questions over a phone which has to be answered by the person being inter­viewed. If he is unable to answer, he is greeted with loud jeering and hooting.

During my interview the woman phoned up and asked "Mr. Premanand, what you tell about the miracles of the Indian godmen are true. They are real frauds. Now tell us your opinion of the miracles of Jesus Christ."

I tried to evade the question by answering that "I was not living two thousand years ago when Jesus was said to be alive, please ask me questions of what is happening today."

She again asked me if I had read the Bible to which I answered in the affirmative. I even told her that I can talk and debate on the Bible.

Then her question was as to what I thought of the miracles said to have been performed by Jesus Christ in the New Testament.

I asked her whether she wanted an evasive answer or a truthful opinion, and whether my answer would upset her.

She answered me that Christians show the other cheek when they are slapped on one, and they never get emotionally upset.

B Premanand

Having been assured that my answer was not going to upset her, I gave her my truthful opinion that the miracles of Jesus Christ as narrated in the Bible are false.

Instantly she burst out on the phone, "who brought this bastard to the United States?" I was shocked by her anger.

I had to keep my emotion under control. I told her that the word "bastard" is a divine word found only in holy scriptures and not in the dictionary of the rationalists as they know that they are born to parents, and even if they may not know, or have proof as to who those parents are, they are born out of union between a male and a female with the fusion of sperm and ova. So nobody can be a bastard. The only person who is said to have been without a parent is god. So she must not use this divine word on me.

This answer infuriated her further and she spat out in anger. "Hang this bastard!"

I replied to her coolly that I didn't mind being hanged. But I would like to ask her a question before being hanged. "Do you really believe in god, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost?"

Her answer was "Yes, fully."

I asked her whether she had read chapter ten of the Holy Bible St. Mathew wherein Jesus Christ sends his twelve apostles to the people to perform all the miracles said to have been done by Christ.

But they failed in their attempts and questioned Christ why they failed and his answer was "because of your unbelief. If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove: and nothing shall be impossible unto you." (St. Mathew Chapter 17, No.19).

As she had said that she had full faith in the trinity, I would be happy, if she hangs me to death and resurrects me like the resurrection of Lazarus when the first thing I would do would be to become a Christian and believe in Christ. "Before you kill me, let us go to a hospital where we can find a dead body and you resurrect it and prove that you really believe in god, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost." She was silenced and I got the applause.

Now let us take some miracles said to have been performed by Jesus Christ.

  

Experiment: 35

Effect: Transformation of water to wine.

This incident is narrated in St. John Chapter 2, I to II. Jesus Christ is said to have attended a marriage in Cana of Galilee. There was not enough wine for all. Christ asked people to bring water. It was brought and he asked them to pour the water in six stone jars kept there. The water in the six stone jars was transformed into wine. If I was there at the time I would surely have asked why the water had to be poured into the six stone jars. If he really could transform water into wine, it could as well be transformed in the vessel used for bringing water.

Props:

1. One long tumbler, one short tumbler which goes into the first tumbler with its rim a little projected outside.
2. Another aluminium tumbler which if reversed over the two tumblers the short tumbler would get stuck in it and would not be visible.
3. Water and wine.

Method: Fill the long tumbler with wine and place the short tumbler in it. Take the long tumbler in the left hand, pour water and then reverse the alu­minium tumbler over it and press. Move your hands over the closed tumbler, remove the aluminium tumbler lid and keep it slowly on the table hiding the bottom from the audience. Distribute the wine.

When the aluminium tumbler is placed on the long tumbler and pressed, the short tumbler with water gets stuck in it while in the long tumbler there is already wine.

Declaring that he is the incarnation of all gods including Jesus Christ, Satya Sai Baba claims to have transformed water into nectar and even petrol and diesel. If he really had powers why does he do this transformation in his own vessel? If I was there two thousand years ago I would have certainly requested Jesus to transform water in a well into wine so that any time people could go to the well and draw the wine. Then only would I concede that Christ had real powers. This is what I ask the present day god men like Satya Sai Baba. Instead of transforming water into nectar or petrol in his own pots or tins, let him transform a well or tank into nectar or petrol. Then we will have to accept his powers. Even in nature crude oil can only be tapped from an oil well. But if a water well can produce petrol, our country would not need to put up petro-chemical plants. It is a pity that no god man has yet done so in the history of miracles.

[Here is another method to "transform water to wine". Here the "transformed" water looks like wine] 

Read More