FANATICAL FRAUDS.

NZ Truth, Issue 59, 4 August 1906, Page 7

FANATICAL FRAUDS.

Faith-Healing Fakirs.

Prayers, a Pound a "Pop. 11

Christian Science Quacks and Quackery.

The disclosures made from time to time m connection with Christian Science and other faith-healing doctrines are of special interest m these days, for the reason that new religions,- which embody healing by prayer and faith as one of their chief principles are being manufactured m America at the rate of six per year. So far, persons who have been guilty of gross neglect m providing proper medical attention for anyone who has died under the faith-healing process, invariably escape punishment or get off with a nominal penalty when they plead that they merely followed out a fundamental rule of their religion. Some sects claim" that marvellous remedies have been accomplished SOLELY BY PRAYER, but often the •. boasted convalescent relapses and dies from what he had testified had been fully healed by God, m answer to prayers that have been paid for ,at so much per time. Many diseases ; treated by prayer are really self-limited, and •sufferers recover from them naturally; without treatment of any kind, but "faith", and prayer get the credit every ! time. . There are certain latent powei-s m every constitution which remain almost! till the moment of death, and many, sick persons have been kept alive long after the cleverest doctors had hoped they might, simply by the influence of their mental or emotional states It is possible, owing to this reason, that many Christian Scientists have seemed, at the instance of united bedside 'prayer, to regain a new- lease of life, even on their deathbeds. Afterwards,' when THE ARTIFICIAL STRENGTH gone the way of all flesh, their co-re-has ' become ' exhausted, and . they have Unionist's \ave put down the failure of the cure' to a relapse into unfaithfulness, and have used the dead backslider to point to a moral. . . A. scientific stddy of human nature will brush away all surprises at latter-day miracles, but, unfortunately, the prevalent ignorance of human nature is appalling m its immensity, aad. that is why so many faith-heal-ers wxr's: fat on the fees for supposed cures for which they claim the credit through their familiarity with God m prayer. When "Elijah" Dowie was at the zenith of his popularity, the walls of his church were decorated with crutches and surgical appliances which had been cast aside by devotees who imagined themselves cured, but there is scarce one of his followers who does not know him for A HOLLOW SHAM. In Queensland where Christian Scientists and # kindred associations have not as yet formed themselves into villages, manufacturing or ' agricultural communities, there is always, an unbeliever at hand tb report suspicious or protracted cases of ill■fKS. and.. cases of death owing to failure to provide proper medical treatment are almost unknown, but. such lamentable deceases are frequent occurrences m America, the home of quack religio.n, and even London, with its thousands of qualified doctors, has recently furnished an example of fatal fanaticism. -In Brisbane there are a considerable number of persons who profess to cure diseases by the laying on of hands and prayer or .by hypnotic knowledge, and it is high time some of them received official hints to adopt a more honest mode of living.