Healing on the Streets

[pauldmin]

Has anybody from the UK heard of something called "Healing on the Streets".
I recently got a church news letter describing some of the testamonials from people who have been healed and there seemed to be a common thread.

They mentioned something about their legs being different lengths and then being miraculously healed before their eyes!
This immediately rung alarm bells because of Randi's book on Faith Healers, as it seems to be a common carnival trick.

The only thing I don't know is if the healers are aware of what they are doing, so I plan to try and observe one of these sessions.

They are run by a guy called Mark Marx, who seems to be putting local church people through a training course for this. I am concerned that people are going to go all "Christian Scientist" on us and start thinking they can cure everything.

This is somewhat worrying as well, because my girlfriend's family are strongly connected to a local church and I don't want them to get drawn into this. ( I'm atheist, by the way ).

It is a bit difficult for me to start debunking this as I don't want to alienate myself from the people I know in the church who are otherwise fairly moderate Christians and are decent.

Any suggestions what I should do?

 

[Soapy Sam]

Not about the preachy stuff, but in the case of apparently "different length" legs you might advise people to consult "The Stretch Book" by Jim & Phil Wharton. It's a primer for athletes , amateur and pro on how to effectively stretch muscle groups.
They make the point that muscle tension can pull the spine out of alignment leading to apparent disparity of leg length in a resting posture, which can be misdiagnosed as scoliosis. Simple relaxation and stretching exercises can enable spasmed muscle to relax, by stretching opposed muscle, restoring the apparent leg length difference to zero.
Point is, unless you cut the legs off someone and measure them, it can be very hard to actually say if one is longer than the other without actually bolting a tape to the hip joint!

 

[Bikewer]

I'm much more inclined to agree with the OP's assessment of a scam as this particular "cure" has such a long track record among faith healers and other charlatans.

Randi describes how these sessions are conducted in the book mentioned.

 

[steve s]

Not about the preachy stuff, but in the case of apparently "different length" legs you might advise people to consult "The Stretch Book" by Jim & Phil Wharton. It's a primer for athletes , amateur and pro on how to effectively stretch muscle groups.
They make the point that muscle tension can pull the spine out of alignment leading to apparent disparity of leg length in a resting posture, which can be misdiagnosed as scoliosis. Simple relaxation and stretching exercises can enable spasmed muscle to relax, by stretching opposed muscle, restoring the apparent leg length difference to zero.
Point is, unless you cut the legs off someone and measure them, it can be very hard to actually say if one is longer than the other without actually bolting a tape to the hip joint!

The answer is much simpler than that. Sit in a chair with your legs straight out in front of you. They should be the same length. Now move your feet slightly to the left. Your left leg should now appear longer than your right. Now shift your feet to the right and behold a miracle! Your right leg is now longer than your left. Praise Gawd!

ETA: As Bikewer mentioned, it's all in Randi's book The Faith Healers.

Steve S

 

[twistor59]

I am concerned that people are going to go all "Christian Scientist" on us and start thinking they can cure everything.

Christian Scientist - mmm yeah I was raised as of those !

 

[Baby Nemesis]

Has anybody from the UK heard of something called "Healing on the Streets".
I recently got a church news letter describing some of the testamonials from people who have been healed and there seemed to be a common thread.

They mentioned something about their legs being different lengths and then being miraculously healed before their eyes! ...

It is a bit difficult for me to start debunking this as I don't want to alienate myself from the people I know in the church who are otherwise fairly moderate
Christians and are decent.

Any suggestions what I should do?

Why would "moderate" Christians, or any for that matter, be alienated just because you debunk one supposed healing as a trick? I mean, that would hardly mean miracles never happen or anything. I'm sure most people will want to know if there's a risk of them being scammed.

 

[Beerina]

When these miraculously "healed" people can produce medical records, sure to exist, of their different-length legs, as well as the name of a living, licensed doctor who will corroborate it, having measured it and noted it in the file years earlier, let me know.

I'll wait.


And it should be easy enough to test, assuming Yahweh isn't assing that day, declining to heal people because we're actually looking to see if the heal occurs.

 

[Beerina]

It occurs to me Yahweh could be honest, but still decline to heal because of a statistically unlikely cluster of low-faith lame folk the day of the test.

 

[pauldmin]

Could all magicians look at this video and give comments?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtoosvGIqYs

It looks to me like he has pulled the boot off slightly and simply pushed it back on. This is the guy who has apparently "trained" some people to go out in my local streets and lay on hands. Is it really that simple a trick?
If so, why does the participant not notice anything shady happening?

 

[Baby Nemesis]

When people believe someone knows what they're doing and is trustworthy, they're less likely to question them. They won't be on the look-out for signs of malpractice. And if it's accompanied by some kind of ritual they believe helps like prayer, they'll be even less on the look-out. And if they do think something might be untoward, they often won't say anything for fear of the disapproval of the group they're in, especially if they're not sure they're correct.

 

[Her Dark Star]

It's a lie, he made the other leg shorter!

Seriously, its a crock. You can change the apparent length of your leg when sitting in any number of ways, hips not square, stretching out, turning the foot, relaxing or tightening muscles or indeed as someone suggests simply manipulating the shoe. Unless the woman had previously suffered a significant limp or limited mobility that is now, suddenly and permanently cured, you can put it down to nature.
How you convince someone who really wants to believe otherwise?
I'm afraid that I have no idea, that really would be a miracle.