- The Faith Healers
Infobox_Book
name = The Faith Healers
author =James Randi (Foreword byCarl Sagan )
cover_artist =
publisher =Prometheus Books
release_date = 1987, 1989
media_type = Hardcover/Paperback
pages = 328
size_weight =
isbn = ISBN 0-87975-369-2 and ISBN 0-87975-535-0"The Faith Healers" is a 1987 book by magician and skeptic
James Randi with a foreword byCarl Sagan , that documents Randi's exploration of the world offaith healing , and his exposing thesleight of hand trickery and deceit by its practitioners.In eighteen chapters Randi explores the origins of faith healing and
psychic surgery , and critically analyzes the claims made byAA Allen ,Ernest Angley ,WV Grant ,Peter Popoff ,Oral Roberts ,Pat Robertson , andFather DiOrio for his claims of miracles at theSanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in the town ofLourdes . Randi shows how people are tricked with magician's tricks under the guise of religion.Randi has claimed that the 1992
Steve Martin film, "Leap of Faith" had "nineteen items that were taken directly from my book, and several instances of the same dialog being used that was quoted in my book." [cite news | url=http://www.randi.org/jr/120701.html | title=Leap of Faith| publisher=James Randi Educational Foundation | date= December 7, 2001 | first=James | last=Randi | accessdate =2007-03-11]"Nutrition Health Review" called this book "a strong indictment of charlatans who prey upon the gullible."cite news | url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0876/is_n56/ai_9164598 | title=The Faith Healers. - book reviews| publisher=
Nutrition Health Review | date= Fall, 1990 | first= | last= | accessdate =2007-03-11] The review continued, "Most painful to the author is his realization that many of the exploited sick continue to believe despite evidence that they have been defrauded."Explaining how the victims of fraudulent faith healers fool themselves, the reviewer wrote, "Because each disease has a natural variability, it has 'ups and downs,' Randi notes. When the system is attacked, the illness goes through stages of resistance and temporary retraction. It is upon this phenomenon that the charlatans exploit their sometimes spectacular 'results'."
ee also
*
James Randi Educational Foundation References
External links
* [http://www.prometheusbooks.com/catalog/book_709.html Description] from
Prometheus Books
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