religion
Am I the only one who is tired of hearing that, in India, homeopathy is doing wonders for the current pandemic? All of the reports that I have seen are based on little more than hearsay, anecdotes or pseudo-science. If anyone really wanted to find out whether homeopathy works, they would need more than that; in fact, they would need to conduct a clinical trial.
But wait!
As it happens, there are already ~500 clinical trials of homeopathy. Many show positive effects, but the reliable ones usually don’t. Crucially, the totality of the evidence fails to be positive. So, running further studies is hardly a promising exercise. In fact, considering how utterly implausible homeopathy is, it even seems like an unethical waste of resources.
But many homeopaths disagree, particularly those in India. And it has been reported that several trials have been given the go-ahead in India and are now up and running. This regrettable fact is being heavily exploited for swaying public opinion in favour of homeopathy. The way I see it, the situation is roughly this:
- a few trials of homeopathy are being set up;
- they are designed by enthusiasts of homeopathy who lack research expertise;
- therefore their methodology is weak and biased towards generating a false-positive result;
- while this is going on, the homeopathic propaganda machine is running overtime;
- when the results will finally emerge, they will get published in a 3rd rate journal;
- homeopaths worldwide will celebrate them as a triumph for homeopathy;
- critical thinkers will be dismayed at their quality and will declare that the conclusions drawn by over-enthusiastic homeopaths are not valid;
- in the end, we will be exactly where we were before: quasi-religious believers in homeopathy will feel vexed because their findings are not accepted in science, and everyone else will be baffled by the waste of time, opportunity and resources as well as by the tenacity of homeopaths to make fools of themselves.
But criticising is easy; doing it properly is often more difficult.
So, how should it be done?
The way I see it, one should do the following:
- carefully consider the implausibility of homeopathy;
- thoroughly study the existing evidence on homeopathy;
- abandon all plans to study homeopathy in the light of the above.
But this hardly is inconceivable considering the current situation in India. If further studies of homeopathy are unavoidable, the following procedure might therefore be reasonable:
- assemble a team of experts including trial methodologists, statisticians, epidemiologists and homeopaths;
- ask them to design a rigorous protocol of one or two studies that would provide a definitive answer to the research question posed;
- make sure that, once everyone is happy with the protocol, all parties commit to abiding by the findings that will emerge from these trials;
- conduct the studies under adequately strict supervision;
- evaluate the results according to the protocol;
- publish them in a top journal;
- do the usual press-releases, interviews etc.
In India, it seems that the last point in this agenda came far too early. This is because, in this and several other countries, homeopathy has become more a belief system than a medicine. And because it is about belief, the believers will avert any truly meaningful and rigorous test of homeopathy’s efficacy.
This was essentially the question raised in a correspondence with a sceptic friend. His suspicion was that statistical methods might produce false-positive overall findings, if the research is done by enthusiasts of the so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) in question (or other areas of inquiry which I will omit because they are outside my area of expertise). Consciously or inadvertently, such researchers might introduce a pro-SCAM bias into their work. As the research is done mostly by such enthusiasts; the totality of the evidence would turn out to be heavily skewed in favour of the SCAM under investigation. The end-result would then be a false-positive overall impression about the SCAM which is less based on reality than on the wishful thinking of the investigators.
How can one deal with this problem?
How to minimise the risk of being overwhelmed by false-positive research?
Today, we have several mechanisms and initiatives that are at least partly aimed at achieving just this. For instance, there are guidelines on how to conduct the primary research so that bias is minimised. The CONSORT statements are an example. As many studies pre-date CONSORT, we need a different approach for reviews of clinical trials. The PRISMA guideline or the COCHRANE handbook are attempts to make sure systematic reviews are transparent and rigorous. These methods can work quite well in finding the truth, but one needs to be aware, of course, that some researchers do their very best to obscure it. I have also tried to go one step further and shown that the direction of the conclusion correlates with the rigour of the study (btw: this was the paper that prompted Prof Hahn’s criticism and slander of my work and person).
So, problem sorted?
Not quite!
The trouble is that over-enthusiastic researchers may not always adhere to these guidelines, they may pretend to adhere but cut corners, or they may be dishonest and cheat. And what makes this even more tricky is the possibility that they do all this inadvertently; their enthusiasm could get the better of them, and they are doing research not to TEST WHETHER a treatment works but to PROVE THAT it works.
In the realm of SCAM we have a lot of this – trust me, I have seen it often with my own eyes, regrettably sometimes even within my own team of co-workers. The reason for this is that SCAM is loaded with emotion and quasi-religious beliefs; and these provide a much stronger conflict of interest than money could ever do, in my experience.
And how might we tackle this thorny issue?
After thinking long and hard about it, I came up in 2012 with my TRUSTWORTHYNESS INDEX:
If we calculated the percentage of a researcher’s papers arriving at positive conclusions and divided this by the percentage of his papers drawing negative conclusions, we might have a useful measure. A realistic example might be the case of a clinical researcher who has published a total of 100 original articles. If 50% had positive and 50% negative conclusions about the efficacy of the therapy tested, his TI would be 1.
Depending on what area of clinical medicine this person is working in, 1 might be a figure that is just about acceptable in terms of the trustworthiness of the author. If the TI goes beyond 1, we might get concerned; if it reaches 4 or more, we should get worried.
An example would be a researcher who has published 100 papers of which 80 are positive and 20 arrive at negative conclusions. His TI would consequently amount to 4. Most of us equipped with a healthy scepticism would consider this figure highly suspect.
Of course, this is all a bit simplistic, and, like all other citation metrics, my TI provides us not with any level of proof; it merely is a vague indicator that something might be amiss. And, as stressed already, the cut-off point for any scientist’s TI very much depends on the area of clinical research we are dealing with. The lower the plausibility and the higher the uncertainty associated with the efficacy of the experimental treatments, the lower the point where the TI might suggest something to be fishy.
Based on this concept, I later created the ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE HALL OF FAME. This is a list of researchers who manage to go through life researching their particular SCAM without ever publishing a negative conclusion about it. In terms of TI, these people have astronomically high values. The current list is not yet long, but it is growing:
John Weeks (editor of JCAM)
Deepak Chopra (US entrepreneur)
Cheryl Hawk (US chiropractor)
David Peters (osteopathy, homeopathy, UK)
Nicola Robinson (TCM, UK)
Peter Fisher (homeopathy, UK)
Simon Mills (herbal medicine, UK)
Gustav Dobos (various, Germany)
Claudia Witt (homeopathy, Germany and Switzerland)
George Lewith (acupuncture, UK)
John Licciardone (osteopathy, US)
The logical consequence of a high TI would be that researchers of that nature are banned from obtaining research funds and publishing papers, because their contribution is merely to confuse us and make science less reliable.
I am sure there are other ways of addressing the problem of being mislead by false-positive research. If you can think of one, I’d be pleased to hear about it.
In his writings, DD Palmer (the father of chiropractic), left little doubt about how he felt about himself and his achievements. A few quotes will suffice to give an impression:
- I was the first to adjust the cause of disease
- Chiropractors adjust causes instead of treating effects
- Vaccination and inoculation are pathological; chiropractic is physiological
- It was my ingenious brain which discovered [chiropractic’s] first principle; I was its source; I gave it birth; to me all chiropractors trace their chiropractic lineage
- Among the wonderful achievements of this century, the discovery and development of chiropractic is preeminent; it is destined to replace all methods which treat effects
With this post, I will simply outline DD’s extraordinary life. I intend to leave it to you, the reader of this post, to decide whether it was the life of a genius or that of a charlatan.
- 1845, 7 March: birth in Port Perry, near Toronto, Canada
- 1865, April: Palmer family immigrate to the US
- 1867: DD Palmer starts as a teacher in Concord, Iowa
- 1869, November: DD and his younger brother TJ become beekeepers in Letts, Iowa
- 1871, 20 January: DD marries Abba Lord who calls herself a ‘psychometrist, clairvoyant physician, soul reader and business medium’.
- 1872, 6 July: DD publishes an article in the ‘ Religio Philosophical Journal’ calling himself an atheist
- 1872: DD later states that he started his career as a ‘healer’ during this period
- 1873: Abba leaves DD and later becomes a ‘homeopathic physician’ in Mineapolis.
- 1876, 7 October: DD marries Louvenia Landers, a widow; they have 4 children together, including BJ who later becomes DD’s partner in the chiropractic business.
- 1878, 19 April: the Palmer’s 5-months old daughter dies
- 1878, May: DD is elected president of the ‘Western Illonois and Eastern Iowa Society of Bee Keepers’
- 1880: DD publishes a pamphlet about spiritualism and refers to himself as a ‘spiritualist’
- 1881 BJ Palmer is born; he later all but took over the chiropractic business and is often referred to as the ‘developer of chiropractic’
- 1882 DD sells his beekeeping business, moves to What Cheer, Iowa where the rest of his family live
- 1883, 30 May: DD opens a grocery store in What Cheer
- 1884, 20 November: Louvenia dies of consumption
- 1885, February: DD sells his grocery store and ‘moves on’
- 1885, 25 May: DD marries Martha Henning. The marriage is short-lived; on 8 July of the same year, DD posted a public notice in the ‘What Cheer Patriot’ disowning her
- 1885: DD moves back to Letts where he teaches at the local school
- 1886: DD moves to Iola, Kansas where he practices as a magnetic healer and calls himself ‘Dr Palmer, healer’
- 1886, 3 September: DD advertises his services as a ‘vitalist healer’ in Burlington, Iowa
- 1887, 9 October: DD advertises ‘dis-ease is a condition of not ease, lack of ease’, a theme that he later uses regularly for chiropractic
- 1887, 25 October: one of DD’s patients has died and there is an inquest. The local paper describes DD with the term ‘dense ignorance’ and the coroner states that ‘we censure the so-called doctor, DD Palmer, attending physician, for his lack of treatment and ignorance in the case’. DD leaves Burlington to avoid persecution (a new law requires all healers to register with the state medical board. DD does not have such a registration)
- 1887: DD moves to Davenport and advertises: DD Palmer, cures without medicine…’
- 1888, 6 November: DD marries Villa; they stay together until her death in 1905
- 1894: DD publishes his views on smallpox vaccination: ‘…the monstrous delusion … fastened on us by the medical profession, enforced by the state boards, and supported by the mass of unthinking people …’
- 1894: DD publishes his views about ‘greedy doctors’ and the ‘medical monopoly’
- 1895, January: DD starts a business selling gold fish
- 1895, 18 September: DD administers the 1st spinal manipulation to Harvey Lillard (DD later seems confused about this date stating that this ‘was done about Dec. 1st, 1895’)
- 1896, 14 January is the date when, according to DD, chiropractic received its name with the help of Reverent Weed
- 1896: DD publishes an article in ‘The Magnetic’ stating ‘ the magnetic cure: how to get well and keep well without using poisonous drugs’
- 1896: DD publishes on bacteria outlining his theory that bacteria cannot grow on healthy tissue; keeping tissue healthy is therefore the best prevention against infections; and this is best achieved by magnetic healing
- 1896: DD claimed that 4 years earlier, in 1892, he had discovered the magnetic cure for cancer; it involved freeing the stomach and spleen of poisons
- 1896: DD formulates his concept of treating the root cause of any disease
- 1896, 10 July: DD, his wife and his brother turn the ‘Palmer School of Magnetic Cure’ in Davenport into an officially registered corporation
- 1897: DD defines chiropractic as ‘a science of healing without drugs’
- 1898: DD opens his first school of chiropractic in Davenport, the ‘Palmer School of Chiropractic’ which has survivied to the present day.
- 1902, 27 April: DD first used the term ‘subluxation’ in a letter to his son BJ (‘… where you find the greatest heat, there you will find the subluxation causing the inflammation which produces the fever…’)
- 1902: DD leaves suddenly for California, apparently to open a West Coast branch of the Palmer School; he stays for about two years and then returns to Davenport leaving behind substantial depts
- 1902, 6 September: DD is arrested in Pasadena when a patient suffering from consumption dies after DD’s second adjustment; in October, the charges were dropped because of a technicality
- 1903: DD opens the ‘Palmer Chiropractic School in Santa Barbara, California, together with his former student Oakley Smith
- 1903 DD is charged with practising medicine without licence but, before the case goes to trial, DD goes to Chicago where he charters a school together two other chiropractors (Smith and Paxson); the project fails
- 1903, 30 April: DD is back in Davenport for the wedding of BJ with Mabel
- 1904, December: DD starts his new journal ‘The Chiropractor’ which survives until 1961. DD’s very first article is entitled ’17 Years of Practice’
- 1905: DD’s former students Langworthy and Smith accuse DD of stealing the concepts of chiropractic from the Bohemian bonesetters of Iowa
- 1905, 9 November: DD’s wife Villa overdoses on morphine and dies; the coroner is unable to tell whether she committed suicide or intended it for pain relief
- 1906, 11 January: DD marries Mary Hunter, apparently his first love from Letts
- 1906, 26 March: DD is again on trial for practising medicine without a licence. He is found guilty the next day. The penalty is US$ 350 or 105 days in jail. DD choses jail. However, his new wife, Mary, bails him out after 23 days.
- 1906: DD sells his share in the chiropractic business to his son and moves to Medford Oklahoma. The reasons for this split are said to be personal, financial and professional
- 1906, 4 June: in a letter to John Howard, DD accuses his son of dishonesty and of running the school badly
- 1906: BJ and DD publish their opus maximus ‘Science of Chiropractic’; DD claims that most of the chapters were written by him
- 1907, January: DD opens another grocery store
- 1908: together with a colleague, DD opens the ‘Palmer-Gregory Chiropractic College’; it lasts only 9 weeks. DD leaves because he discovered that Alva Gregory, a medical doctor, was teaching medical ideas
- 1908, 9 November: DD opens the ‘Palmer College of Chiropractic’ in Portland, Oregon
- 1908, December: DD starts a new journal, ‘The Chiropractor’s Adjuster’; many of his articles focus on criticising BJ. The journal only seems to have survives until 1910
- 1910, December: DD publishes his book ‘The Chiropractor’s Adjuster’.
- 1911: DD toys with the idea of turning chiropractic into a religion, as this would avoid chiropractors being sued for practising medicine without a license
- 1913: DD visits Davenport for the ‘Lyceum Parade’ where he is injured. Mary accuses BJ of striking his father with his car and thus indirectly causing his death, a version of events which is disputed
- 1913, September: DD is back in California and writes to JB Olson that he gave 22 lectures in Davenport. DD also reports: ‘… On the return I cured a man of sun stroke by one thrust on the 5th dorsal. That is what I call definitive, specific, scientific chiropractic…’
- 1913, 20 October: DD dies; the official cause of death is typhoid fever, a condition that he repeatedly claimed to be curable by a single spinal adjustment.
- 1914: DD Palmer’s book ‘The Chiropractor’ is published.
An intercessory prayer (IP) is an intervention characterized by one or more individuals praying for the well-being or a positive outcome of another person. There have been several trials of IP, but the evidence is far from clear-cut. Perhaps this new study will bring clarity?
The goal of this double-blind RCT was to assess the effects of intercessory prayer on psychological, spiritual and biological scores of breast 31 cancer patients who were undergoing radiotherapy (RT). The experimental group was prayed for, while the controla group received no such treatment. The intercessory prayer was performed by a group of six Christians, who prayed daily during 1 h while participant where under RT. The prayers asked for calm, peace, harmony and recovery of health and spiritual well-being of all participants. Data collection was performed in three time points (T0, T1 and T2).
Significant changes were noted in the intra-group analysis, concerning the decrease in spiritual distress score; negative religious/spiritual coping prevailed, while the total religious/spiritual coping increased between the posttest T2 to T0.
The authors concluded that begging a higher being for health recovery is a common practice among people, regardless of their spirituality and religiosity. In this study, this practice was performed through intercessory prayer, which promoted positive health effects, since spiritual distress and negative spiritual coping have reduced. Also, spiritual coping has increased, which means that participants facing difficult situations developed strategies to better cope and solve the problems. Given the results related to the use of intercession prayer, as a complementary therapeutic intervention, holistic nursing care should integrate this intervention, which is included in the Nursing Interventions Classification. Additionally, further evidence and research is needed about the effect of this nursing spiritual intervention in other cultures, in different clinical settings and with larger samples.
The write-up of this study is very poor and most confusing – so much so that I find it hard to make sense of the data provided. If I understand it correctly, the positive findings relate to changes within the experimental group. As RCTs are about compating one group to another, these changes are irrelevant. Therefore (and for several other methodological flaws as well), the conclusion that IP generates positive effects is not warranted by these new findings.
Like all other forms of paranormal healing, IP is implausible and lacks support of clinical effectiveness.
Recently, I stumbled across this website and the following text:
“Measles are an implant Scientology can handle using New Era Dianetics,” said Scientology chiropractor Colonel Dr. Roberto Cadiz. “As a chiropractor, I see mock ups of so-called serious diseases all the time,” Dr. Cadiz remarked. “And fully 99% of the time these diseases are chronic subluxations caused by dangerous childhood vaccinations the Psychs force on everyone.” “Chiropractic adjustment, the Purification Rundown, CalMag, and Dianetics auditing are crucial parts of the treatment regimen for cancers, measles, etc. What you need to find are the words in the implant that turn the disease on. As LRH wrote of leukemia:
‘”Leukaemia is evidently psychosomatic in origin and at least eight cases of leukaemia had been treated successfully by Dianetics after medicine had traditionally given up. The source of leukaemia has been reported to be an engram containing the phrase ‘It turns my blood to water.’”
“When the preclear gives the exact words hidden in the implant during an auditing session the implant vanishes. The e-meter literally blows up and falls of the table. Of course, continued chiropractic adjustments for life are needed to keep these heavy engrams from going into restimulation. Ideally, chiropractic adjustments should be done three times a week to maintain optimal health.”
Yes, this is so far out, it could almost be a hoax. But I fear it is for real. In the past I have come across many similar statements by scientology chiros. This led me to wonder for some time now: is there a link between the two?
Come to think of it, chiropractic and scientology have a lot in common:
- they are both based on frightfully weird theories,
- they both are known use the e-meter (or derivatives of it);
- they are both akin to a religion or cult;
- they are both fiercely against drugs;
- they both feel pursued by the medical profession;
- they both promote detox;
- they both recommend useless supplements;
- they both tend to be anti-vax;
- they both have powerful lobby groups to support them;
- they both tend to react very aggressively to criticism.
One does not have to look far to find further links on the internet – there are virtually hundreds. Take this website, for instance:
Stewart Edrich thanks Scientology becaue it aligns perfectly with his practice of chiropractic and clinical nutrition because it covers your entire existence. Unfortunately for him, someone found this on the internet which destroys what little positive credbility he has through Scientology…
David Murdoch learned about Scientology at Palmer — “A group of us were having dinner and he remarked that a lot of the chiropractic management firms got their management data directly from L. Ron Hubbard.”
Or have a look here, here or here.
Or read reports like this one:
A South Florida chiropractic office has agreed to pay a $170,000 settlement to a group of former employees who claim they were forced to participate in Scientology practices.
Or this one:
A South Carolina chiropractor has been sued by a former employee for allegedly forcing sexual acts — and Scientology — on her, according to a report.
So, does any of this prove anything?
No!
Does it raise a suspicion that there might be a link?
Yes!
I would be delighted to hear from people who can enlighten me either way.
Bleach can be a useful product – but not as a medicine taken by mouth or for injection.
A 39-year-old man with a fracture of the right acetabulum underwent open reduction and internal fixation with a plate under general anaesthesia. At closure, the surgeons injected 0.75% ropivacaine into the subcutaneous tissue of the incision wound for postoperative analgesia. Soon after injection, subcutaneous emphysema at the injection site and a sudden decrease in end-tidal CO2 tension with crude oscillatory ripples during the alveolar plateau phase were observed. Shortly thereafter, it was found that the surgeons had mistakenly injected hydrogen peroxide instead of ropivacaine. Fortunately, the patient recovered to normal status after 10 minutes. After the surgery, the patient was carefully observed for suspected pulmonary embolism and discharged without complications.
A team from Morocco reported the case of a massive embolism after hydrogen peroxide use in the cleaning of infected wound with osteosynthesis material left femoral done under spinal anaesthesia in a young girl of 17 years admitted after to the ICU intubated ventilated. She was placed under mechanical ventilation with vasoactive drugs for ten hours and then extubated without neurological sequelae.
Tunisian doctors reported 2 cases of embolic events with neurological signs. The first, during a pleural cleaning with hydrogen peroxide after cystectomy of a pulmonary hydatic cyst at the right upper lobe. The second case, after a pleural washing during the treatment of hepatitic hydatidosis complicated by a ruptured cyst in the thorax.
Canadian anaesthetists reported a case of suspected oxygen venous embolism during lumbar discectomy in the knee-prone position after use of H2O2. Immediately after irrigation of a discectomy wound with H2O2, a dramatic decrease of the PETCO2, blood pressure and oxygen saturation coincident with ST segment elevation occurred suggesting a coronary gas embolism. Symptomatic treatment was initiated immediately and the patient recovered without any sequelae.
Indian nephrologists reported a case of chlorine dioxide poisoning presenting with acute kidney injury.
A 1-year-old boy presented to the emergency department with vomiting and poor complexion after accidentally ingesting a ClO2-based household product. The patient had profound hypoxia that did not respond to oxygen therapy and required endotracheal intubation to maintain a normal oxygen level. Methemoglobinemia was suspected based on the gap between SpO2 and PaO2, and subsequently increased methemoglobin at 8.0% was detected. The patient was admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit for further management. After supportive treatment, he was discharged without any complications. He had no cognitive or motor dysfunction on follow up 3 months later.
The medical literature is littered with such case-reports. They give us a fairly good idea that the internal use of bleach is not a good idea. In fact, it has caused several deaths. Yet, this is precisely what some SCAM practitioners are advocating.
Now one of them is in court for manslaughter. “If I am such a clear and present danger and a murderer, I should be in jail by now,” said doctor Shortt, who despite a criminal investigation, is still treating patients in his office on the outskirts of Columbia, S.C. Shortt got his medical degree 13 years ago on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. Being a “longevity physician” didn’t seem to bother anyone until one of his patients wound up dead. Shortt gave her an infusion of hydrogen peroxide. Katherine Bibeau, a medical technologist and a mother of two, had been battling multiple sclerosis for two years, and was looking for any treatment that might keep her out of a wheelchair. According to her husband, doctor Shortt said hydrogen peroxide was just the thing. “He had said that there was other people who had been in wheelchairs, and had actually gone through treatment and were now walking again.” It didn’t worry the Bibeaus that Shortt wasn’t affiliated with any hospital or university – and that insurance didn’t cover most of his treatments. “He was a licensed medical doctor in Carolina,” says Bibeau. “So I put my faith in those credentials.” According to Shortt’s own records, the patient subsequently complained of “nausea,” “leg pain,” and later “bruises” with no clear cause. “She went Tuesday, she went Thursday. And by 11 o’clock on Sunday, she died,” says Mr Bibeau. Shortt never told him or his wife about any serious risks. “Even if it wasn’t effective, it should not have been harmful.”
Shortt has been putting hydrogen peroxide in several of his patients’ veins, because he believes it can effectively treat illnesses from AIDS to the common cold. “I think it’s an effective treatment for the flu,” says Shortt, who also believes that it’s effective for multiple sclerosis, Lyme disease, and “as adjunctive therapy” for heart disease. “Things that involve the immune system, viruses, bacteria, sometimes parasites.”
He’s not the only physician using this treatment. Intravenous hydrogen peroxide is a SCAM touted as a cure the medical establishment doesn’t want you to know about. There even is an association that claims to have trained hundreds of doctors how to administer it. The theory is that hydrogen peroxide releases extra oxygen inside the body, killing viruses and bacteria.
Natural News, for instance, tells us that cancer has a rival that destroys it like an M-60 leveling a field of enemy soldiers. It’s called “hydrogen peroxide,” and the “lame-stream,” mainstream media will tell you how “dangerous” it is at 35%, but they won’t tell you that you can drip a couple drops in a glass of water each day and end cancer. Yes, it’s true.
And hydrogen peroxide is not the only bleach that found its way into the realm of SCAM.
Perhaps even worse (if that is possible), the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing promote MMS as a miracle cure. It consists of chlorine dioxide, a powerful bleach that has been banned in several countries around the world for use as a medical treatment. The ‘Church’ claim that MMS cures 95% of all diseases in the world by making adults and children, including infants, drink industrial bleach. The group is inviting members to attend what they call their “effective alternative healing”.
The organizer of the event, Tom Merry, has publicized it by telling people that learning how to consume the bleach “could save your life, or the life of a loved one sent home to die”. The “church” is asking attendants of the meeting to “donate” $450 each, or $800 per couple, in exchange for receiving membership to the organization as well as packages of the bleach, which they call “sacraments”. The chemical is referred to as MMS, or “miracle mineral solution or supplement”, and participants are promised they will acquire “the knowledge to help heal many people of this world’s terrible diseases”.
Fiona O’Leary, a tireless and courageous campaigner for putting an end to a wide variety of mistreatments of children and adults, whose work helped to get MMS banned in Ireland, said she was horrified that the Genesis II Church, which she called a “bleach cult”, was hosting a public event in Washington.
In Fiona’s words: “ Its experimentation and abuse”. I do agree and might just add this: selling bleach for oral or intravenous application, while pretending it is an effective medicine, seems criminal as well.
I came across this article; it is neither new nor particularly scientific. Yet I believe it is sufficiently remarkable to alert you to it, quote a little from it, and hopefully make you chuckle a bit:
The Vatican’s top exorcist has spoken out in condemnation of yoga … , branding [it] as “Satanic” acts that lead[s] to “demonic possession”. Father Cesare Truqui has warned that the Catholic Church has seen a recent spike in worldwide reports of people becoming possessed by demons and that the reason for the sudden uptick is the rise in popularity of pastimes such as watching Harry Potter movies and practicing Vinyasa.
Professor Giuseppe Ferrari … says that … activities such as yoga, “summon satanic spirits” … Monsignor Luigi Negri, the archbishop of Ferrara-Comacchio, who also attended the Vatican crisis meeting, claimed that homosexuality is “another sign” that “Satan is in the Vatican”. The Independent reports: Father Cesare says he’s seen many an individual speaking in tongues and exhibiting unearthly strength, two attributes that his religion says indicate the possibility of evil spirits inhabiting a person’s body. “There are those who try to turn people into vampires and make them drink other people’s blood, or encourage them to have special sexual relations to obtain special powers,” stated Professor Ferrari at the meeting. “These groups are attracted by the so-called beautiful young vampires that we’ve seen so much of in recent years.”
Is yoga about worshiping Hindu gods, or is it about engaging in advanced stretching and exercise? At its roots, yoga is said to have originated from the ancient worship of Hindu gods, with the various poses representing unique forms of paying homage to these entities. From this, other religions such as Catholicism and Christianity have concluded that the practice is out of sync with their own and that it may result in demonic spirits entering a person’s body.
… Father Truqui sees yoga as being satanic, claiming that “it leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter.” And in order to deal with the consequences of this, his religion has had to bring on an additional six exorcists, bringing the total number to 12, just to deal with what he says is a 100% rise in the number of requests for exorcisms over the past 15 years. “The ministry of performing an exorcism is little known among priests … It’s like training to be a journalist without knowing how to do an interview.” At the same time, Father Amorth admits that the Roman Catholic Church’s notoriety for all kinds of perverted sex scandals is also indicative of demonic activity – he stated that it represents proof that “the Devil is at work inside the Vatican.” “There’s homosexual marriage, homosexual adoption, IVF [in vitro fertilization] and a host of other things,” added Monsignor Luigi Negri, the archbishop of Ferrara-Comacchio, about what he says is evidence of the existential evil in society. “There’s the glamorous appearance of the negation of man as defined by the Bible.”
END OF QUOTES
Speechless?
Me too!
Just one thought, if I may: according to Father Truqui, the most satanic man must be a ‘perverted’ catholic priest practising Yoga and reading Harry Potter!
One of the aims in running this blog has always been to stimulate critical thinking (not just in my readers but also in myself).
Critical thinking means making decisions and judgements based on (often confusing) evidence. According to the ‘National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking’ it is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analysing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.
Carl Sagan explained it best: “It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. Obviously those two modes of thought are in some tension. But if you are able to exercise only one of these modes, whichever one it is, you’re in deep trouble. If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. You never learn anything new. You become a crotchety old person convinced that nonsense is ruling the world. (There is, of course, much data to support you.) But every now and then, maybe once in a hundred cases, a new idea turns out to be on the mark, valid and wonderful. If you are too much in the habit of being skeptical about everything, you are going to miss or resent it, and either way you will be standing in the way of understanding and progress. On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish the useful as from the worthless ones.”
Critical thinking is not something one is born with; but I strongly believe that most people can be taught this skill. This study suggests that I may be right. The researchers measured the relationship between student’s religion, gender, and propensity for fantasy thinking with the change in belief for paranormal and pseudoscientific subjects following a science and critical thinking course. Student pre-course endorsement of religious, paranormal, and pseudo-scientific beliefs ranged from 21 to 53%, with religion having the highest endorsement rate. Pre-course belief in paranormal and pseudo-scientific subjects was correlated with high scores in some fantasy thinking scales and showed a gender and a religion effect with females having an 11.1% higher belief across all paranormal and pseudo-science subcategories. Students’ religion, and frequency of religious service attendance, was also important with agnostic or atheist students having lower beliefs in paranormal and pseudo-science subjects compared to religious students. Students with either low religious service attendance or very high attendance had lower paranormal and pseudoscientific beliefs.
Following the critical thinking course, overall beliefs in paranormal and pseudo-scientific subcategories lowered 6.8–28.9%, except for superstition, which did not significantly change. Change in belief had both a gender and religion effect with greater reductions among religious students and females.
The link between religion and alternative medicine is relatively well-established. A 2014 study, for instance, showed an association between alternative medicine use and religiosity. The finding that females have an 11.1% higher belief in the paranormal and pseudo-science is new to me, but it would tie in with the well-documented fact that women use alternative medicine more frequently than men.
The most important finding, however, is clearly that critical thinking can be taught.
That must be good news! As discussed previously, critical thinkers experience fewer bad things in life than those of us who do not have acquired that skill. This cannot come as a surprise – being able to tell useful concepts from worthless ones should achieve exactly that.
Did you know that chiropractic is a religion?
Well, not quite but almost.
DD Palmer seriously toyed with the idea of turning chiropractic into a religion.
And rightly so!
In the absence of evidence, belief is everything.
And this is why, to this day, so many chiropractors bank (a most appropriate term in this context!) on belief rather than evidence.
Look, for instance at this lovely advertisement I found on Twitter (there are many more, but this one has to stand for the many).
Seven common benefits of chiropractic care!?!
Beneath the picture of a pathologically straight spine – if that is what chiro does to you, avoid it at all cost! – we see the name of the ‘doctor’ who seems to have designed this impressive picture. ‘Dr’ Schluter is even more versatile than his pretty advertisement implies; he also seems to treat newborn babies! And on his website he also tells us that he is able to treat allergies:
You may be surprised to find that chiropractic can do a great deal to alleviate some allergies. Allergies are very common and we become so used to their effect on us that we tend to ignore their symptoms. And many people are unaware of the gradual decline in health that results. Chiropractic treatment didn’t necessarily set out specifically to provide care for allergies, but due to the nature of the chiropractic care and its effect on the nervous system, it has been shown to help.
If we look at some of the common signs of allergies we find that they include some unexpected examples. Not only do we find the usual ones – asthma, sinus congestion, sneezing, itchy eyes, skin rashes and running nose – but also weight gain, Acne and even fluid retention and heartburn.
Many people approach the problem of allergies as though all allergens affect everyone in the same way; this is not the case. Because we are individuals, different allergens affect each of us in differing ways. Some allergens affect some and not others. Consequently treating the condition must be approached on this basis of individuality.
It may not be the pet fur or dried saliva that is kicked up as your pooch washes and scratches; it may also not be the pollen, grass dust or other one of the many irritants in the air at any one time. It could be that due to a misalignment of the spine (or subluxation), mild though it may be, the nervous system is finding it difficult to help the body adapt to its surroundings and is therefore unable to deal with the necessary adjustments.
As an individual you need to treat your body’s physical and nervous system as such. You could be, without even being aware of it, in a generally stressed condition – this may be through lack of sleep, poor nutrition or any one of a combination of the many other stressors affecting us daily. Suddenly you find that with the first spring pollen dust that comes along you begin to wheeze and sneeze!
You may not have previously connected chiropractors and allergies but, for you or someone you know, the connection could help.
Schluter Chiropractic works on the principle of reducing interference so the nervous system and body can work better. Providing that any symptom or condition (including pain) is occurring as a result of nerve interference from vertebral subluxation, there is a very good chance that it will improve with chiropractic care.
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Wise words indeed.
Like most chiros, ‘Dr’ Schulter seems to be a true miracle-worker; and because he can do miracles, he does not need to be rational or concerned about evidence or worried about telling the truth.
For Christ sake, it’s Easter!
We ought to show a bit of belief!!!
Why?
Because without it, the benefits of chiropractic would be just an illusion.
Newsweek recently reported that a herbalist has been charged with the death of a 13-year-old diabetic boy. Allegedly, the therapist replaced the boy’s insulin with herbal remedies. Tim Morrow, 83, was charged with
- child abuse causing death
- and with practicing medicine without a license.
Morrow stated that god had guided him to use herbs rather than conventional medicine and that he successfully treated treat his own prostate cancer in this way. Marrow can be seen on multiple YouTube videos from his ‘University of Common Sense’ promoting his bizarre ideas of health and disease.
Perhaps god also guided Marrow to make lots of money? He runs regular seminars and a thriving herbal on-line business, the ‘Common Sense Herbal Products‘. There are few ailments, for which ‘Common Sense Herbal Products’ do not seem to offer a herbal cure.
One of the remedies, ‘Pancreas Reg‘, for instance, claims to “act as natural insulin”. The 270 Tablets tub of this product costs US $74.22. It is easy to see, I find, how bold claims attract gullible customers depriving them not just of their money but also of their health.
Morrow started treating the boy suffering from Type 1 diabetes after he met his mother at one of his seminars. When the boy subsequently became semi-comatose, Morrow told his parents to treat their son with his herbal remedies rather than insulin which had been prescribed by qualified medical doctors. The boy, Edgar L., died only hours later. There is little doubt that he would have survived, if he had undergone conventional treatment, the medical examiner concluded.
“The allegations in this case underscore the serious health and safety risks of taking medical advice from someone who lacks a license and the proper training that goes with it,” the medical examiner said in a statement. “No family should have to suffer the tragedy of losing a child because of irresponsible, un-credentialed medical advice.”
On this blog, during lectures etc., I often stress that by far the biggest danger of seemingly harmless alternative therapies is that they are used to replace effective treatments for serious conditions. Diabetes is such a condition, and there are numerous instances where the advice of incompetent practitioners has endangered the lives of diabetics.
Three examples will have to suffice as examples of the plethora of such unethical neglect:
- “In homeopathy, diabetes is seen as a reflection of the body’s inability to function optimally. There is an imbalance that results in the body’s incapacity to effectively utilize the insulin that it produces, or to produce sufficient insulin for its needs. While symptoms often disappear after conventional treatment, the vital force does not. Homoeopathy can be used effectively in the treatment of diabetes. Here we mainly concentrate on functioning of the pancreas in efficient insulin production. The metabolic condition of a patient suffering from diabetes requires both therapeutic and nutritional measures to correct the illness. Homeopathy can regulate sugar metabolism while helping to resolve the metabolic disturbances that lead to diabetes. Furthermore, homeopathy helps stimulate the body’s self-healing powers in order to prevent complications such as open leg sores and other dysfunctions of the blood vessel, loss of vision, kidney failure. Homeopathic treatment does not target one illness, an organ, a body part or a symptom. Remedies are prescribed based on an assembly of presenting symptoms, their stresses in life.”
- “Management of Blood sugar. The commonly used remedies are Uranium Nitricum, Phosphoric Acid, Syzygium Jambolanum, Cephalandra Indica etc. These are classical Homeopathic remedies. These are used in physiologically active doses such as Mother tincture, 3x etc. depending up on the level of the blood sugar and the requirement of the patient. Several pharmaceutical companies have also brought in propriety medicines with a combination of the few Homeopathic medicines. Biochemic remedies which is a part of Homeopathy advocates Biocombination No 7 as a specific for Diabetes. Another Biochemic medicine Natrum Phos 3x is widely used with a reasonable success in controlling the blood sugar. Scientific studies on the impact of homeopathic medicines in bringing down blood sugar are limited, but many of the above remedies have some positive effects either as a stand-alone remedy or as an adjunct along with other medications.”
- “Modern medicine has no permanent cure for diabetes but alternative medicines like yoga ,mudra,ayurveda is very useful to control and even cure diabetes.Ayurveda is an alternative medicine to cure diabetes.”
But these are very rare instances!!!
That’s what apologists usually respond.
Yet, the truth is that NOBODY knows how often such harm occurs.
Why?
There is no monitoring system anywhere that would provide such information.
