Psychics to come under Consumer protection laws

[UnquietDad]

story here

"A change in the law could mean mediums, psychics and healers face prosecution if they cannot justify their claims. Spiritualists are delivering a mass petition to Downing Street and complaining that a genuine religion is being discriminated against."

To be fair, they really ought to have seen that one coming.

(I was going to post this in Philosophy, Religion and Woo-Woo, but I imagine it'd get a frosty reception...)

very surprised you don't know it uqd

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I have had a flick through the Fortean Times in the shop. I woz 'avin' a larf.

I accept that people believe all manner of bollocks and support their right to believe whatever they want/ But I also support my right to find them ridiculous.

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The beliefs. I have many great friends who believe in all manner of crap, some of whom I can take the piss out of, others who would resent it, so we don't discuss the subject.

Are you telling me that the Hogfather never appened???

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Wot Madamez said.

My mother sees a faith healer - with very noticable and positive results. Probably the placebo effect, but so what? It works, it makes her happy without the side effects of actual medicine. Laws like this will probably hurt individuals like my mother's healer who are genuinely helping the people who see them.

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Vicars do not (afaik) offer a service with a planned outcome, though, do they? I mean, what they do in their job is to lead prayers, read sermons and facilitate services. That is qualitatively different from saying 'I can deliver this message for you'. And the church pays for it's vicars out of land receipts etc - the congregation don't pay a fee to the vicar - except for leading a service like marriage or baptism - when they do exactly what the jd says.

Maybe some vicars - like Estate Agents under that law that came in a few years ago - will have to be careful about how they describe things and waht they promise.

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The problem with going to a "faith healer" is that there is no control experiment, and there are no clinical trials, so you've got no idea if you only feel better because it's a sunny day, or because you heard a happy song on the radio, or you ate a healthy cereal for breakfast. Or - quite likely - because you go in with the expectation that it's going to make you feel better and so you do.

Yes, but they're not charging for that message. If a faith healer or similar says 'I can cure your spots if you pay me X', then that's quite different from the whole 'be kind to your fellow man, G*d is watching' message you get from the church.

SOme churches do say that they can cure your spots, etc if you pay them enough. These are nominally Christian churches, too.
Again, they are entitled to believe whatever bullshit they like, but I think it is enough for the law to insist that they don't claim guaranteed success in anything and allow people to waste their money as they see fit.

An more worryingly if they don't cure your spots they tell you that this was because you didn't have enough 'faith' Ie it was your fault.

When my DH's tumours started to come back in the summer of last year the dioctor told us that, sadly, the drugs had stopped working.

Same outcome, but no-one blamed my dh.

I know which style of treatment strikes me as more ethical