If there was a Venn diagram of religious claims and pseudoscientific claims, this would be the intersection: A pastor in Christchurch, New Zealand has been handing out a magical “health juice” to cure people.
Instead of taking their medication.
For $60 a pop.
Registered social worker and trauma counsellor To’alepai Louella Thomsen-Inder said the minister had described the juice as “a cure for everything”.
“The minister claimed this magic water heals the soul and fixes everything, but the water is just water,” she said.
This month, the minister doorknocked a churchgoer and enticed him into buying a $60 bottle of juice the day after he had been released from hospital with serious medical conditions, Thomsen-Inder told The Press.
The elderly Samoan man, who could not speak English, was told the drink would “heal his illnesses”, but only if he stopped taking his antibiotics.
He bought the bottle, did not take his pills and ended up back in hospital with pneumonia days later.
That pastor is using God to make some cash at the expense of harming his own parishioner. And he’s not the only one. The article lists a few other examples of pastors selling fake products.
That’s why pseudoscience and religion are linked together. They’re both the result of a lack of critical thinking. When people are taught to listen to men of faith instead of questioning what authority says, they’re setting themselves up for a disappointment or worse.
(Thanks to Nick for the link!)
