Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions - James Randi [132]
* * *
In the more than four years that have passed since Hyman was invited to observe the procedures, Schmidt reports that he has done no further experiments of this kind. Surprisingly, in light of the apparently startling nature of these tests.
Gods with Feats of Clay
Everyone has some hype going for them...can you prove that it ever did anybody any harm?
—Tony Curtis, actor,
commenting on Uri Geller
andother "psychics"
The subject of religion hardly belongs in this book, but certain aspects must be included. The very nature of religion dictates that it need not offer or claim scientific proof of its teachings. (Philosophical proof is another matter.) Occasionally some sect or other ventures to produce scientific proof, and this makes it a legitimate target for questions that probe such claims. Some religions have used outright deception in the same way that less respectable individuals and groups have done. These are part of our examination, and quite properly so.
One battle that rages hot is the struggle between the creationists—who thump their Bibles in support of the idea that God created each species independently and instantaneously, then planted fossil bones in the earth to test our faith—and the evolutionists, who preach Darwinism and the evolution of species. There are TV evangelists who give their viewers what seems to be good science, and who would fail a simple school test if they took one.
Jack Van Impe, a TV evangelist who perspires and preaches his version of science regularly to millions of believers, recently gave us an Easter message that reflected his ignorance of science. He referred to the preposterous "Jupiter Effect" so beloved of some nuts, which is supposed to cause wonderful catastrophes in 1982. The Earth should be a mess at the end of this claimed alignment of the planets, and I can hardly wait to see the show. Said Jack, "The Earth will be seven times hotter." Codswallop. The term has no meaning. "Seven" is a number, Jack. If you take the normal temperature to be 70 degrees Fahrenheit, that makes the new reading 490 degrees Fahrenheit. If you're in Europe or Canada, that same temperature is 21 degrees Celsius, giving the other folks a break with 148 degrees C, which is equal to only 298 degrees F.
But, says Jack, the Bible tells us that one of Ezekiel's visions of spaceships was "the color of beryl." This is green. Aha, says this great thinker, isn't it amazing that beryllium (he conveniently or through ignorance pronounced it "beryl-ilium") is used to make alloys for space satellites? The bible sure has the facts, folks! As if to underscore that conclusion, Jack Van Impe assures us that "we're reading the same truths in the Reader's Digest. "Well, that convinces me.
When naïve individuals cling to a charismatic idea that "bombs out," one would think that the idea would be thenceforth rejected and that the sucker would smarten up. Not necessarily. A chap named William Miller, back in the nineteenth century, predicted for his faithful followers (by means of much arithmetic) that between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844, the End of the World would come. His adherents gathered atop mountains to await this important event as the deadline approached. It failed to arrive, and Miller took another look at his calculations. Seems he had dropped a few fractions, and the new date was given as October 22, 1844. Again the dummies gathered expectantly, and when the prediction again fizzled on them, a few abandoned the group. But not all. Today, more than 135 years after the fiasco, the Millerites are still with us, preaching the End and warning of doom. But now they are known as the Seventh-Day Adventist Church or the Advent Christian Church and by a few other names. Nothing succeeds like failure.
Although America must take the blame for having invented the "religion" known as spiritualism, it is in England