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| Unwanted faith healing and prayer. |
A disabled 22-year-old Duke University graduate named Megan has started a blog to discuss her experiences with aggressive Christians who want to lay hands on her and pray in an effort to heal her. According to The Friendly Atheist, Megan, who has a rare connective tissue disease called epidermolysis bullosa, had heard people all her life asking, “What’s the matter with Megan?” and has named her blog “The Matter with Megan” in response.
”Having a visible disability is like shark bait for ignorant people lacking scruples,” she wrote in a blog post called “Please Don’t Pray with Me (In Airports)”. “I swear, the mere sight of crutches is like blood in the water.”
She described an incident that took place when she was 15 years old. She was at an airport waiting to board a flight when two women descended upon her family and asked her mother, “May we pray with your daughter?”
“(T)he next thing I knew I was caught in what can only be described as a quite unholy prayer sandwich,” Megan wrote. “The woman and her mother placed one hand on my back and one on my chest and right there, in the middle of the Ft. Lauderdale airport, began to feverishly pray on my body for Jesus to heal me. Between shouts of JESUS CRISTO! and HEAL HER FATHER GOD! their bodies shook violently, as if wracked by father, son, and holy ghost all at once.”
The incidents, she said, while well-meaning, have left her with “scars on me as real as the ones on my body. Rather than heal me as they intended (and you know the old maxim about good intentions), they helped break my self-esteem.”
She concluded the essay by saying that she wishes people’s good intentions could be tempered by greater amounts of “good judgment.”
“I think that’s what God probably would have preferred,” she wrote. “Heaven knows I would.”
Wow, just when you thought you had heard everything about the arrogance of faith.
The idea that these people LITERALLY believe that they can focus the power of a being that their faith tells them created everything around them with but a thought, by asking for it, is simply astoundingly ridiculous to me.
Faith healing is one of the MOST egregious scams that religion pulls on its believers, and it sets them up to question the depth of their own faith or to believe that the God that they worship has turned his back on them.And that his unbelievably abusive in my opinion.
I think this young woman is incredibly brave, and I have NO doubt that she speaks for a number of disabled folks who are constantly subjected to this kind of unwanted, unnecessary, and unhelpful attention.
Good for her.
Faith healing is big business. It disgusts me when they take money for people who could use it for medical needs, rent, or food.
ReplyDeleteLet them try doing that to me. I would tell them to get their hands off o me. I don't mind when someone says "I will pray for you" I just thank them. Putting their hands on me is another story.
It's not really a stretch to say that this kind of unwanted touching is included in the common law definition of "assault."
Delete" Common Law: an intentional act by one person that creates an apprehension in another of an imminent harmful or offensive contact."
I can totally relate to what Megan puts up with. My son had similar incidents when he was a young child. He was born with a hemangioma hematoma (sorry not sure of the spelling!) birthmark on his arm. I can't even begin to count how many times I had complete strangers come up to us and ask me if they could pray for him. There was even an incident when he was waylaid on his way to the bathroom at a restaurant. A waiter and waitress decided to "lay hands" on him and pray for healing of his arm! When my son came back to the table, he was upset and felt horribly violated. My husband and I were FURIOUS at the waiter and waitress and complained to the manager. Of course nothing was done, because the manager was a christian and thought his employees were just being kind good christians. Looking back, I should have called the police.
ReplyDeleteAnd here is some more 'christian' activity that would make Jesus weep.
ReplyDeleteAn Alabama pastor says that he is banning Boy Scouts from meeting at his church because they are supporting a “sinful lifestyle” by allowing gay members to join the organization.
First Baptist Church of Helena Pastor Greg Walker told WBRC that he was forced to decide that the scouts could no longer meet at his church after the Boy Scouts of America dropped its gay ban.
“It’s hard on a personal level to say to a troop of young boys who have done nothing wrong and to the leaders, ‘You’re not welcome here,’” Walker explained. “I didn’t make the decision, Boy Scouts of America did.”
“It’s an issue as a church pastor and Christian that I can’t allow a group to openly support a sinful lifestyle under the umbrella of First Baptist Helena,” he added.
In a written statement obtained by WBRC, the Greater Alabama Council of Boy Scouts said that it had anticipated this reaction from some members of the community.
“Early on in this process we decided to make a very strong commitment that if something like this did come up we would continue to support our units in finding and having somewhere to meet,” the council noted.
Walker said that he would talk with the leaders of Troop 2 on Wednesday and give them time to find a new place to meet.
“I hate that this had to happen, I really do,” the pastor opined.
Watch this video from WBRC, broadcast May 28, 2013.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/29/alabama-pastor-bans-boy-scouts-for-supporting-sinful-lifestyle-of-gay-scouts/
[Megan, who has a rare connective tissue disease called epidermolysis bullosa, had heard people all her life asking, “What’s the matter with Megan?”]
ReplyDeleteBesides the obvious, this being extremely disturbing to have a stranger come up and put their hands on you...for people born with EB, like my nephew, it can be deadly. For those of you who do not know about this disease, it is a condition where the skin does not "connect" and is easily rubbed off by simple touching, even gently. Of course then, blisters form, skin slides off producing horrific open sores introducing bacteria that will KILL YOU. My nephew is 7 years old and it has been touch and go all of his short life. (he's a fighter!)
Oh, wow, my heart goes out to him all all other EB sufferers. This makes physical intrusion and even touching of any kind a serious violation.
DeleteTechnically, any unwanted touching is always a battery. But I would argue that for an EB victim it is also an assault due to their body's frightening response. Understandably, touching would put an EB victim in the same kind of justifiable, extreme fear, as an assault with a weapon would do to any ordinary person.
G, take out the "young woman" because she's "A disabled 22-year-old Duke University graduate"
ReplyDeleteLeave it in, 22 qualifies as "young woman", degree or no degree.
Delete"‘You’re not welcome here,’” Walker explained. “I didn’t make the decision, Boy Scouts of America did.”
ReplyDelete“I hate that this had to happen, I really do,” the pastor opined.
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Quit passing the buck, pastor. It didn't "have" to happen, and it was in fact, your decision, not that of the Boy Scouts of America, to boot the Boy Scouts out. No one but you.
I've assisted children in wheelchairs at public events and had them be the targets of these kind of random prayers. It's tricky because making a scene in rebuffing the prayers can be also be difficult for the child. The kids I work with just want to do what all the other kids are doing (as much as possible). I feel that people are exploiting the child just to work off their religious kink.
ReplyDeleteI end up plastering a big smile on my face and saying things like "we're having a great time here WATCHING the PARADE, you can wait if you like".
How stupid do you have to be to believe in faith healing? How rude and offensive do you have to be to accost people so you can "pray for them?"
ReplyDeleteMorons, every one of them, no matter how well-meaning they claim to be.
Religion Is Losing Influence In US, Vast Majority Of Americans Say
ReplyDeletehttp://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/religion-is-losing-influence-in-us-vast-majority-of-americans-say/news/2013/05/29/67629
Agree too that this young woman is brave and needs to address this towards those people.
ReplyDeleteThat misplaced behavior, while good intentions, is wrong. And Christ-followers should know better. First, it's supposed to help that person, not embarrass her. Offering to pray for someone in public like that jut makes a spectacle for their own glory, and makes the afflicted person feel that much more uncomfortable. Anyone who supposedly knows Christ is going to be humble, decent, and not create a spectacle. They could have befriended her and asked her privately. But, no, they want to show off without having to put any effort into it.
They can pray for people alone, in their hearts. Christians don't have 'faith' to heal. God heals. Christians who've tempered themselves with self-control, and have spiritual gifts, are commanded to pray for those in need. Elders in the church are commanded to pray for the sick unto healing. There's order in this thing.
When people go outside their boundaries and make themselves the center of attention on another's behalf, it's not right. There are many believers who know this. Unfortunately, the immature christians seem to be the ones who make the news and sometimes screw up. In fact, there's a lot of screwing up lately these days, especially where christians are more interested in comfortable easy lifestyles and power-thirsty for being at the forefront. This isn't real christianity.
Was not Jesus a healer?
DeleteAnon 1:37, Jesus was a healer only if you believe he was. Perhaps you didn't get the message that people who call themselves "Christians", can often be offended and embarrassed if Christians impose themselves on others. I use to get annoyed when they came up to me uninvited on campus at the university I attended to "save me". I found the most effective way to get rid of them was to tell them you're an atheist". Besides that, their response was also entertaining.
DeleteHaving been totally healed from an incurable disease 32 years ago, I know from personal experience that real faith healing works. Even today, no doctor can believe that I am alive and thriving. But I also know from 32 years of observation that SHAM faith healing does not work and is often a racket. Please don't confuse the two.
ReplyDeleteAnd to everyone who is into showmanship, religious egotism, and/or barging uninvited into someone else's 'space': please be respectful and stop it!
Thank you for speaking up anon 1:00. Yes, what these people did to this young woman is wrong. I'd have called the police. But sometimes I think the response here dives right off the deep end. Are we seriously doubting the power of touch? The power of intension? Take religion out of it- or hell leave it in. Touch is an exchange of energythat we can all feel. It has the power to heal. You say you're a scientist Gryphen, that you are fascinated by this vast universe. Well damn man- don't close you mind to this.
DeleteAs a person who is part of my church's healing ministry, I am appalled! I would never even consider doing such a thing. Even in the unlikely event that someone would ask for prayers in such a venue, I would remove us to a more private place. But to accost a person and demand the "right" to loudly pray for them in public, is arrogance in the extreme.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth 44
I had something similar happen to me, but the circumstance were really weird. At a meeting with the surgeon who was going to operate on me he asked if he could pray over the operation area. I said "yes," not because I'm a believer, but because he was. I thought of it as a placebo thing. The funny thing is, as haughty as he had been, it put us on an equal level (in my mind, which was quite useful in the long run).
ReplyDeleteYikes.. CJ! I probably would have blurted out, "No! What, are you kidding?!" And then if the operation went poorly I'd figure that the surgeon wasn't into it like he would have been for a fervent co-religionabator.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine anyone approaching me and wanting to "faith heal" me without asking first. I don't definie people by their disabilities, but it's my opinion that these charlatan faith healing believers are mentally disturbed.
ReplyDeleteThe closest experience I had was a well meaning mother of a young lady my son's dating wrote me a beautiful card when my husband was hospitalized. Full of "Jesus", "God's healing love" and "the promise of heaven". She closed with an invitation to worship with her.
I wrote a secular "thank you" letter, explaining our non belief and giving her genuine gratitude for thinking of us. Sh
I'm disabled. Sometimes in a wheelchair.
ReplyDeleteI also work in the film music business with top pros, some A-list'ers.
When I wrote a notice on my site about my condition, I received much email.
Curiously, the richer the people were, the more they prayed for me or just wished me well.
The people not so rich sent donations.
However the richest person of all, an academy award winner who often said if there was ever anything I needed just call, wrote a scathing reply when I told him I was sick.
It was basically "other people have it worse. Feel better now?"
So religion or not, self-righteousness seems to be common denominator here.
I know a lady that once was sleeping on her couch with the TV on and was awakened by Benny Hinn shouting her name. (This is a true story)
ReplyDeleteIt said (her name)! Your cancer is HEALED! Get up! Go walk! Your cancer is gone! You are HEALED!
And Lo and Behold, she got up and walked a mile. She felt so good she walked another mile.
She.
Did.
Not.
Have.
Cancer!
It is a fact, Gryph - my friend did NOT have cancer.
...she never DID have cancer.
NO Doctor at any time had diagnosed her with cancer.
If Benny Hinn hadn't shouted her awake and told her she had cancer and that he had healed it for her - she never would have even known that she had cancer!
PRAISE JESUS!
(I swear - absolutely true story)