''The Faith Healers'' is a 1987 book by magician and skeptic

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010p. ...

with a foreword by

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...

, that documents Randi's exploration of the world of

faith healing Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...

, and his exposing the

sleight of hand Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' ()) refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card ...

trickery and deceit by its practitioners. In eighteen chapters Randi explores the origins of faith healing and

psychic surgery An alleged psychic surgeon at work Psychic surgery is a pseudoscientific medical fraud in which practitioners create the illusion of performing surgery with their bare hands and use sleight of hand, fake blood, and animal parts to convince t ...

, and critically analyzes the claims made by

A. A. Allen Asa Alonso Allen (March 27, 1911 – June 11, 1970), better known as A. A. Allen, was an American Pentecostal evangelist known for his faith healing and deliverance ministry. He was, for a time, associated with the " Voice of Healing" movement ...

Ernest Angley Ernest Winston Angley (August 9, 1921 – May 7, 2021) was an American Christian evangelist, author, and television station owner who was based in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio from the 1950s until his death in 2021. Ernest Angley was a native of Moores ...

, Willard Fuller, WV Grant,

Peter Popoff Peter George Popoff (born July 2, 1946) is a German-born American televangelist and debunked clairvoyant and faith healer. He was exposed in 1986 for using a concealed earpiece to receive radio messages from his wife, who gave him the names, ad ...

Oral Roberts Granville Oral Roberts (January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009) was an American Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christianity, Christian televangelist, ordained in both the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, Pentecostal Holin ...

Pat Robertson Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (born March 22, 1930) is an American media mogul, religious broadcaster, political commentator, former presidential candidate, and former Southern Baptist minister. Robertson advocates a conservative Christian ...

, and Ralph DiOrio for his claims of miracles at the

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes () is a Catholic Marian shrine and pilgrimage site dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France. The sanctuary includes several religious buildings and monuments aroun ...

in the town of

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Château ...

. Randi shows how people are tricked with magician's tricks under the guise of religion. In 1988, Earl Hautala in a review wrote "an eye opener for the naïve, this book provides a crash course in the methods of skeptical inquiry." The ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publishe ...

'' praised the book in a 1990 review.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faith Healers, The 1987 non-fiction books Faith healers Books by James Randi Prometheus Books books Religious studies books Scientific skepticism mass media Supernatural healing

See also

References