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FOX's Miracles and Visions
![Miracles and Visions [Fact or Fiction?]](title.jpg)
December 24, 1996
CSICOP Senior Research Fellow Joe Nickell appeared on the FOX television special Miracles and Visions [Fact or Fiction?]. The FOX network is responsible for airing past gems such as the "alien autopsy" film, so it was no surprise that this program was a credulous look at the "supernatural," presented in documentary format with a few brief skeptical comments thrown in to appear balanced.
The special covered the expected territory: weeping statues (and their natural enemies, drinking statues), images of Jesus and the crucifixion appearing in tree stumps, stigmata, visions of the Virgin Mary, and miracle photographs. In addition to Joe Nickell's appearance, other skeptical viewpoints were aired, but they sometimes left out obvious points (for example, it was never pointed out that the woman with stigmata had numerous opportunities to fake the effect of blood appearing on her head, arms, and feet).
 Fact or Fiction? (17 sec, 34k RealAudio) |
Why do they believe? (16 sec, 32k RealAudio) |
The most insidious part of the program was its conclusion. It suggested that these "miracles" were precursors to a third World War - a nuclear war in which entire nations would be completely annihilated.
And, as if striking fear in the hearts of true believers was not enough, the program carefully led viewers to draw a conclusion that the Chinese nation would cause it all! Here is an example of the reasoning employed:
- Past prophecies at Fatima have allegedly come true, predicting the spread of communism and the mass murder of innocents in World War II. An additional prophecy (the annihilation of nations) has not yet passed.
- Nancy Fowler (the woman from Conyers, Georgia who claims to receive yearly visits from the Virgin Mary) also claims to have seen visions of a shoreline with "oriental soldiers" invading America.
- A military expert (Susan Keating, a "military reporter") explains that "China poses a serious threat to America and the world." In military simulations, China wins a war against the U.S.
- China has been greatly increasing its military spending.
- The book of Revelation describes an army of two hundred million men: China is the only nation that is able to raise an army of that size.
In his last book, "The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark,", Carl Sagan wrote:
I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudoscience and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us-then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls.This television special seems to be blowing out the candle from several directions at once.The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir.
Patrick Fitzgerald is a writer and programmer in Atlanta, Georgia; in his spare time he designs web pages for CSICOP and the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.
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