Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[Barry Karr <SkeptInq@AOL.COM>]

Stigmata: Recreating the Passion of Jesus Christ

Amherst, NY (February 20, 2004)--Even before its official February 25
release, Mel Gibson's film The Passion of Christ has become a lightning rod
for controversy. In addition to the debate about whether certain scenes in
the movie will contribute to anti-Semitism, many who have attended previews
are struck by the intense violence and suffering depicted in Gibson's
rendition of the final twelve hours of Jesus's life. Yet for hundreds of
years, stigmatics have sought to directly participate in Christ's suffering.
St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) is recognized as the first to bear
stigmata-allegedly miraculous wounds imitating those that Jesus endured
during his scourging and crucifixion.

In the new March/April 2004 "Science & Religion 2004" issue of Skeptical
Inquirer, Joe Nickell, senior research fellow for the Committee for the
Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), reports on
the case of modern Canadian stigmatic Lilian Bernas, who claims that she
first exhibited stigmata during Easter, 1992. Since then, she has become
something of a phenomenon in the Niagara region encompassing Buffalo, New
York, and Southern Ontario, Canada. Bernas visits churches and groups of
faithful on both sides of the border, giving talks "guided" by Jesus and
sometimes displaying stigmata.

Nickell investigated Bernas in early 2002 when she made appearances at the
Resurrection Roman Catholic Church in Cheektowaga, New York (a suburb of
Buffalo), and at Navy Hall in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario.

When Bernas presented herself to the audience at Navy Hall-manifesting
stigmata-Nickell immediately noticed that the wounds ceased flowing and
dried quickly, "consistent," says Nickell, "with their having been inflicted
just before she came out." On closer examination of the stigmata on Bernas's
hands, he noticed that the wounds were superficial. "I noticed that the
actual wound looked like a small slit, but surrounding that was a larger red
area," Nickell reports. "[T]his appeared to have been deliberately formed of
blood in order to simulate the appearance of a larger wound, like one formed
by a Roman nail."

Nickell found the absence of wounds on Bernas' palms and soles highly
suspicious. "A sham stigmatist might well avoid those areas which would be
subjected to additional pain-and made more difficult to heal-whenever one
walked or grasped something," he says. 

Nickell, who has tested techniques of faking stigmata on himself, concluded
that the stigmata he observed on Bernas were consistent with faked wounds.
He also questions her other claims, such as miraculously manifesting crowns
of thorns appearing on her head. 

Nickell attributes the stigmata phenomenon to pious fraud, noting proven
examples such as 16th century stigmatic Magdalena de la Cruz, who confessed
that she had faked her wounds, and more recently Gigliola Giorgini,
convicted by an Italian court for fraud in 1984. 

Skeptical Inquirer is the official journal of the Committee for the
Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), a non-profit
science and education organization founded in 1976 by Dr. Paul Kurtz of the
State University of New York at Buffalo, Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov and other
leading academics, scientists and writers dedicated to scientific literacy.
The official Web site for CSICOP and Skeptical Inquirer is
www.csicop.org.For copies of this article from the new Skeptical Inquirer,
to arrange an interview with the authors, or to request reprint permissions
for the articles mentioned in this release, contact Kevin Christopher at 716
636 1425, extension 218 or send an e-mail to press@csicop.org.

#########################################

2)  Fake UFO Photos

Skeptic Group Refutes Famous UFO Claim
Fakes Indistinguishable from "Real" UFOs


Los Angeles, CA: Recently, an article appeared in the Sun tabloid and on a UFO website (www.theyfly.com) claiming that the Center for Inquiry-West and the Independent Investigations Group (IIG) have by default proven that Billy Meier's UFO photos are real. This is false for at least two reasons:

First, our delay in producing compelling evidence in this case no more proves alien visitors than the lack of evidence disproving Santa Claus means he exists.

Second, there is a huge body of evidence in skeptical literature that has invalidated Billy Meier's claims numerous times. We now have compelling new evidence showing why Meier's photos cannot be taken seriously. See below for two current examples.

For the record, the Center for Inquiry-West, and the Independent Investigations Group recognize no UFO photo as good evidence for intelligent life visiting this planet.

Photographic evidence is very unreliable, as photos (and their close cousins videos and movies) can be easily faked and manipulated. Indeed, members of the IIG have done just that with little cost and effort. (See our Billy Meier comparisons on our website at www.iigwest.com/horn.test.html) 

More information about faking UFO pictures can be found in Skeptical Inquirer magazine's Sept/Oct 2003 issue. Tim Callen's Faking UFO Photos for the Twenty-First Century gives basic instruction for the amateur hoaxer.
http://www.csicop.org/si/2003-09/faking-ufo-photos.html

We think the lack of hard evidence associated with UFO claims, along with the ease with which stories and ersatz spaceships can be fabricated leads the reasonable observer to conclude that it's extremely unlikely we earthlings have experienced visits from other worlds. There may very well be life on other planets, but so far, there is no good evidence supporting aliens visiting earth in flying saucers or any other craft.


The Center for Inquiry-West is the west coast home to the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), publisher of Skeptical Inquirer magazine. Visit our website at www.cfiwest.org, or call (323) 666-9797

For more information contact:
James Underdown, Executive Director
Center for Inquiry-West
(323) 666-9797 ext 101

####################################################

3)  Eugenie Scott on the Radio

Seti Institute's "Are We Alone?" Radio Show
Skeptical Sunday: The Darwin Conspiracy 

Guest: CSICOP Fellow, NCSE Executive Director Eugenie Scott 

Sunday, February 22, at 10 PM EST. 

Imagine a group of evolutionists, sitting in a darkened room, busily
plotting how to forge fossils and skew facts so that textbooks tilt in favor
of Darwinian evolution. 
This conspiratorial scenario might sound far-fetched, but some
anti-evolutionists are convinced it's real. Join us with guest Eugenie
Scott, a physical anthropologist, CSICOP Fellow, and executive director of
the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), to find out the top myths
that creationists use to confuse. It's Skeptical Sunday, but don't take our
word for it... tune in. 

For more info about the show, visit:

http://www.seti.org/epo/seti_radio/Welcome.html