News: Mediums, psychics and healers could face prosecution

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News: Mediums, psychics and healers could face prosecution

By Psyche | April 19, 2008

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British Parliament is set to debate a measures which may result in a change in law, meaning mediums, psychics and healers could face prosecution if they cannot prove their claims.

The Fraudulent Mediums Act (which replaced the 1735 Witchcraft Act) would be replaced with the new Consumer Protection Regulations and promises of interaction with the dead and other disincarnte entities, for example, would all be at risk of legal action if not prefaced with disclaimers.

For the past half-century, ‘genuine’ mediums have been protected by the 1951 Fraudulent Mediums Act, under which prosecutors had to prove fraud and dishonest intent to secure a criminal conviction, which was difficult. There have been fewer than 10 convictions in the past 20 years. With that protection gone, there will now be nothing between the medium and the trading standards officer - and no need to prove fraud. Instead it will be up to the trader, in this case the medium, to prove they did not mislead, coerce or take advantage of any ‘vulnerable’ consumers.

–Caroline Davies, “Psychic crackdown on the cards“

I understand the desire to try to protect the public from malicious fraudsters, but in my years of experience as a tarot reader, most people approach it with a healthy amount of scepticism and I have only personally heard of a handful of cases where a “psychic” has set out to deliberately defraud someone.

Prefacing a reading or consultation with a disclaimer will cheapen the experience and further marginalizes those who are seeking understanding and advice via untraditional means. The methods may be unconventional, but they can be profoundly meaningful for those involved.

The BBC’s treatement in “There may be trouble ahead” is not overly sympathetic to the mediums and spiritualitsts who will be affected by the change in the law, but they do note that David and Carole McEntee-Taylor set up the Spiritual Workers Association in part to campaign against the new regulations.

If you’re in Britain, let me know what the coverage is like there, and how it’s likely to affect perceptions and business.

Thanks to my husband, The Drew, for bringing this to my attention.

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10 Responses to “News: Mediums, psychics and healers could face prosecution”

ankh_f_n_khonsu says:
April 19th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
This came up a few weeks ago, at VOMUG #45. My opinion remains unchanged - that’s some fucked up shit, but not altogether surprising. England is certainly the most irreligious Western country, and possibly among the most irreligious in the world.

Namaste.

[Reply]
Psyche reply on April 20th, 2008:
Strange, as the Church of England remains the official church and the Queen maintains the constitutional title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England. England is still heavily informed by Christian values, Christian hymns and prayers are recited in schools - not terribly irreligious.

I wonder if churches, synagogues, mosques and other religious institutions which solicit funds will be put under the same scrutiny? No sense of well being after service? Get your money back, sir!

[Reply]
ankh_f_n_khonsu reply on April 20th, 2008:
Umm… why would you think they recite hymns and prayers in the UK’s public schools?

People accept the Queen’s role as head of the CoE, but the CoE really doesn’t appear very religious at all. Have you ever been to a CoE service in the UK?

I doubt they’ll be applying the same standards to other traditions. The US isn’t unique for this. Scientologists get a significantly larger tax deduction than any other religious affiliation. See (http://ocmb.xenu.net/ocmb/viewtopic.php?highlight=irs+sklar&t=15851).

Scientologists pay less in taxes than any other religious group in the US. How’s that for fucked up? ;)

Namaste.

[Reply]
Psyche reply on April 20th, 2008:
They did when my husband attended, and it wasn’t that long ago…

I’ve attended Anglican service before, but no, never in England.

My comments regarding other spiritual beliefs were intended to be ironic ;)

ankh_f_n_khonsu reply on April 20th, 2008:
And he was attending public school?

de Botton talks a bit about the CoE in Status Anxiety (good flick and great book).

I’m *terrible* with interpreting irony from text! :(

Namaste.

Psyche reply on April 20th, 2008:
In England “public school” is what we would call private school, so, no, he didn’t attend public school, he attended normal school.

I’ve not watched the entire 3 part series (I’ve bookmarked it to watch later), but I’m immediately suspicious of the claim that we’re “less happy” now.

[Reply]
ankh_f_n_khonsu reply on April 21st, 2008:
Umm… England has plenty of private schools (extra $), and it also has lots and lots of public schools (govt subsidized)… and they are pretty strongly parallel to North American public schools. Granted, there are extreme difference in curriculum and methodology, but the biggest difference is the terrible lot of the teachers. UK teachers have even less recourse to discipline than NA teachers do, and students use that to their advantage.

I’m not sure de Botton would argue that we’re less happy now, but he well might and there’d be a good bit of evidence to back him up. I think he’d suggest people don’t know what happiness is (which I’d agree with), and that most people aren’t even close to happy (which I’d agree with).

How can people be truly happy when they’re slaves?

Namaste.

[Reply]
Psyche reply on April 21st, 2008:
Umm… England has plenty of private schools (extra $), and it also has lots and lots of public schools…

Yes, but the terminology is different. When an English person says “public school” they mean what we in North America would refer to as a “private school” - just to clarify.

And yes, my husband attended a normal public school (under the North American understanding of the word).

The point here wasn’t to debate educational standards or customs, but to point out that hymns and prayer are a normal part of public school in England to illustrate England is not a secular nation in practice.

As I said, I haven’t had the chance yet to watch the entire thing, but within the first few mintues he does say that we’re less happy now. Though, really, that’s an argument for another post ;)

ankh_f_n_khonsu reply on April 21st, 2008:
Hrm… well, I think we might have to disagree.

Jay Kinney’s persuasive “The Religion of No-Religion” demonstrated rather conclusively that moral tradition doesn’t equate with religiosity.

Karen Armstrong, author of A History of God, argues unapologetically that the UK is one of the most irreligious country in the West.

In Europe we’re a very godless people. Only 35% of the population would say that they believe in God as opposed to over 90% of Americans. Now those 90% of Americans may not feel that they have to go to church or live in a godly way, or they may even be saying it simply to conform. But to conform in England it’s better to say that you don’t believe in God. [emphasis hers] Religion is becoming increasingly eccentric.

I hunted about for some statistics and found this, which suggests 67% of Brits are Christian - which sounds absurd. Digging a little further, I found this, which had more relevant content:

To say that Britain is rapidly becoming a godless country would be too strong, but a YouGov survey provides overwhelming evidence that the British are now a largely irreligious people.

Only a minority believe that God exists and almost everyone acknowledges that Britain is becoming an increasingly secular society.

According to Religious Tolerance.org, a paltry 23.8% of Brits believe in God. However, in this article they cite 35%.

Religious education seems all round to be shunned, and this goes hand in hand with the obvious lack of concern the average British person has for religious matters.

“When I asked the Very Reverend David Edwards, the author of over thirty books on modern Christianity, for his assessment of the state of spirituality in England, he just told me bleakly that ‘The English have lost any sense of what religion is.’”

My own experience in UK schools - which was exceptionally limited (2 weeks) - included no mention of anything non-secular.

I think, given the evidence, I’d need a little more convincing before I could agree that “hymns and prayer are a normal part of school in England” and that “England is not a secular nation in practice.”

I’ll look forward to your post on happiness, after having enjoyed the documentary.

Namaste.
Tarot Reader says:
April 24th, 2008 at 12:14 am
The Tarot Deck is made up of 78 cards, and these are divided into two sections, the Major Arcana, and the Minor Arcana. But, you knew that right? What you might not be aware of is, that the cards have influences which are associated with astrology, mainly the elements.

[Reply]

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Mar				May »
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30

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